Currently halfway through another 5 day break at the Conrad Algarve.
Always very well looked after as a diamond ( fourth stay )
Free entry to fantastic spa and nice high floor pool view room upgrade given as hotel is not too busy being mid October
Front of house manageress is great and treats you like family she really cares for her guests.
Problem is there are not many suites at this property and it is hard to upgrade Diamonds, Golds and regulars but they do try.
As I am typing this just had a telephone call from the guest relations manager and a lovely tray of fruits arrived !

Hi all,

We are thinking about going to the Conrad Algarve in October with a two year old. Are there any recent experiences with children at this Hotel? Our other choice is the Hilton Mallorca Sa Torre where we had a lovely stay last year. Has anybody stayed at both properties and can comment on the pros and cons going there with a child?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

We leave for another stay at the Conrad Algarve tomorrow.
You will have no issues taking children with you it is a child friendly hotel.
Hilton Vilamoura does attract many more families though.
Both are 5 star but Conrad Algarve is higher end and real luxury.
There is a great team working at the hotel and i can assure you that you will love it and not be dissapointed.

Re kids it is super kid friendly but note that the upper pool is meant to be kid free (not always policed) and whilst the lower pool is fine for kids (there is even a mini shaded shallow area) it is not heated, and the algarve is known for being very windy so it can get very cold. Your kids won't care but you might! Otherwise, despite first appearances (the hotel is very white and full of marble and clean lines) it is very kid friendly with a decent kids club (paid).

I stayed here about a week and a half ago, and I would rate it about 4.5* with one glaring exception.

First, the good: Breakfast was fantastic, large, and free for gold members. I really enjoyed starting my day out on the patio. The room was very nice as well, felt well-appointed, and definitely deserving of the Conrad name. Additionally, valeting the car was painless and we never had to wait more than a minute or two for it, important when driving to most places.

There were a couple small downsides: The pool had the traditional resort "towel game" going on, making it tough to get a chair in the shade even though more than half the shaded chairs were unoccupied at any given point, save for a towel reserving it. There were enough shaded chairs that it wouldn't be an issue if the hotel would simply enforce vacating a spot when leaving for more than a couple minutes.

Also, the front desk was a bit spotty service-wise. The call to let me know when our room was ready (it was not ready at check-in time) didn't come within the 15 minutes I was told; after a bit over 30 I went to inquire and told it was ready with no explanation given for not being phoned. Luggage was not picked up at the scheduled time either, and took another 15 minutes to receive it.

Either of those things would be just a minor knock, but the one thing that absolutely annoyed me was the event being held at the lower pool. It was a hotel sponsored event and was blasting music until 1:15am that my white noise app couldn't even cover with the balcony door closed. After complaining both at 12:30am and again at check out, a total of 3 people including a manager offered no remorse other than a generic apology and each then practically shamed me by each saying that "it was a charity event" and looking at me like that is a satisfactory response. That to me is absolutely ridiculous, but they were steadfast when I expressed my incredulity.

In short, this is a good place, but don't expect any sympathy if you think loud music after 1am at a luxury resort is considered unreasonable.

Do consider the Hilton Villamoura. Also not at the beach, but walkable into the town if you like to get your step-counter moving. Also good breakfast and access to spa pool. And Villamoura as a destination actually exceeded my expectations: plenty of good restaurants and evening strolls. Of course all comments regarding a car and being able to get around are also valid from here. Check the rates and make your choice.

Conrad Algarve, Quinta do Lago, [Almancil], Algarve, Portugal [REVIEW:PHOTOS]
 

Our stay, 3 nights/4 days in October 2016

In 2015 my fiancé and I had agreed to requalify for the Hilton’s loyalty program Hilton Honors gold status, so in January 2016 we pre-booked stays accordingly to achieve our goal.

One of those was the Conrad Algarve in Almancil and very close to Quinta do Lago. We stayed for 3 night/4 days in October 2016, after our 5 night/6 days stay at the equally gorgeous Hilton Vilamora As Cascatas Golf Resort & Spa. See our review on FT:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28810495-post97.html.

The estate/resort entrance was impressive with a gate, white walls, and a fairly long driveway. The grounds were harmonious with white washed buildings - containing apartments (some were for sale) on both sides - a water feature, flowers, palms and lemon trees in the middle and the hotel as the center piece at the end of the driveway.

The location is ideal, just across the road from Quinta Shopping, a beautifully designed outdoor shoppinh village which also incl. restaurants, supermarket and more.

