Adriana Beach Club Hotel Resort

This hotel is a gem and is perfect for a relaxing break in the Algarve, staff are fantastic, food is excellent and it’s always spectacular visiting

AP Adriana Beach Resort, Portugal: Family Holiday Review

We recently spent a week at AP Adriana Beach Resort in Portugal as a family of four, two adults and two children aged 7 and 11, and overall, we had a really enjoyable stay.

Arrival & the resort

We arrived a good few hours before the official check-in time because of our early flight, but the staff were fantastic and managed to get us into our room early, which was a brilliant start to the holiday.

The resort is big! Another review described it as being like a “village”, and I think that’s a very accurate description. There’s a lot of walking involved depending on where your room is located, although there are buggies available. You can also book these for pick-ups and drop-offs if your room is further away, which is really useful.

Our room was nice and had everything we needed. To be honest, we mainly used it as a base, so it was perfectly adequate for us.

We were located near the smaller pool, which worked perfectly for our family as we prefer a quieter atmosphere. We ended up spending most of our pool time there. The grill restaurant next to the pool was also really convenient because you could have breakfast and lunch there, and you could reserve a table for dinner too. This meant you could quite easily spend the whole day in that area if you wanted.

The main pool was definitely more lively, with the animation team, music and games going on throughout the day, so there really is an option for different types of holiday.

Food

Food was probably the thing I was most nervous about after reading some of the other reviews, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.

As with any all-inclusive resort, you’ll always get people saying the food is repetitive, and of course there are certain staples that appear regularly, but there was a selection available.

Breakfast had plenty of continental options including yoghurt, granola, fruit, breads, croissants and pain au chocolat, alongside cooked breakfast options. You could easily put together a full English breakfast if that’s what you fancied so you could change it up if you wanted.

Lunch always had options such as plain pasta with different sauces, cheese and salad so you could make something to your own taste, as well as meats, rice, chips and a different main dish each day. There were also usually different fish and meat options being cooked on the outside grill. This is based on the grill restaurant only as we did not lunch at the other restaurant.

Dinner followed a similar format, with pasta, rice, chips, salad and various fish and meat dishes, alongside different sides.

There were vegetarian options throughout the week too, such as spinach lasagne and bean stew.

The desserts were always nice as well.

Overall, I thought the food was decent and there was enough variety to keep us happy for the week, I can see how longer than a week would feel much more repetitive though. I was expecting worse after reading some of the reviews, so I was definitely relieved.

Activities & entertainment

There’s plenty to do around the resort. You can book activities such as archery, tennis and mini golf, with other things dotted around the resort including a pool table and air hockey.

The evening entertainment was also good. There were live singers, a kids’ disco and often an additional attraction or entertainment in the main area.

If you wanted something a little quieter, the bar next to the smaller pool also had live entertainment on some evenings, usually singers, which was lovely for a more relaxed evening.

There is a small shop on site with basics/essentials and other bits and bobs. There is a chargeable bus to go into nearby towns from the hotel or you can book an uber but there is nothing within walking distance of the hotel to visit.

The beach

One of the biggest positives for us was having the beach so close.

You access the beach using your room key, and the views are incredible. There are quite a few steps down to the beach and, of course, back up again, but for us they were absolutely worth it.

There is a bench partway down the stairs, which is useful if you need to stop and break up the journey.

A few things to be aware of

One thing to note is the sun loungers. On arrival, you’re told that reserving loungers isn’t allowed, but during our stay, particularly as it was peak season, some people were reserving them anyway. It wasn’t ridiculously early either. By around 8am, most people had already put towels down.

If you have a later flight home and need somewhere to stay after check-out, I’d recommend discussing this as early as possible. There was a quick room turnaround while we were there, and availability for room extensions and later check-outs was not available which is definitely on us but definitely worth noting for anyone else who may not have thought about it.

On that same note there also isn’t a designated room for changing or showering if you want to make use of the facilities after checking out which they allow. There is a luggage room, although it does remain open and unlocked, so this is something to be aware of.

Overall

Overall, we really enjoyed our week at AP Adriana Beach Resort. It’s a large resort, so be prepared for plenty of walking, but there’s lots available and we liked having different areas to choose from.

For us, the smaller pool, the nearby beach, the range of activities and entertainment, and the fact that there was always something we could find to eat all made for a really enjoyable family holiday. A week for this resort felt like long enough and just right in our opinion.

I went with some reservations after reading mixed reviews, particularly about the food, but I was pleasantly surprised. Would we go back? Yes. We had a great holiday.

Fantastic family holiday. Entertainment team were fantastic, I have no idea where they get their energy from - they are flat out from morning til night. The grill was brilliant for lunch, bbq fish and meat made fresh in front of you.