Is a villa at Four Seasons Fairways the best way to do the Algarve?

Tucked among the pines and fairways of Quinta do Lago, a few minutes from the lagoons of the Ria Formosa, this low-rise resort of whitewashed villas has been quietly winning over repeat guests since the late 1980s. Here’s what an October stay in one of its renovated villas was like, from the jacuzzi on the terrace to the walks and markets the team sent me off to find, and what you’ll find there now: the villas, the prices and the kind of trip it’s made for.

There are two kinds of resorts. There are the ones that leave you feeling stuffed in and suffocated: gaudy, tacky and loud. And then there are the ones that don’t.

Four Seasons Fairways, in the smart Quinta do Lago estate west of Faro, falls firmly into the second camp. I spent an October stay in one of its newly renovated villas, cooking on the terrace, cycling out to the lagoon and following the team’s tips to places I’d never have found on my own, and I came home understanding why so many of its guests come back year after year.

One thing to clear up straight away: despite the name, Fairways has nothing to do with the Four Seasons hotel group. It’s an independent self-catering resort of villas and apartments, booked by the week, with a clubhouse, pools and a kids’ club at its heart.

My stay was hosted by the resort. As ever, all opinions are my own.

Quick verdict

Four Seasons Fairways is a calm, spacious villa resort that gives you the freedom of a holiday home with a friendly team and proper facilities a short walk away. It suits families, couples and groups of friends spending a week or more in the eastern Algarve, golfers, and anyone who would rather barbecue fresh fish on their own terrace than dress for dinner every night. If you want a hotel with room service and a concierge on call, or to walk out of the door into a town, look elsewhere.

My rating: 3.5/5

At a glance

• Where: Avenida André Jordan 37, Quinta do Lago, near Almancil, about 20 minutes’ drive from Faro airport.
• Style: a low-rise resort built in 1989, with whitewashed villas and apartments set among palms, pines and gardens, refurbished over the past decade.
• Accommodation: 132 two- and three-bedroom villas and apartments, each with its own pool or jacuzzi terrace and a gas barbecue.
• Eat and drink: Amara for dinner, VIVO Bistro & Cocktail Lounge from breakfast to late, plus the D’Época grocery store.
• Facilities: heated indoor and outdoor pools at the clubhouse, a children’s pool, a gym, tennis courts, a kids’ club for six months to 12 years, and in-villa massages.
• Best for: families, longer stays, golfers and self-caterers who still like a bar to wander over to.
• Price: villas are let by the week; published rates have run from around £1,100 a week in low season to more than £4,000 at the height of summer.

My stay

A resort that never feels busy

Palm trees, whitewashed villas, cobbled paths: Fairways looks the part. What struck me most, though, was the space. Every villa and apartment has a generous amount of it, inside and out, so you can stroll right round the resort and pass only a handful of people, then discover it’s completely full. The only real way to tell how busy it is, I found, is to look in on the clubhouse in the evening.

For all its polish, it has a warmth that many high-end resorts lack. After a few days, the team on the gatehouse knew me by name, checking my villa number before waving me in. The buggy drivers, receptionists and bar staff all had a friendly hello ready, and the place felt more like a small community than a resort.

The villa and its jacuzzi terrace

When I visited, the resort was partway through a renovation that has since given every villa and apartment a contemporary, light-filled look, and I was lucky enough to stay in one of the first villas to be finished. It struck the balance I look for in a self-catering stay: homely enough to settle into, with enough luxury to feel like a proper break.

There’s something special about the light in the Algarve. Each sunrise seemed to wash the whole estate in gold, about as far from the grey murk that passes for normal back home in the UK as you can get, and the villa was designed to make the most of it, with big feature mirrors around the dining area, plenty of windows and pale, airy decor.

The bedrooms were spacious, each with its own bathroom, and the living areas had more than enough room for everyone to spread out without getting under each other’s feet. Not that I spent much time indoors. It’s near impossible to resist the sun-filled terrace, with its loungers and private jacuzzi. Villas without a jacuzzi come with a pool instead, which seems a fair trade to me.

Decades of fine-tuning show in the details. Outside, a gas barbecue sat ready for the fresh seafood that’s so easy to buy in this part of the Algarve, and it became the centre of many a meal outdoors. Inside, there was a fully equipped kitchen and, in the main bedroom, a whirlpool bath.

The clubhouse

The main clubhouse was closed for its own makeover during my stay, so a temporary one had gone up in the grounds, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and doubling as bar and reception. The change of scene didn’t hurt the cooking: clubhouse favourites such as grilled tiger prawns with piri piri, garlic and soy rice hadn’t suffered for the move, and nor had the crowd whenever I dropped in.

The clubhouse has since reopened after a €2 million refit, and it’s now the hub of the resort, with two heated pools, VIVO Bistro & Cocktail Lounge, Amara restaurant, a glass-walled wine cellar and a club room with a full-size snooker table.

Hikes, markets and the lagoon beyond the gates

Quinta do Lago has no shortage of places to eat, drink and play golf, but one of the nicest things about Fairways is that the team positively encourages you to look further afield, and has the local knowledge to make it worthwhile. Tips from Angela, on the resort team, made my days out every bit as memorable as my time by the jacuzzi.

A hike with Terry. One of her tips had me out walking the hills behind the coast with Terry, a local guide, a side of the region that the golf courses and beach clubs never show you.

Loulé market. Another sent me inland to the old market town of Loulé, where the red-domed, neo-Moorish market hall has been selling fish, fruit and vegetables since 1908. With a barbecue waiting back at the villa, it’s the obvious place to shop for dinner. Go on a Saturday morning, when producers spill out into the streets around the hall with oranges, almonds, figs, honey and more.