We were greeted warmly. Our suitcase was taken and we were accompanied to the reception by the bell captain.

Check in took a bit, because all the features of the hotel and amenities as gold members were explained. Welcome drinks were also served and included water and orange juice.

The lobby was impressive with high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, an atrium, a dome, which was intricately painted, raindrop chandelier, different seating areas and the Lago Lounge.

The views were over the infinity edged pool and the gardens.

We were accompanied to our King Grand Deluxe Room - the room type we had booked - on the highest floor (the 6th), which overlooked the entrance.

Our luggage was soon afterwards delivered.

The room was large.

It was modern and Moorish inspired with lots of flower designs, wood and frames used. The floor was marbled.

The color scheme was brown, silver, metall and grey.

The room was dominated by the king sized bed with a chaise lounge in front of it.

There was also a club chair with ottoman and a coffee table beside the bed.

A table, seating for two, was frequently used by us to write or share a meal.

There was a credenza containing the minibar. Prices were high, for example 7 Euro, ca. 8.35 USD, for a 0.75 l bottle of Acqua Panna water, so we didn't use it, but once during our stay. Besides the content was more the usual things, like Coca Cola and so on.

A Nespresso coffee machine and tea making facilities were available too.

The air-conditioning was fast and efficient.

Internet was easy to access and fast/reliable at all times.

The flat screen LG TV offered 122 regional and international channels. There was a DVD player. DVDs could be borrowed from the concierge.

The lamps caught our attention. Some had a circle desgin, while others were mushroom shaped.

Storage space was limited and the room quickly felt cluttered with our personal items.

There was 24 hour room service available and we appreciated the welcome gift of local cakes. They were delicious.

Turn down was offered every night.

We enjoyed the balcony, which had two seating areas and was large.

The bathroom was also large and creative.

It had double sinks, separate bath tub and shower. The bidet and toilet were in their own room.

Above the bath tub was a small TV.

The bathroom amenities were Aroma Therapy Associates.

The room was completely marbled, had a small carpet in front of the sinks and there were gold tiles as well, plus a modern white chandelier above the bathtub.

The water pressure was good and the temperature even. There was a light flickering in the shower stall. It didn't disturb us, so we mentioned it only at check out.

Most intriguing were the flower motive and chandelier in the bathroom.

There was intricate Moorish metallwork, depicting also flowers.

The design didn't impact the comfort of the room and we felt immediately well, which added to our memorable stay.

An English speaking newspaper was daily delivered to our room. Originally we were a bit concerned, because experience at other hotels normally meant that the newspaper arrived early in the morning. Distribution at the Conrad meant it was only delivered late morning or early afternoon.

Other books/magazines on the room were the history about the art of the Conrad Algarve in Portuguese and real estate.

The hotel has many facilities, restaurants and bars.

Restaurants include Gusto by Heinz Beck [who holds 3*** Michelin Stars for his La Pergola restaurant in Rome] for fine dining at the Conrad, Gusto itself holds a Five Diamond Award and was the "Revelation of 2013" when it opened (We enjoyed one dinner there. Review to follow.), Louro for all day dining, Dado and Dado Seafood Pool Restaurant and Bar and Sereno, which is at the infinity pool, is connected to Lago and the tables have an interesting feature. When you want service or pay you can use different buttons to indicate what you need. The waiter from Lago will arrive soon afterwards.

We went to Louro for breakfast, which was included as gold member benefit, every morning. The first morning the experience wasn't too great, because the restaurant was very busy and we were forgotten by the staff. After a reminder to the hostess our table was cleaned and the service was more attentive from then onwards.

The presentation was very beautiful and the buffet extensive.

A bakery basket including bread and pasteis de Belem and tea or coffee and orange juice were delivered to our table each morning.

The buffet included cured and smoked salmon, a choice of cold cuts, jams (They were a bit difficult to get into the small pot with a big spoon. It looked stylish, though.), fruits, fruit salads, more pastries and bread, cereals, cheese, ten different juices, smoothies and much more.

We stopped at the Lago Lounge twice. Once to have a break and to relax. We ordered one hot chocolate, one peach juice, one Mind Revitalizer (a non-alcoholic cocktail), two lemon and two pistaccio macaroons and two Pasteis de Nata. The bill was 26.50 Euro / ca. 31.60 USD.

