In July 2019, while we were doing some work on our house, we decided to take a 2-week vacation to recharge our batteries for our move. We spent one week in Cascais, where we live, and the other week we went to a hotel that is highly recommended for families, the Vila Galé Country Club, and we LOVE IT!

We decided to travel at the last minute after our builder asked for more time to finish our work, so we looked for recommendations of places that weren't crowded in the middle of summer. Since we wanted peace and quiet, I started looking for a hotel in the countryside that had farm animals, a swimming pool, a playground, food included or a restaurant inside the hotel, and a nice green area so we could play ball with Patrick, since that's one of his favorite things to do (even today... lol). I asked for recommendations in the Facebook group for mothers and this was the number one recommendation, so off we went!

The Hotel

THE Vila Galé Country Club is located in the municipality of Beja, Alentejo region, and the idea was to really rest, rest, rest, so we stayed there almost the whole time. We left Cascais on August 4, 2019 (Sunday) after the little one's lunch and as soon as we got on the road, his nap started and we were able to travel peacefully for 2 hours. The hotel is located on a huge plot of land, with fruit plantations that are consumed by several hotels in the Vila Galé chain (we found out about this later), with the reception in a white house with yellow details that is really cute.

The service at check-in It was impeccable and the hotel inside has several houses with the same architecture as the reception, a well-kept garden, a wooden playground, 3 swimming pools, 1 for adults, 1 for children (with slides and waterfall) and 1 indoor, a large area for the farm animals, a Bullring (!) and lots of green space to play in. The rooms are all on the ground floor, without any luxuries and the decor is very much like a “country house”, with some old equipment, such as air conditioning and telephone, for example, but everything works.

I went into the room and found an extra bed, not the crib I had requested when booking, but they quickly changed it. We packed up our things in the room and got ready to enjoy the hotel, but when we got to the children's pool, we were really disappointed with the super, ultra, mega cold water in the middle of summer at 4 pm! We went to the spa's indoor pool, which fortunately accepts children, but we had to buy swimming caps to stay in there (I recommend you bring your own!).

Our routine

We stayed there until it was time for his bath, around 6pm, and then we got ready for dinner at the hotel restaurant, which opened at 7:30pm. We took the Breakfast + Dinner included plan. and we chose to buy lunch at the hotel bar when we felt like it and I thought it was worth it. buffet Dinner had a little bit of everything, every day there was something new – thank God! – and it was tasty, but nothing spectacular. There were always dishes for children (pasta, rice, nuggets, pizza, hamburgers and soups) and lots of salad, desserts and typical Portuguese dishes. We ate and slept really well!

I won't go into detail about each day at the hotel, because it will get repetitive, but our routine was basically to wake up early to our diaper alarm clock, play in the room while we got ready for breakfast, have a hearty breakfast, feed the farm animals with the hotel staff and then enjoy the place all day until bath time, then go to dinner and sleep. There was one day we decided to go to the Badoca Safari Park and I told everything here. It's definitely worth it for anyone with children who is or will be passing through the region.

For those who want to know about baby, Paddy had breakfast with us, ate lunch from the Nestlé ready-made pots I brought or some food we ordered at the hotel bar, took a nap in the stroller while we relaxed in the pool, in the room or in the hammock (yes, there is a hammock there!), had a snack of fruit from the breakfast or the biscuits/fruit and yogurt sachets I brought and then had dinner with the hotel food. Oh, and of course, he would still breastfeed when asked…

Some important points of our stay:

• The only drinks included in our package were juices, yogurts and tap water during breakfast. Any drinks ordered during dinner or lunch were charged separately.
• We found the hotel's water bottles to be quite expensive, so I recommend taking your own bottles and drinking them there (we saw a lot of people doing this and on the second day we went out to buy some at a nearby market).
• We went in August and I thought I should have taken repellent or a mosquito cover for the stroller, especially for his nap time.
• We used A LOT of sunscreen because the sun was strong, but it was windy so we didn't get too hot.
• There is a very complete program for children, but since Paddy was only 1 and a half years old, we were only able to feed the animals (pig, donkey, pony, llamas and goats) and ride the little train through the plantations. Ask at reception to plan better!

Here are some photos of our leisure time with the little bundle: Swimming pool with waterfall and slide (he loved going down the biggest one with us!), swing, bouncy castle with a giant ball that we brought, indoor swimming pool, having breakfast, riding the tractor through the plantations, playing with the harvested fruit and walking around the little farm – I’ll talk more about that later!

Every morning after breakfast, the hotel staff takes the leftover bread from the meal to feed the animals, allowing guests to enjoy contact with the animals, even if they are outside the fences. This was definitely the moment we were most looking forward to, because we really enjoyed seeing the little one excited about the animals and not afraid to feed them! He fed the llamas, donkey, pig, pony, goats and always wanted more… we were the ones who were afraid of getting bitten or getting too dirty (first-time parents, right?).

Our trip in photos

It was very, very, very worth it! It was a week of relaxation in a complete hotel. I can easily get used to this life…

Are you excited and want to stay at this hotel too? Make your reservation at Vila Galé Country Club!