Robinson Quinta Da Ria - All Inclusive

“Loved it”

Just returned from the Robinson Quinta Da Ria in The Algarve. Had to say my daughter booked it without too much input from us! …..then we checked Tripadvisor! To say we were a bit anxious is an understatement. But no worries at all, it was lovely. All the bad comments were completely unbelievable, … more

Just returned from the Robinson Quinta Da Ria in The Algarve. Had to say my daughter booked it without too much input from us! …..then we checked Tripadvisor! To say we were a bit anxious is an understatement. But no worries at all, it was lovely. All the bad comments were completely unbelievable, we had the most brilliant time. The location is amazing, as long as you like golf and remote. The beach, a mile or so away is beautiful and if the tides are right, get across the lagoon to the dunes and the Atlantic beach. Daniel at the Beach Truck is well worth a visit – either walk or catch the buggy – a friendly face and a lovely drink or two! Back at the resort, the pool is cold but there are plenty of beds to use before you build up courage! The pool bar is great too, Dario or Raphael , are helpful and fun. The entire staff were great and out and about. The room was fab – 720 was ours – was spacious and quiet, although the air con was a little noisy and not very effective. Our minor complaint was that the towels were awful…small and old – a bit tatty! Sort that out! Only other real complaint was that the Beach truck – and the toilets - did not open until 10:30. Would have loved a coffee and the loo earlier!!! The food was great, no complaints but the evening rush could be avoided by more double tables – love the ethos, but not wanted. ….saw an English couple endure an awful evening meal with a group of Germans who ignored them! Just put in a few more couple’s tables, after all we are paying enough for our holiday. Loved it and would definitely recommend!

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“Another great golf holiday.”

Having visited the Robinson club twice before with a group of golfers and enjoyed it so much I visited again with my wife. She subsequently loves this place as much as me. The courses are great and the food in the hotel is brilliant, so much choice. Rooms are large and very comfortable with a fridg… more

Having visited the Robinson club twice before with a group of golfers and enjoyed it so much I visited again with my wife. She subsequently loves this place as much as me. The courses are great and the food in the hotel is brilliant, so much choice. Rooms are large and very comfortable with a fridge, coffee machine and a safe. The staff everywhere are friendly and helpful making our stay wonderful. We will be back.

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“Beautiful grounds, amazing for nature lovers, great pool, great food - BRILLIANT!”

An absolutely amazing place and we are seriously considering coming back next year. We booked the trip as a family holiday for 3 (with a seven year old) but also because the hotel is on the edge of the Ria Formosa Nature Reserve and we are into birdwatching and nature-watching. It didn't disappoint… more