The other time we went to enjoy a complimentary experience as HH gold members. The second choice we didn't take would have been to make our own cocktails. The Tea Ceremony included Dilmah Private Estate Teas. We chose one pot of green and one Jasmine green tea. The scones had to be preordered, which we did the day before. We had one Algarvian orange and one fig and lemon scone and two chocolate macaroons.

Marco was on both occassions very friendly, informative and helpful. We felt well taken care of.

The Lago Lounge had a small library and a few board games. There were also flat screen TVs mounted on some of the walls, showing sports channels.

In the reception was a classic Mercedes car. There was an Art Space and Dunas Boutique to the left. The Art Space had an exhibition about Alain Bertrand and the art work could be bought.

There was a spa and fitness center. Classes on offer were yoga, stretching, belly dancing, zumba and much more.

Beside the infinity edged pool was a free form outdoor pool and an indoor pool.

Other facilties included a Billiard Room, a Nannie's Room and table tennis. We tried it, which was fun, but more often than not we missed the ball...he he!

The Tempo Sports Lounge and Golf Shop offered golf related material. An autograph of Tyrrell Hatton, who won the Dunhill Open in St. Andrews at the Old Course 2016, was displayed. It was an interesting connection, since we had stayed at the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews just a few weeks before the actual tournement and our stay at the Conrad Algarve.

Of course there were tennis and basketball courts too.

A free shuttle service was offered to the beach from 10.00 hours to 12.00 hours and 15.00 hours to 17.00 hours.
A beach concession had to be paid, which was 20 Euro / ca. 23.90 USD for a full day or 15 Euro / ca. 17.90 USD for a half day. It included two sun beds, a shade, water and towels.

The concierge can organize many tours. I have noted some of them. You can go clam picking at Ria Formosa Natural Park, which is nearby. Join a wine master class or explore the local markets with the executive chef;afterwards you will learn how to make Cataplana. There was a speed boat trip
to a desert island and much more.

It's no wonder the hotel is award winning including "best resort in the world". Some of them were displayed in vitrines and on the reception desks.

The staff we encountered was friendly and helpful. Ordering a taxi was always done quickly. It was a private company and the system interesting too. The drive to the destination could be charged to the room, while the return journey had to be paid in cash or by credit card.

The Conrad was a good place to relax, have privacy, attentive service, fine dining on the premisses, stroll in the garden or go upscale/luxury shopping. Visiting other hotels or have a meal at a Michelin stared restaurant was also possible incl. dinner at Sao Gabriel which we enjoyed during one of our evenings in the Algarve. For all those reasons we would return.

Here's a selection of our images we took while staying at this beautiful resort in October 2016 including:

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Would we recommend this resort to a friend? YES! ^
Would we want to enjoy this resort again in our future? YES! ^

Thank you and safe travels. :)

Gusto by Heinz Beck, Conrad Algarve, Quinta do Lago, [Almancil], Portugal [R+P]
 

Our dinner, October 2016

My fiancé and I informed ourselves about the dining outlets available at the Conrad Algarve, where we stayed in October 2016. We saw there was Gusto by Heinz Beck, who is a three Michelin stared chef at La Pergola at the Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and wanted to try it, so we booked a table.

Gusto isn’t mentioned in the Michelin guide, but it counts as one of the best restaurants in the country and has been awarded 5 Diamonds.

When exploring the hotel we found the restaurant, but it had closed. We were a bit curious, so we had a look through the glass door, where employees were already busy. They saw our interest and allowed us in. It was a nice touch.

Later we returned for a visit to the bar. The mixologist is one of the best and award winning.

We chose from the “Avenue of the Stars” cocktail list. It is based on films, which have an association with Hilton, in our case the Hilton Chicago. One was the Moonlightning inspired by “Little Fockers” and the other the Touch Down by “Express Ernie Davies Story”. One was served with a smoked salt ream. When the salt came in contact with the liquid it made the composition perfect. The other was served like a Tiki cocktail. Both were outstanding. When the mixologist heard we were having later dinner at Gusto, he took our room number and promised the cocktails would be charged with the meal, so we didn’t have to sign for two. That’s good customer service.

We changed for dinner and returned to the restaurant.

There was a dramatic change. During the day it was bright and airy; at night sexy, dark and otherworldly with many globe lampshades. The interior and cuisine were postmodern.

The staff couldn’t have been more attentive, warm and concerned about our well-being during the whole dinner.

Fellow diners were two families, a small group and couples.

We were brought to our table by the maître d’ and handed the drink and wine menu.

