Where to stay with kids in Portugal

Family hotel picks in Portugal

• 

  Baixa / Chiado€€Mid-range

  Apartment in the Baixa grid

  The Baixa grid is the only genuinely flat part of central Lisbon, which matters more here than in most cities. A two-bedroom apartment costs less than two hotel rooms, adds a kitchen and a washing machine, and puts every metro line, the trams and the riverside square within a few minutes on level ground.

  • Kitchen and washing machine
  • Flat walking to metro, trams and the river
  • Supermarkets and markets at street level
  • Two separate bedrooms rather than one shared room

  Fitting a family in

  Two-bedroom units sleep four to five without a rollaway. Confirm whether the second bedroom has a real window — interior rooms are common in these 18th-century blocks.

  Watch out. The buildings are old: lifts are small, slow or absent altogether, and a fourth-floor walk-up is a different holiday with a pushchair. Weekend nights are noisy towards Cais do Sodré, and street-facing rooms hear it.

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• 

  Parque das Nações€€Mid-range

  Family room in Parque das Nações

  The one district in Lisbon where a day with a pushchair or a tired toddler needs no planning at all: level ground everywhere, wide promenades, the aquarium and a cable car on the doorstep, and a shopping centre to retreat into when it rains.

  • Step-free throughout the district
  • Oceanário, science museum and playgrounds within walking distance
  • Metro to the centre in about 20 minutes
  • Direct rail and metro links to the airport side of the city

  Fitting a family in

  Modern builds here have more true family rooms and connecting doubles than the old centre, where a 'family room' is often a double with a sofa bed squeezed in.

  Watch out. It is a modern business and conference district with little of the atmosphere people come to Lisbon for, and it empties in the evening. Expect to commute in for dinner most nights.

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• 

  Albufeira / Vilamoura€€Mid-range

  Aparthotel with a pool near Albufeira

  A self-catering apartment with a shared pool is the cheapest way to house and feed four people on this coast, and the central Algarve has the densest supply of them. Breakfast at home, lunch by the pool and one meal out is a rhythm that works with small children and halves the food bill.

  • Kitchen, so breakfasts and picky-eater dinners happen in the apartment
  • Shared pool for the hours when the beach is too hot or too far
  • Supermarkets and family restaurants within walking distance
  • 30–45 minutes from Faro airport

  Fitting a family in

  One- and two-bedroom apartments are the standard unit; a two-bedroom sleeps four to six. Check whether the second 'bedroom' is a separate room or a curtained alcove off the living area.

  Watch out. The Oura strip is loud until the early hours through the summer, and blocks marketed as quiet are usually quiet because they sit further uphill from the beach — which means carrying everything back up in the afternoon heat. Many complexes are largely closed and half-empty outside May to September.

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• 

  Tavira / Cabanas, eastern Algarve€€Mid-range

  Townhouse or villa near Tavira

  The eastern Algarve trades resort facilities for calm, shallow lagoon water and flat beaches with no staircase, which is the right trade with toddlers. Renting a house rather than an apartment also buys outdoor space, which is where small children spend most of a beach holiday anyway.

  • Warm, shallow, sheltered lagoon water
  • Flat sandbar beaches with no cliff steps
  • A working market town rather than a resort strip
  • Outdoor space and usually a private or shared pool

  Fitting a family in

  Two- and three-bedroom houses sleep four to six with real separation between adults and children, which an aparthotel studio does not offer.

  Watch out. The best beaches are on offshore islands reached by small ferries, so a beach day runs to a timetable and the last boat back is a hard deadline. A car is effectively required, and nightlife and organised kids' activities are thin compared with the central resorts.

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• 

  Baixa / Aliados€€Mid-range

  Apartment in Baixa near Trindade

  Staying at the top of the hill rather than at the bottom of it decides how the days feel in Porto. From the Aliados area everything is downhill on the way out, the metro hub at Trindade puts the airport half an hour away, and apartment rates here are well below Lisbon's for the same space.

  • Kitchen and washing machine
  • Metro to the airport from Trindade in about 30 minutes
  • Walking distance downhill to the old town and the river
  • Bakeries and tascas that open early

  Fitting a family in

  Two-bedroom apartments in converted 19th-century blocks sleep four comfortably. Check the floor number and whether there is a lift before booking.

  Watch out. Many of these buildings are tall and narrow with steep internal stairs and no lift at all. The main avenue and the streets around it are noisy on weekend nights, and the return walk from Ribeira is uphill however good the day was.

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• 

  Vila Nova de Gaia€€Mid-range

  Family room on the Gaia waterfront

  The Gaia bank looks back at the postcard view of Porto, has newer buildings with larger rooms for the money, and sits on a flat quay where children can walk without a hill. The cable car and the bridge's two decks turn the commute into the outing.

  • Larger, newer rooms than the Porto old town offers
  • Flat riverside quay directly outside
  • Cable car and both bridge decks as the route into the city
  • Views back across the river at sunset

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms and connecting doubles are more common here than across the river, where most stock is small converted apartments.

