Faro International Airport (FAO): Approximate driving time is 35 minutes and distance is 25 kilometers (15.5 miles).

Taxis are available for transfer from the airport to the hotel. Car hire is also available here and some buses also run to Vilamoura.

Taxis can be caught from outside the terminal building. Buses can also be caught outside the terminal building. AEROBUS provides a shuttle service between the airport and city centre daily (except Tuesday) in high season.

Alem Mar - Decorated with a cream tiled floor and cane and blue cushioned chairs, this is the hotel’s main restaurant, serving a Continental and cooked buffet breakfast every morning. In the evenings there is an à la carte menu or a Discovery Buffet serving Mediterranean foods from Italy to the Algarve.

Corda Café - Located by one of the outdoor swimming pools with seating both inside and outside, this relaxed eatery has a floor made of waxed logs, with cane tables and chairs and dilapidated antique luggage piled up alongside, as well as ropes, hooks and chains, and oars on the walls, as if it were in the bows of a ship. It serves light meals including salads, pastas and burgers.

Aldar - This restaurant offers a taste of the Orient and is decorated to give a Moroccan feel, with low level seating on sofas in blue, red and gold fabrics in an eastern style, low wooden tables, dark red walls and old maps on the walls, known as portulanos.

O Pescador - This tiled-floored restaurant with white cane furniture has both indoor and outdoor seating for al fresco dining, and serves a selection of seafood specials from crustaceans and crabs to cataplana, a (typical Portuguese dish cooked in a copper pot.

Porto Alegre - Located by a patio with seating amongst lemon trees and next to the games room, this ice cream parlor also serves burgers and fast food. It is only open during the summer months.

Beach Club - Only open in the summer months, this beachside restaurant serves lunch and dinner with a Portuguese and international menu on offer, as well as sandwiches, snacks and ice cream.

Jardim Colonial - Located next to Alem Mar, this wooden floored bar with local tiles on the walls, has live music.

Golf Clubhouse - Overlooking the golf course, this clubhouse is decorated with brown basket weave chairs and tables. As well as having a bar, it serves breakfast and an a la carte menu of sandwiches, salads, burgers, pasta, meat and fish.

Amenity highlights: As well as a nine-hole golf course and Golf Academy, there is a new golf clubhouse offering drinks and food. Guests can also have tennis lessons, have a dip in one of the hotel swimming pools and take the children to the children’s village before heading for one of the various restaurants and bars.

Insider tip: Dramatic and theatrical, or cruel and indefensible –whatever your opinion, Portuguese bullfights are a regular fixture in nearby Lagos. Catch one every Saturday in the Marina do Lago bullring. .

As well as two golf pro shops close to the golf course, there is a mini market near the Golf Clubhouse and various boutiques around the resort.

The hotel has three large dividable conference rooms, catering for up to 250 people in theater style. Decorated in pale yellow with blue carpet, they have full audiovisual facilities and access to a patio. In addition, there are small break-out rooms.

For guests who need to fly in and out in a hurry, the hotel has its very own helicopter pad.

There is a games room next to the ice cream parlor with arcade games, billiards, table tennis and table football. From April to October there is also an activity team to keep teenagers occupied.

Pine Cliffs Golf Course is a nine-hole, 32-par golf course on undulating ground by the cliff tops. The Golf Academy has a driving range, indoor teaching bay, chipping and putting greens as well as a pro shop and golf pro’s. Guests can take private tuition, either individually or in groups. The nearby Golf Clubhouse offers drinks, snacks and main meals with views over the green.

The Tennis Academy, located near the Children’s Village, has five floodlit courts, two of which are clay and three hard courts. Guests can hire the courts and equipment or take private tuition.

A lift takes guests to the beach where there is a range of water sports available in the summer months, as well as a restaurant, showers and WCs.

The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.