We knew most of the waters on offer, so we chose a Portuguese one we hadn’t tried before. It was called Vimeira. We liked it.

The amouse-bouche and greetings from the kitchen were Parmesan cheese, saffron sauce, goats cheese meringue, parsley biscuit with oyster mayonnaise and cracker.

Our appetizers were tuna and beetroot Carpaccio on wasabi and beetroot mayonnaise and marinated fois gras on cantucci cream, moscatel desetubal jelly, salted cocoa crumbles and raspberry meringue.

The main courses were risotto with apple, fois gras and amaretti biscuits and cod fish cooked in garlic olive oil, sautéed beans with tomato confit and soy, bean foam and parsley snow.

The desserts were Lampone 1.1 (eleven textures of raspberry including fresh, dry, pearls, crystalized, cremoso, jelly, white puffed raspberry chocolate, meringue of raspberry, hazelnut raspberry sponge, rock raspberry sugar and raspberry sorbet) and choco passion with passion fruit ganache, cocoa sable, sponge of Cuore de Guanaja, sphere of chocolate semi freddo and passion fruit sorbet.

He had a glass of late harvest dessert wine from 2011 Outono de Santar Vindima Tardia Dao.

Petite Fours were served with the bill, which included chocolate with caramel, blueberry jelly, marshmallows and lemon macaroon.

The meal counts among the best we ever had so far and reaffirms to us that Heinz Beck and his team of chefs around the world remain in the forefront of fine dining experiences. The dishes were complicated; the flavors were bursting and the combinations worked well together.

The risotto was a new creation, it was outstanding and different, so my fiancé was asked for feedback.

As promised our cocktails were with our dinner combined on the bill, which was 208.50 Euro, ca. 245.90 USD.

In our opinion it was good value for money and should we visit the Algarve again we would return to this beautiful restaurant.

Here's a selection of images we took during our memorable dinner in October 2016 including:

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Would we recommend this restaurant to a friend? YES! ^
Would we want in our future to enjoy dinner again at this restaurant? YES! ^

Thank you and safe travels. :)

Outstanding reviews and pictures uggboy ^^

Thank you for taking the time to post these as they definitely whet the appetite and I'll be here in Nov. for a long weekend and I'm now looking forward to this more than ever. ^

Thanks once again, safe travels.

I second BotB, awesome photos and thanks for sharing your review and stunning photos.

Had a fabulous stay here back in April 2015 and hope to return in the future, Amazing property and the photos show this in great detail.

as always BotB I look forward to your detailed review in the future of your stay here ^ (enjoyed the Bankside penthouse review)

I've only visited this lovely property once during its first year. The hotel has just celebrated its fifth anniversary. Definitely time to return soon. This Conrad was the one that inspired me to start "collecting" Conrad properties.

Thanks for the kind words, glad you find my (and others) pictorial reviews of use ^

Our trip in Nov. is going to be interesting as there will be three of us (all FTers, we've done some trips before together) and we're splashing out on a very nice rental car and driving from Lisbon to here for the weekend and I've ticked the NOR1 box for the free diamond upgrade to a king deluxe suite pool view, so have the feeling the weekend will be an all or nothing type affair...hoping it goes well!

Will definitely post a review to add to the excellent reviews from uggboy and others here. ^

Wonderful reviews. Very excited to stay there soon!

