Algarve, Portugal

Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve

Price per night from$304.31

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR262.13), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve Photos

Style

(Thalas)so soothing

Setting

Arcadian Algarve

Explore

More hotels in Algarve More hotels in Portugal

Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve’s siren call has been bewitching since the Sixties, and today this revamped resort is as alluring as ever. Liquid diets here are nourishing: water-based treatments at the consummate spa, dips in five seawater pools and breeze-tickled boat trips. On solid ground, terrace-blessed bedrooms, a raft of locally rooted restaurants and seasonal garden barbecues are a catch for the whole family.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A personalised welcome gift

Facilities

Photos Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve facilities

Need to know

Rooms

130, including 21 two- and three-bedroom residences.

Check–Out

Noon, and check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates at Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve include buffet breakfast, served in a dedicated breakfast room, with lactose- and gluten-free options; each room gets one hour free on the tennis courts daily.

Also

Two Junior Suite Garden View rooms are adapted for guests with reduced mobility, and all communal areas are accessible.

Hotel closed

The hotel is open until 15 November 2025, when it closes until February 2026.

At the hotel

Gym, tennis and padel courts, boutique, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and Grown Alchemist bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Barcelona-based Quintana Partners Studio are the creative minds behind Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve’s new aesthetic, and have woven in natural and traditional design elements alongside contemporary takes on coastal interiors. We’re bagging a Deluxe Suite for its in-room marble soaking tub and garden-gazing balcony with a day-bed that’s primed for alfresco siestas.

Poolside

The four outdoor pools don’t just take inspiration from the Atlantic Sea beyond, they’re filled with seawater, too. They’re dotted throughout the resort and are all dressed up with curved edges, sunlounger-lined terraces and plenty of planting to soften its contours. You’ll find a fifth heated pool, indoor at the spa.

Spa

Vilalara Wellness Club is an all-bells-and-whistles upgrade on your traditional spa. Sure, you can switch off with the usual frills — sauna, hammam, pool — but classic treatments are given a holistic twist: collagen facials, seaweed body wraps and garden-inspired couples’ massages. Dip your toe into thalassotherapy, with a menu of water-based rituals, or book in for a healing journey with tailored-to-you therapies across several days. Weekly wellness offerings include yoga, pilates, breathwork and sound healing for a restorative fix beyond the pools and treatments. There’s also a modest gym to keep your workout regime ticking over.

Packing tips

A salt tooth: there are five seawater pools and you’re perched above the Atlantic.

Children

Welcome. Every room takes one free baby cot or charged extra (rollaway) bed. The kids’ club opens daily; it’s geared for little Smiths up to age 12, but under-sixes will need parental supervision. Babysitting can be arranged with notice for an extra cost.

Best for

All ages.

Recommended rooms

A free baby cot or charged extra bed can be added to each room. The two- and three-bedroom residences are best for bigger gaggles.

Crèche

The kids' club opens daily for creative activities, such as treasure hunts and arts and crafts. It caters to children up to age 12, but under-sixes will need parental supervision, too.

Activities

Older kiddos can head for rounds of padel, tennis or pickleball on the hotel's courts.

Swimming pool

The outdoor pools are all child-friendly.

Babysitting

Can be arranged, on request and with advance notice.

Sustainability efforts

Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve looks to reduce its carbon footprint by using solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, water-saving devices and seawater in its pools. Local suppliers and a kitchen garden stock the restaurants with seasonal produce, and plastic is being phased out for biodegradable alternatives, such as refillable amenities, recyclable materials and wooden room keys. Electric vehicles are used for internal logistics, and there are two on-site charging stations.

Food and Drink

Photos Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve food and drink

Top Table

We can never say no to a terrace table.

Dress Code

Fresh from the pool flies at A-Costa and Vento; your best sustainable threads for Raízes, and something smarter for dinners at Coral.

Hotel restaurant

The resort’s five restaurants cater to all palates and moods. Fine Coral celebrates the sea’s bounty in its evening tasting menus of Algarvian produce and biodynamic wines. Traditional Italian cooking delights at Trattoria Pantaleone, and its fresh pasta and pizza cater to the whole family. Raízes is a garden-set pop-up that hosts farm-to-table barbecues of organic, seasonal ingredients, twice weekly. Take your pick from two poolside spots: A-Costa with its light Portuguese plates and resort classics, such as a Caesar salad and club sandwich, or Mediterranean Vento for lunches of mezze platters and healthy bowls.

