Frank – ALGARVE – JUNE 2017

Sorry about my state of panic at the start of the holiday but given what happened with Poloturs last time, I was prepared for the worst!

No hitches at all this time – the driver was even 10 minutes early for the trip back to the airport.

So no issues at all with the transfers, the hotel or the golf. It all worked out very well so thank you very much for organising.

In terms of the courses, the only one we wouldn’t be in a mad rush to play again is Pinhal – and only because it is so similar to Vila Sol. Laguna is very different with its lakes and bunkers so I’d recommend this one as a “lower-cost” course. As we have discussed before, Vale do Lobo is an ideal final day pre-airport course. Great facilities, showers, space for luggage and reasonably priced food. Buggies were cheap also – as you suggested – 20 Euros after 11am.

Vilamoura is a top resort – it has something for everyone. Old and young alike. But we knew that already!

I wish I could dish out similar praise to my local airport – Luton. But the bottlenecks there on Sunday evening are getting worse. 30 minutes to get through passport control at midnight. Delightful…

A few things to make you aware of – in case you didn’t already know and which might help with other tours you organise to the region.

• As discussed when we arrived at Faro – the tourist post with Poloturs has disappeared completely. I needn’t have worried as our driver was shrewd in waiting for 15 minutes after the flight landed before showing up.
• The deal with free hotel transfers to golf courses (for the Dom Pedro branded ones) is that you ask at reception 10 minutes before you want to leave and then they usually arrive within 15-20 minutes. You can’t book in advance. It’s a “seat of the pants” service but it works really well.
• Our rooms at Dom Pedro did not have balconies this time but did have large lounges with a comfortable pull-out sofa bed in each. This is great as with the oppressive heat, it is far better to split the occupants of a twin room than both sharing one small twin bedroom where it can get really stuffy.
• The other good thing about the hotel is that the aircon doesn’t switch off when you leave the room. A huge plus when it gets to 35-37 degrees outside.

I think we’ll certainly be back to Vilamoura – possibly every other year. Too early to say where we’re going next year. Some suggestion of basing ourselves around Estepona if we can get flights to work. Anyway, we’ll no doubt be in touch.

All the best.

Frank