King Grand Deluxe Room with Pool View and Gusto Restaurant Review
 

Introduction A few years ago, when one accessed the Hilton homepage, I can remember seeing a pool scene with seemingly no edge to the pool…It looked stunning and that was a picture from the Conrad Algarve apparently which I thereafter always wanted to try and visit someday…It has taken me a few years but that finally happened and I’m glad I went. A lovely country, trip, hotel and region. (especially out of season when the number of people is lower, the temperatures are warm but not stupidly hot and there is more time to enjoy a slower pace of life.A mostly pictorial review of the very nice and quite reasonably priced Conrad Algarve hotel in a King Grand Deluxe Room with Pool View.We drove down from Lisbon airport to the Algarve with a rental car and that took about 3 hours on the very nice toll motorway (expensive though at Euro 25 roughly each way for tolls). Because we had a car, we drove to Faro one day to look around and would recommend that for a few hours of exploring and sightseeing as well as the obligatory beach visits (there is a beach not 5 minutes from the hotel using good roads through a new luxury housing development that I would recommend.)Highly recommended. Check In We (3 FTers) checked in at the hotel as I have not seen online check-in at this hotel via the app. We did have email correspondence with the hotel before our stay to inform them of our arrival time (just a bit early at around 2 PM instead of the 3 PM officially for this hotel) and to arrange a booking in the hotel’s restaurant ‘Gusto’ which is quite popular and we wanted to try as a highlight of the trip. Check in was fairly quick and the service was outstanding. As we were 3 people checking in together as a group which they knew about in advance, my two friends were upgraded to the same room type I had booked from entry level rooms, which was nice as it meant we were all close together and gave them a nice upgrade. It also ensured one of our group that doesn’t have any meaningful Hilton status, could also have breakfast and Spa access without charge so this was greatly appreciated.We each had a welcome bottle of wine (red, 750 ml size), a litre of still water and a card in the rooms waiting for us. All of our rooms were facing the pool and had the biggest balconies of the hotel that I could see (outside of the best suite in the hotel). Service Service was outstanding by everyone in the hotel with only one or two exceptions, which was during breakfast, where one or two staff were simply okay. The rest of the staff were exemplary in their enthusiasm, friendly helpful demeanour and service. (whether bellboy, valet (we had a lovely S-Class rental car on this trip), lobby bar, house cleaning staff, spa staff or restaurant staff. Some of the best service I’ve experienced without being over the top. Valet parking here is free (imagine that!) and we did tip at the end to the valet for the excellent service in getting the car/parking it and helping with our bags, etc…but that was not expected from the reaction we received (although it was appreciated!) Dining We used a few of the facilities here but did not try everything as some of the restaurants are closed during certain days in the evenings for example. We did try the lobby bar for drinks and some snacks two days (lovely and quite popular), breakfast in Louro restaurant, a lovely well lit space from natural light and more casual seating. The breakfast selection was very good and the quality of items offered was very good as well. Both days I left rather more full than I had planned and certainly more than I needed! My only critique is that some items were at additional charge and that speciality coffees seemed to take quite a long time to arrive. (but the wait was worth it for the quality and presentation of the coffees, and one did not need to order items from the menu to be very satisfied to be honest as there was a cook to order omelette station as well as fried and scrambled eggs available at no extra cost…)One evening we ate across the road from the hotel where there is plenty of choice from economical food choices (catering to those missing the UK) to fine dining as well as upmarket shopping at upmarket prices.On a Saturday evening we ate at Gusto, the main evening restaurant at the Conrad and we as a group of 3 tried the 7 course tasting menu, I took the accompanying wine selection and my colleagues decided to just go for a bottle of wine with the meal. From memory, the 7 course menu is Euro 95 / person and with accompanying wines it is 165 Euro, not inexpensive but well worth it if you do enjoy food and decide to afford it. As one would expect at these prices, the service and food was excellent and without peer. I would highly recommend the wine selection as it complemented the dishes so amazingly well I still can’t believe it. I would definitely partake of this again if I am lucky enough to stay here again in the future. I have included a picture of the menu choices (rather more simply listed than what was described to us) with the accompanying wines listed as well. Pictures of all courses are shown as well with the exception of the finishing petite fours…which I was either too tipsy to remember to take a picture of, or simply needed to get in before my friends had devoured them! Details with the meal were amazing, from the 4 types of salt provided to try the three types of bread with the meal (pumpkin, mushroom and white bread with sea salt, clay infused salt, coconut shell infused salt and one other that fails me right now…as examples of the variety and taste journey you’ll go on)… Room The room was lovely, very large, excellent quality and we all really enjoyed them. The bathrooms were generous, and the balconies were massive with lovely views. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. the bottle of Dom was not provided by the hotel! (we always buy a bottle in duty free and bring it with us to celebrate the trip one evening in one of the rooms before heading out and I seem to have captured that in the pictures this time!)I’ll just mention that both sides of the room have large sliding balcony doors so you can really get some lovely fresh air in the room. Overall A stunning hotel, great rooms, excellent restaurant and service. We all said that we would come back and loved our time here. Highly recommended.For even better pictures of the hotel, area and another stay please see uggboy's outstanding review in the Hilton forum thread dedicated to this hotel (post 106).Safe travels.

all true
 

Had a 5 night reward stay here (booked before the devaluation - 40k/night *sigh*) in the first days of October and can second all of the two fantastic reviews (and pictures!) just above.

Ok, when they still had free steak for breakfast it was even more special, but I doubt commercially viable ;)