Hotel bar

Drinks flow at each of the resort’s restaurants, particularly A-Costa, which pours jugs of juicy sangría until midnight. At Thalasso Bar (10.30am–7pm), soothing comes in the form of something stronger than water: cocktails, cider and kombucha. At the hotel’s seasonal Beach Club (9am–7pm), you’ll find a bar with tipples, light bites and sunloungers.

Last orders

Coral opens for dinner from 7pm–10pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Dine at A-Costa between 12.30pm and 10.30pm; at Vento, from noon to 5pm. Trattoria Pantaleone serves 6.30pm–10pm. Raízes barbecues Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8pm, May to October.

Room service

You can order dishes from a dedicated menu at any hour.

Location

Photos Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve location
Address
Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve
Praia das Gaivotas Alporchinhos Porches
Lagoa
8400-450
Portugal

Between Lagos and Faro on Portugal’s southern coastline, Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve overlooks the Atlantic from small seaside town, Alporchinos.

Planes

Faro International Airport is a 50-minute drive from the hotel; staff can arrange transfers on request. Lisbon and Seville’s airports are each two and a half hours away by car.

Trains

Rail routes from Lisbon, Faro and Lagos call at Tunes station, which is a 25-minute drive from the hotel, and staff can organise transfers on request.

Automobiles

A set of wheels comes in handy for branching out from the resort, and there’s free parking at the hotel, plus valet services and two electric-vehicle charging stations.

Worth getting out of bed for

Sun- and thrill-seekers cross over at Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve, where dropping and flopping by one of five pools is held in equal esteem to spirited games on the tennis, padel and pickleball courts. After spells at the spa, continue your virtuosity with a mindful walk, sound healing session or dynamic workout. 

Wholesomeness is also found at the resort’s kitchen garden, in an olive oil tasting or market-to-table cooking class, where you’ll prepare — and eat — a traditional cataplana (seafood stew). Staff can arrange bespoke vineyard tours at a nearby winery, where you can find your preferred vintage to sip.

Art Reef Vhils is a singular experience: an underwater exhibition set on a man-made reef to champion marine conservation. Above the water, you could cruise on boat charter to crystal-clear coves — a journey inspired by Vilalara’s founder.

Local restaurants

Tasca 26 cooks up a steak-based storm with charcuterie boards, sizzling skewers and sharing plates. Answer Restaurante Ocean’s fine-dining call, and you’ll be rewarded with delicately presented plates and creative tasting menus, with seafood playing a starring role. Boho-chic Calixtos Beach Bar & Restaurant is an easy-breezy spot for lingering lunches of summery flavours and punchy cocktails.

Local cafés

Sweet Spot hits just that with its coffee-to-cocktails ethos, sandwiches and decadent pastries.

Reviews

Photos Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this coastal resort in the Algarve and unpacked their salt scrubs and gardening tips, a full account of their breezy beach break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve in Portugal…

In the Sixties, British investor George Ansley was sailing along the picturesque Algarve Coast when he spotted a cliff-backdropped plot of land that captured his heart. And you might have guessed it: it became the scenic setting for Vilalara Grand Hotel Algarve, a passion project named after his granddaughter, Lara.

It swiftly became the place to stay over the following decades, and countless notable guests rocked up for its signature spa rituals (if we’re name-dropping, Princess Diana and Jimmy Carter were soothed by its seawater remedies).

Although a recent refresh places this sustainably minded resort firmly in the 21st century, you can still pay homage to the hotel’s star-studded legacy: boat charters along the cove-dotted coastline nod to Ansley’s discovery sail; alongside thalassotherapy, you can sample a host of wholesome offerings — sound healing, yoga, seaweed body wraps — at the spa; and its familial spirit is still palpable at good-natured padel games and sociable barbecue evenings.

Book now

Price per night from $299.67

Hotels nearby

Villas nearby

Recently viewed