An absolutely amazing place and we are seriously considering coming back next year. We booked the trip as a family holiday for 3 (with a seven year old) but also because the hotel is on the edge of the Ria Formosa Nature Reserve and we are into birdwatching and nature-watching. It didn't disappoint in this regard! The hotel grounds are gorgeous and so well-kept - the trees, flowers and landscaping really is lovely and you can tell that a lot of care goes into the hotel. We saw geckos, hummingbird hawkmoths and even a preying mantis here. The hotel itself is surrounded by beautiful scenery (including the golf courses) and you'll see loads of birds by just wandering around the resort. We saw Hoopoes, Red-Rumped Swallow, Little Owl, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Spotless Starling, Iberian Magpie, Iberian Green Woodpecker and loads more on a daily basis. Highlights were a male Golden Oriole seen on the golf course about 20m away from our room! From the hotel grounds, you can walk down to the saltwater tidal lagoon in the Ria Formosa. The walk (about 1km each way) takes you through more typical Mediterranean scenery, where you get different birds that aren't seen as easily in the hotel grounds. Just before the lagoon, you'll find the beach bar and some loungers (part of the hotel grounds so all free). From here, you can go down the steps to the lagoon itself where there are thousands of fiddler crabs and loads of waders, egrets, spoonbills etc. At low tide, you can walk across to reach the actual beach and sea but we didn't do this on this trip. I saw White Stork and got a fly-over of a Greater Flamingo from here, but had I lugged my scope down to the beach, I probably could have seen many more. In total, I got 60 species on my trip, including 9 lifers, from just a few early morning walks. The rest of the trip was spent in the pool area, which is really clean with a nice chilled vibe and a pool bar. There are loads of choices for loungers and we could always find 3 for us, even when going down to the pool at 10 or 11am. There seem to be lots of multi-generation families, so there's something for everyone here. There were aqua fit classes on some days and everyone who got involved was respectful and kind. Our daughter really built her confidence with swimming here and there are different areas of the pool with different depths - a 0.8m area with waterfalls, a relaxing bit with jets, etc. The main area of the pool is 1.4m deep, with a 1.2m section also, so it's great if your children aren't fully confident/competent swimmers yet. There is also a 0.35m deep toddlers pool, which is very cold! But does warm up later in the day. The hotel is probably aware, but lots of the tiles here were missing so it probably does need some maintenance. Everyone comments on how good the food is, and for good reason! It's amazing, there's so much choice and there are daily 'specials' so you can try different things. Breakfast had quite a lot of options - cereals and muesli with loads of choices for toppings, pancakes, waffles, pastries, bread, continental style meat & cheese, and some cooked breakfast choices too which aren't what you'd get in the UK, but still fine. At lunch, you can grab freshly cooked pizza, pasta, chips, meat options, a stir fry/curry option, loads of fresh salad options to create your own salad and mix and match. Similar options for dinner but there are usually specialities being freshly cooked which are delicious. Oh and there are desserts - so many desserts! So you're not going to be stuck for choice. The hotel also holds special nights, e.g. the gala night where they served fillet steak and oysters, and the street food night where there were stalls outside, so there's a lot of variety. The rooms are kept very clean and are comfortable with aircon, a nice big bathroom with a shower, a separate WC and large walk-in style closet. They also provide a coffee maker with a few pods, mini fridge, hair dryer, robes and towels. Our room was on the ground floor and we'd asked for a quiet one, which was on the edge of the golf course and was indeed quiet. The staff in all roles in the hotel are so friendly (and do multiple roles). The vast majority speak amazing English and those who don't will always try to help. Before coming, I saw some of the recent reviews about it being a German hotel and this causing a lot of issues... this is total rubbish. Yes, there are many German guests here but there are also guests from Spain and Portugal too. I'm not sure how this could ruin a person's holiday given that you're travelling to Portugal so should be expecting people who are not British to be here :) It's probably worth saying that some of the sports activities and the kids club only provide services in German, so if you're the type of holiday maker who likes to bin their kids off in the kids' club, then this place isn't for you. However, we didn't have any issues with other guests whatsoever and found that the hotel is a lot more sophisticated than hotels that tend to have a lot of British guests! I think giving feedback is important so there are a few things the hotel can do to make things even better (and how we got around them!) The dinner service is from 7:30 - 9:15pm and this needs to be longer I think. It's tough if you have younger children - we didn't try the kids early dinner option but just opted to go down at 7.30. Yes, guests like to queue for dinner from about 7:15 but this tends to be to get the tables that are outside. We never had an issue getting a table inside. You'll also see typical selfish people (like couples or families of 3) trying to take up a whole table designed for 8 and not wanting others to sit there - the staff could probably help with this a little more rather than it being a free for all. I also think if they lengthened the dinner sitting, there'd be less of an issue with tables and the food serving area in general would be less busy and noisy (compared to breakfast, which is a lot more chill). The other thing the hotel could do is to make the air con for the indoor seating areas a lot better - it was so hot so take a mini fan with you! The other suggestions are also based around heat! Our room was west facing so got all of the afternoon sun, which made the room super hot even with the air con left on. I think installing better/stronger air con in these rooms would really help with guest comfort. However, if you're thinking about coming here, don't let these put you off as they're really minor. My partner and I tried to find 5 faults, but could only find 4 - the last one being why isn't iced coffee served in the pool bar?! If that's the level of criticism we could come up with for this hotel, then that tells you what you need to know. All in all, it was an amazing experience and we didn't even take the train to the nearby beach, leave the resort or do any of the sports activities or golf! So if you're into these things, you're likely to get even more out of coming here, and hopefully we can do these things when we return next year!

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“Really enjoyable week with lots of positives”

Just today returned from a week at the Robinson Quinta da Ria with my friend (both in our 40s). Above all, my experience of the hotel was highly positive. The resort itself is really attractive, with a view over the golf course. Everywhere was extremely clean and tidy and it has a really peaceful … more

Just today returned from a week at the Robinson Quinta da Ria with my friend (both in our 40s). Above all, my experience of the hotel was highly positive. The resort itself is really attractive, with a view over the golf course. Everywhere was extremely clean and tidy and it has a really peaceful feel to it. I particularly appreciated that they don’t blast loud music out over the pool area all day but instead there’s just pleasant background music. The pool is huge and appealing. But I would describe the temperature as “startling”! It was amusing to see everyone gingerly getting in with a shocked look on their faces (me included!) There are loads of sunbeds which means no rush in the morning to get one or try and “reserve” with a towel. Some days we didn’t get down to the pool area until 11am and still easily found beds. There were also the “daybeds” (large doubles with a canopy) but we preferred having mobile sunbeds we could reposition as the sun moved across the sky. The food was of a fantastic quality and the variety seriously impressive. I don’t think I’ve been to a hotel before with such a choice. Every day there was something else to try which inevitably ended up with us piling our plates high. The staff are really friendly and work hard to ensure everyone has a good time and has what they need. We were both also really impressed with the evening entertainment which wasn’t cheesy like most holiday resorts. Instead there was either a DJ or live music at the pool bar each night. A particular favourite was the silent disco on our final night! Really good fun. To the minor criticisms/suggestions. Our room (510) was on the ground floor and on the corner and so was very quiet. But it was really dark and with a small terrace instead of a balcony. The room itself could also do with modernising. It was just a bit tired. As others have mentioned the evening dinner situation is a bit bonkers. As we were two friends on our own we had to queue from 7:15 each night to ensure we could get a table for two when dinner started at 7:30. The waiters open the doors and there’s a mad rush for tables. Otherwise you have to find a table and sit with strangers (not the worst thing in the world but whilst I speak German my friend didn’t and nearly all guests are German). We couldn’t understand why the window for dinner wasn’t longer which would help a bit with the mad rush for seats. Speaking of which, we actually found the fact most guests were German to be a positive as Brits. No “Brits abroad” behaviour and it meant we could really tune out and relax. All the staff speak English so whilst it is a German resort with mostly German guests I don’t agree with other reviews that say that it’s alienating for British people. We didn’t find this to be the case. To sum up we really enjoyed our week and I’d recommend to others.

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