July 25, 2008

EUROPE | PORTUGAL | ALGARVE

All Together in the Algarve

By Mark Jolly

Why Pine Cliffs wants to be known as the finest family-style resort in Europe.

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So you’re by the lap pool, snoozing off a sailing session in the Algarve or a spot of bacalhau. Your better half has slipped away for a lesson with the resident golf pro (who is Portugal’s number-one ladies’ player, as it happens), and the kids are up to some sort of (supervised) mischief at the Porto Pirata kids club. Or they were until they roused you from slumber and asked for a top-up on their “smart card.” Just introduced by Starwood’s Pine Cliffs resort, the card is designed to give youngsters independent spending power — and parents, peace. That, at least is the theory, even though there’s nothing to stop your offspring from asking for credit extensions to cover their mini-golf outings, movies and popcorn, and any number of health-based munchies from the special children’s menus at the resort’s 11 restaurants.

Until recently, this resort “village” — set on a clifftop amid lush gardens and 100-year-old pines — has been centered around Starwood’s Luxury Collection hotel, the Sheraton Algarve. Now, with the spring unveiling of its neighboring Pine Cliffs residences, Starwood is bent on turning this secluded southern pocket of Portugal’s coastland into a center for family R&R. On a recent trip there, globorati checked out the new villa-style apartments. Though brand new, the units have a clear sense of Portuguese character (from the patterned ceramic tiling to the white-stucco walls), and can be booked for a few days or a few weeks or more, with the added benefit of allowing families to cook — or bring their staff to cook for them.

The “local experience” emphasis — the focus that underscores all Luxury Collection properties — was a little difficult to gauge: a scheduled private jeep tour, which explores olive oil and honey production at a traditional farm in Serra do Caldeirão, was unavailable during our visit. But in terms of its capacity to coordinate the disparate tangents of family fun, Pine Cliffs is a finely oiled machine. A dedicated “experience concierge” can, say, book a mom-and-daughter manicure while sending dad and son off for a jet-ski adventure. Kids can command their own wooden boats at the kids’ clubs (billed as the best in Europe); over-12s get their own bar (with soft drinks and a gaming center). And toys for adults? Well, we’d be lying if we said we didn’t test-drive the brand new BMW 6 Series (available through the hotel), along the ancient twisting backroads of the Algarve.