  Watch out. Everything except the quay itself is up the hillside behind it, so returning from a day out means the cable car, the metro across the upper deck, or a steep climb. The port cellar district is quiet after dark and short on everyday shops.

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• 

  Lido / São Martinho, Funchal€€Mid-range

  Aparthotel in the Lido hotel zone

  Madeira has almost no sand, so the pool is not an extra here — it is where the children will actually swim. The Lido belt is built around that: sea-water lido complexes, hotel pools, and a flat seafront promenade that runs towards the centre without a single hill.

  • Pools and sea-water lidos as the main swimming
  • Flat promenade along the coast
  • Buses and tour pick-ups from the main road
  • Kitchens in aparthotel units for breakfasts and simple dinners

  Fitting a family in

  Aparthotel studios and one-bedroom units with a kitchenette are the norm; one-bedrooms with a sofa bed sleep four, with the usual compromise on privacy.

  Watch out. The walk into Funchal along the promenade is flat but long, around 30–40 minutes each way, and the streets inland climb steeply. Sea access from the lidos is by ladder down into deep water rather than a shelving beach, which does not suit non-swimmers.

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• 

  Calheta / Ponta do Sol€€Mid-range

  Apartment near Calheta on the sunny south-west

  Calheta has the island's artificial golden-sand beach and a calm marina, in the corner of Madeira that sees the most sun and the least cloud. For a family that wants at least some of the week to feel like a beach holiday, this is the only part of the island that delivers it.

  • One of the island's two genuine sandy beaches
  • Sheltered marina water rather than open Atlantic
  • The sunniest micro-climate on the island
  • Quieter and generally cheaper than the Funchal hotel belt

  Fitting a family in

  Apartments and small villas dominate here, with two-bedroom units sleeping four to six and outdoor space included as standard.

  Watch out. It is 45–55 minutes from Funchal on the motorway, so every restaurant choice, excursion and supermarket run is a drive — without a car the area is isolating. The sand is imported and the beach is small, so it fills quickly in August.

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• 

  Ponta Delgada€€Mid-range

  Apartment in central Ponta Delgada

  Ponta Delgada is the only place on the island with a real choice of restaurants, a supermarket within walking distance and somewhere to go when it rains for a whole day. An apartment adds a kitchen and somewhere to dry wet coats, which matters more in this climate than in most, and the whale boats and tour minibuses both leave from a few minutes' walk away.

  • Kitchen, washing machine and space to dry wet clothes
  • Flat seafront and marina within walking distance
  • Boat trips and guided tours picking up in town
  • Airport around ten minutes away

  Fitting a family in

  Two-bedroom apartments in the converted centre sleep four to five without a rollaway. Confirm which floor the unit is on and whether there is a lift, because a good number of these buildings have neither.

  Watch out. Swimming in town means a built sea-water pool rather than a beach, and every lake, hot spring and viewpoint is a 30 to 60 minute drive, so the car gets used every day regardless. The streets behind the marina are loud at weekends.

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• 

  Furnas€€€Higher-end

  Guesthouse or thermal-park hotel in the Furnas valley

  Staying in the valley puts the warm pools and the steaming ground within a walk instead of at the end of a 45-minute mountain drive, so the thermal water can be used first thing and again after a wet afternoon. On an island where the weather decides the day, that is the most useful thing a base can offer.

  • Geothermal bathing pools within walking distance
  • The caldeiras, the lake and the botanical gardens all on foot
  • Breakfast usually included
  • Gardens and open space rather than a street frontage

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four exist but there are only a few per property and they go months ahead for July and August. Several of the older guesthouses offer adjoining rooms instead, which is the better arrangement with older children.

  Watch out. The whole village smells of sulphur, which some children mind a great deal. Only a handful of kitchens serve dinner and they stop early, the valley is in cloud and rain more often than the coast, and everything else on the island is at least 45 minutes of winding road away.

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• 

  Vila Franca do Campo / Água d'Alto€€Mid-range

  House or aparthotel on the sheltered south coast

  The south coast is the warmest and least exposed side of São Miguel and holds the island's usable dark-sand beaches, so it is the only base that delivers any part of a conventional beach week. It also sits roughly halfway along the island, which shortens the drive to Sete Cidades in the west and Furnas in the east.

  • One of the island's few swimmable sand beaches within reach
  • Sheltered south-facing coast with less wind and swell
  • Outdoor space, and a pool at many properties
  • Roughly central for driving to either end of the island

  Fitting a family in

  Two- and three-bedroom houses and apartments sleep four to six, are priced per unit rather than per person, and usually come with outdoor space.

  Watch out. The sea is cool Atlantic even in August, and the beaches are small, dark and busy in the peak weeks. The offshore islet crater pool runs a daily visitor cap with tickets released in the morning and closes in swell. Almost nothing is walkable from most addresses, so every meal and supermarket run is a drive.

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