The Ria Formosa by bike. The easiest escape of all was right on the doorstep. A short bike ride from my villa, the Ria Formosa Natural Park is a side of the Algarve that gets far less attention than the glitz of the big resorts: around 18,000 hectares of lagoons, salt marsh, channels and barrier islands, teeming with birds. Following its paths gave me a real sense of the coast as it used to be, wild and peaceful, at least until the next plane climbed out of Faro airport just across the water. The stretch nearest the resort ends in a long, clean beach backed by big dunes, reached over a 300-metre wooden footbridge across the lagoon.

Ilha Deserta. Further into the lagoon, a boat trip with Animaris and its nature guide took me out to the Ilha Deserta, with a few dolphins that had wandered in from the open sea as an extra-special surprise, and on to lunch at Estaminé. There’s more on that day in the Algarve section of my one-week Portugal itinerary.

What I loved

• The space: a resort that could be full and still feel almost empty, with room to spread out in the villa and on the terrace.
• The terrace: a private jacuzzi, sun loungers, morning light and a barbecue that turned every evening into an outdoor feast.
• The welcome: gatehouse staff who knew my name within a few days, and a team that made the resort feel like a small community.
• The tips: Angela’s suggestions, from the hike with Terry to Loulé market, which made the trips out as good as the time in.
• The location: the Ria Formosa and the beach a short bike ride away, with Faro airport only 20 minutes by car.

Worth knowing before you book

• It’s self-catering, not a hotel: there’s a clubhouse, a grocery store and in-villa services, but no room service, and you’re cooking for yourself much of the time. For most guests that’s the point.
• You’ll want wheels: the beach and the lagoon are easy by bike, but for Loulé, Faro, Tavira or the beaches further west, hire a car.
• The planes: the resort sits close to the flight path into Faro, so expect the odd aircraft overhead, especially out on the lagoon.
• Stays run by the week: villas are let for seven nights with set arrival days, so it’s not the place for a quick weekend.
• It isn’t the Four Seasons you might be thinking of: the name causes confusion, but this is an independent resort, with self-catering rather than five-star hotel service.

The villas and apartments

The renovation, led by interior designer Astrid Schep of Quinta Style, is now all but complete, with pale, contemporary interiors and touches inspired by Portuguese azulejos. Every property has a fully equipped kitchen, a terrace, a gas barbecue and Wi-Fi. The resort currently lets six types:

• Two-bedroom apartment with jacuzzi: the closest match to my stay, with the hot tub out on a private terrace.
• Two-bedroom apartment with pool.
• Two-bedroom villa with pool.
• Two-bedroom villa with study and pool: an extra room that works as a study or a snug.
• Three-bedroom apartment with pool.
• Three-bedroom villa with pool: the biggest option, sleeping up to eight.

Eating, drinking and everything at the clubhouse

• Amara: the resort’s restaurant, open for dinner only, serving contemporary cooking with a Portuguese accent. It’s open to non-residents too, so book ahead.
• VIVO Bistro & Cocktail Lounge: breakfast, lunch, dinner and takeaway for residents, plus cocktails in the evening.
• D’Época: the on-site grocery store, with fresh bread every morning, a deli counter and delivery to your villa.
• The clubhouse: two heated pools (one indoor, one outdoor), a children’s pool, a gym and a club room with a snooker table.
• Sport and wellness: two tennis courts with coaching, fitness classes and personal training, a sauna and steam rooms, Amélia’s hair and beauty salon, massages in your villa and reduced green fees at most of the nearby golf courses.
• For children: the kids’ club, Upside Down World, takes children from six months to 12 years, and babysitters can be booked for evenings out.

Quinta do Lago and the Ria Formosa on the doorstep

Quinta do Lago is one of the most exclusive corners of the Algarve: a leafy estate of villas, lakes and championship golf courses, wrapped around the western end of the Ria Formosa. Almancil, with its supermarkets and restaurants, is ten minutes’ drive inland, Loulé about 20 minutes, and Faro’s old town sits on the far side of the airport.

The lagoon and beach are within cycling distance of the villas, and the rest of the eastern Algarve is an easy drive away. Tavira, with its bridges and church towers, is about 40 minutes east along the coast, and the cliffs and coves around Benagil about 45 minutes west. For more day trips, see things to do in the Algarve.

Practical information

• Address: Avenida André Jordan 37, 8135-162 Quinta do Lago, Almancil. Phone +351 289 357 500.
• Booking: directly with the resort; villas and apartments are let by the week, with arrival days set by property.
• Getting there: Faro airport is about 20 minutes away by car. A hire car makes the most of a week here.
• Tourist tax: Quinta do Lago is in the municipality of Loulé, which charges €2 per person per night from April to October and €1 from November to March, for guests aged 16 and over, on up to five nights.
• When to go: spring and autumn for warm days and lower rates; July and August for guaranteed heat and the school holidays.

Is Four Seasons Fairways worth it?

If you’re planning a week or more in the eastern Algarve and want space, privacy and the freedom to cook and live as you please, with friendly staff and good facilities a stroll away, yes. My October stay showed me a quieter, wilder side of the region, from the Ria Formosa to Loulé market, and the villa made a perfect base for all of it. For hotel service or a shorter break, try one of the other bases in where to stay in Portugal, and plan the rest of the trip with my Portugal travel guides.

My rating: 3.5/5

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Read next

• How to spend one week in Portugal
• The best things to do in the Algarve
• The best things to do in Portugal
• Is the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon worth the splurge?
• A guide to Tavira, the Algarve’s prettiest town
• Where to stay in Portugal

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