Vilamoura with kids: what is really worth it

Vilamoura did not grow, Vilamoura was drawn. In 1966 the banker Cupertino de Miranda began a holiday resort on around 1,600 hectares of bought land through the Lusotur company; today it covers some 2,000 hectares and is one of the largest continuous tourism complexes in Europe. There is no old town here, and no fishermen’s quarter either. What there is, is the Marina de Vilamoura, opened in 1974, with 825 berths for boats from 6 to 60 metres, the largest marina in Portugal. Everything else arranges itself around this harbour basin – for families, that is the real news.

What a resort drawn on a drawing board means for a day with children

The advantage is banal and still counts for a lot: the distances are short and flat. Wide promenades instead of cobbled lanes, restaurants and shops all around the basin, the main beach right beside it. An afternoon here comes out of whatever is within sight.

The price for that is chance. In Vilamoura you do not walk into a side street and find something. If you want the town that grew organically as well, walk roughly 3 km east along the water to Quarteira, to a fishing harbour and a market: doable on foot, but with tired children more the last move of the day than the first.

There is exactly one historical piece here: Cerro da Vila on the western edge of the marina, at the access road to Praia da Falésia. Roman ruins with mosaics, a bath complex and tanks for salting fish, plus a small museum. For children who can make something of “from Roman times”, it is worth a good half hour; for smaller ones it is an area with stones.

What works without a car

The tourist train through Vilamoura costs €6 and is the cheapest thing on offer in town (197 reviews). It replaces no sight, but it covers the stretch that small legs no longer want in the afternoon. The Family Golf Park Vilamoura, mini golf on themed holes for €18.50 (288 reviews), carries a wide age range, because bad shots are part of the game.

For older children: a Segway tour across Vilamoura and Quarteira by the sea (€56, 1.5 hours), a guided bike tour for €39 over 3 hours, e-bikes in Quarteira from €27.50. The rest is on the page for things to do on land.

Which beach suits which age

Praia de Vilamoura, also called Praia da Marina, lies directly beside the harbour basin and is the beach of short walks: busy and lively in summer, which with small children can be exhausting or relaxing. Praia da Rocha Baixinha, the eastern end of Praia da Falésia right by the marina, belongs administratively to Albufeira and is in practice Vilamoura’s second beach. It has carried the Blue Flag since 2012, is less crowded and has more room to walk.

Praia da Falésia itself runs about 6 km west to Olhos de Água, below orange-and-white clay and sand cliffs up to 42 metres high. A footpath runs along the top of the cliffs, about 3.5 km along the edge between Açoteias and the Praia dos Tomates section. With children who can already walk for a while at a stretch, it is the most striking route in the area.

Getting on the water without losing the whole day

Short trips leave from the marina, and short here means two hours. For €40 there is a dolphin search with a sea cave on a purpose-built boat that advertises a guaranteed individual seat for every guest rather than full benches (381 reviews). The most booked boat trip in town lasts 2.5 hours, costs €44.10 and combines the Benagil cave with dolphins (811 reviews). Three hours to dolphins and caves comes to €28, a catamaran at sunset to €25 (253 reviews).

Wild animals cannot be ordered. Common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins live off this coast all year round, and they are most likely to be seen early, when the water is smooth and fins stand out from a distance. What happens when nothing was seen is for each operator to decide and is stated on the booking page. The overviews: dolphins, catamaran and sunset, whose departure times shift by more than two hours between June and October.

One honest point about Benagil first: Vilamoura is not the best starting point for it. The cave lies 35 to 45 minutes west by car, about an hour and a half by boat; Portimão, Carvoeiro or Albufeira start closer, shorter and usually cheaper. Since August 2024 you may in any case only go inside the cave on a licensed guided tour; guided kayak and SUP tours, for their part, do not start in Vilamoura. What carries the trip from here is the coast in between: the orange cliffs of Praia da Falésia and Olhos de Água. More on the cave tours from Vilamoura.

The shortest item of all is water sports at the marina: parasailing for €45 or €50 with 10 minutes in the air, a jet ski for €90, a jet boat for €40, both 30 minutes. Because they need calm water close to shore, these are the ones most often cancelled at short notice.

What you have to get in the car for

Zoomarine near Guia is about 20 minutes away by car, costs €28.90 admission and, with 3,965 reviews, is the most booked offer in the whole catalogue. Krazy World in Algoz is about 30 minutes away by car and costs €15.95. Aqualand in Alcantarilha costs €23 and runs free shuttle buses from several towns, including Vilamoura and Quarteira – the only one of the three parks that works without a hire car.

Almancil is roughly 10 km or 11 minutes away by car: the Karting Almancil Family Park with go-karting from €14 (556 reviews), plus buggy tours for €125 over 1.5 to 3 hours (1,126 reviews). A quarter of an hour north lies Loulé with the TechSalt salt mine: €25, 2 hours underground, 1,714 reviews, and with that the item for rainy days.

“From what age?”

The question parents ask most often has an unsatisfying but honest answer. Not one of the 73 offer descriptions in this catalogue states an age limit. So there is no number that holds for Vilamoura. Operators set different limits; they are stated on the respective booking page and should be read there before booking.

Three things are worth checking: whether the booking page names a minimum age at all, whether the participant selection has its own child category with its own price, and what the participation requirements say. If it stays unclear, only asking the operator helps.

That the limits differ so much comes down to the type of boat. A catamaran has two hulls and lies steadier, an inflatable passes on every wave, a sailing boat heels. All these types leave from the same harbour basin, which is why the answer comes out differently for two neighbouring departure points.

What does not work here with children

Golf belongs to Vilamoura like the marina: five courses, Old Course, Pinhal, Laguna, Millennium and Victoria, under Dom Pedro Golf since 2016, with the Portugal Masters played on Victoria. Green fees, however, cannot be booked through the platforms this site compares: anyone who wants to play books directly with the course or through the hotel.

Two offers also look family-friendly and are not. The boat party with a DJ and an open bar costs €27 for two hours (445 reviews), leaves from the same harbour basin as the dolphin trips and is cheaper than almost anything else on the water. That does not make it a programme for children. And the five-hour trip to Benagil with brunch and an open bar for €49 (618 reviews) is remarkably cheap for its length, but five hours without getting off is long for small children.

When to book

In July and August the popular morning slots are sold out one to three days in advance; outside high season the evening before is usually enough. Almost every trip can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead, so committing early costs nothing.