If you are looking for paradise on Earth, this is it!! Where to start isn’t easy, but I’ll try. The Club is located in a perfect spot, with a fantastic facility with character; the beach is 1 min from the centre of the village. The team GO is doing a great job; standouts are Davide and Beatrice from the Bar team - Xhilda and Federico from the Restaurant team, - Chiara from the Mini Club; they all went out of their way to make sure we looked after and created the GO magic that makes us all love the Club! One of the top things to do is to enjoy the Zen Area that has a natural pool, and if you are like me, keen on doing something for the environment and swimming with fish and clean, chemical-free water, it’s a must-do. The Chef de Village Theo is the true heart of the village and, honestly, one of the best people you could ever meet. If you can and have free days of leave, don’t hesitate to book it!! If you are wondering how many days I stayed here, it was a week that I would never forget! Thanks again for making me so happy, and welcome, Theo, you are a star for creating a fantastic memory for me and my family!

Facilities wise, is the worse Club Med by a long way. It is also extremely French and the staff speak barely any English (or Portuguese). Reception staff were superb!

An amazing place with amazing people. Beautiful resort with view in Atlantic from my balcony. I loved the differents menu's, with variety and excellent taste. The oysters + the octopus+ Portuguese sardines...wow what amazing work they do there. The pastry point was so beautiful every dinner. The children's they had go mad with the chocolate cake ...

The kids club is a bit “lazy”, seems many activists but most of the time were on the way or just shouting. The golf course is not really on site, need to have 3-4 mins bus ride. It’s not a big problem but it’s really inconvenient if you just want to go alone and play some shots.

Fantastic weather, great food, friendly GO’s. Thanks in particular to Ishai for super fitness classes throughout the week. And at the mini club thank you to Mathilde, Melem, Mathieu and Antoine for the coaching and entertainment for our 2 boys. Our children made lots of friends. Being bilingual, it’s so valuable for them to be able to speak French and English to children their own age and meet children from all over the world.

We are staying here right now in a double room where the A/C is not working. Temp in the room is 29 C and despite 5 people trying to fix it, there is no real change. When you can’t sleep the rest of the presumably great offering doesn’t matter. The hotel has so far been unable to find an alternative room. The staff is not really on top of the issue, it’s being passed from person to person with no resolution.

I have a two year old and four year old there is nothing that holds a candle to this place. 1. Rooms- HUGE the marketing department needs help you get two bedrooms and an extra space for a cot 2. Kids club amazing well run perfect for my four year old who at first was a little surprised people didn't only speak English but joined in and bonded so well with the lovely Aida and Ines. You have. Childcay from 9-5 and 7-9 use as much or as little as you want 3. Food- amazing.... It's French would you expect anything less 4. Activities- flying trapeze and archery for adults on top of tennis and golf with an adult only zen pool. 5. Staff- amazing I really hope they pay them well as every one of them is 10/10

Wonderful village Da Balaia is our 30th village Theo the chef de village is remarkable A great asset management friendly,carrying,and talking to each GM His great leadership carries a great GO team which we rarely see in other village Our désappointement was the européen tennis lesson 45 mins which is very poor/ no drills /. They would preferred GM paying extra for lesson Lots of children in July and the pool can be crowded The Zen pool is amazing as well as the beach Staff GO at the Gourmet restaurant and wine cave are fabulous We enjoyed our 7 days

Hi, I wanted to thank a lot the GO team, first the mini club GO team who has been amazing - the first above all is Enzo cacahuète - always smiley, available, funny and so lovely with the kids. He gave the best of himself all the time and was always able to give a personal feedback on your kid which was quite amazing given the number of children - Emma and All the others of course. The head of mini club was really pro as well. The Yoga girls were fantastic (Laura and Delphine). Finally, the head of the village Theo and His deputy Gauthier ensured our stay was great and enjoyable. Gauthier always took the time to really discuss about our experience and it was always feeling so lovely and natural to talk to him. Thank you everyone and well done to the team. A little final note for the waiter at the cheese stand (I think his name was Jose) and the person who carries our luggage who were so lovely as well.

Great resort with a nice blend of family activities, kids club and personal time. We were treated well and had a great family vacation. Majority of guests spoke French, but there were enough people who could speak multiple languages to help us with english. I highly recommend the resort for families!

Food was great, resort is great, rooms were much better than years previous. Beach is lovely. Waves were a lot of fun. Now for reality check… probably the worst GO team I have witnessed in years (since 1997). The chief of tennis was appalling (Pierre) and the chief of sport (forget his name)was appalling, both so lazy, rude and unprofessional. The chef de Village actually was very warm and pleasant. I strongly suggest a re-shuffle next year. Antoine at the kids club was fantastic. Very funny and great with kids.

Unsanitary food. Came here for a week and got food poisoning half way through my stay, which really ruined my trip. The food also attracted lots of flies and there was no protection to prevent the flies from touching the food. Some of the staff were really friendly, but a few were quite rude. My room also smelled like septic solution. No idea where it came from but it persisted throughout my stay. AC doesn’t really work. I turned the AC all the way to the lowest temperature and I would still sweat at night. The shower temperature will go hot and cold a dozen times during a <10 minute shower. The outlets didnt work either

Great for golf and/or tennis. Beautiful and outstandingly maintained club. Food is of high quality and large choice. Sports are always a nice to have even if the non GO attendance is poor. End of season with aged GM is probably the reason. A great experience anyhow

Club Med Da Balaia is great ! I just finished my one week stay as a circus talent and had an amazing time. I cannot recommend the circus team enough; everyone should go and try the flying trapeze! The manager Esteban is very passionate and he is very invested in the progress of the GMs, and in the fact that everyone should have a good time. His second-in-command Marine makes sure things run smoothly in his absence, and she is very impressive to watch fly. Morgane is super friendly and always ready to give a helping hand, while Matteo is very funny and shows great artistic sense! Clément is very invested in every thing, and it was great to watch him dance in every show; finally Jeff gives great flying advice thanks to his expertise. Don’t go to Da Balaia without trying out flying trapeze, it may change your life ;) Shoutout to the responsable animation Ulysse for inviting to perform, and the entire event team for making sure my performances ran smoothly!

Are you intending to go to France?? If not, don’t go to this hotel. I wanted to go to Portugal but felt as if I was in France. All client-facing staff are French, with a very poor / no English at all. Locals (Portuguese speakers) are few and employed mostly in cleaning / kitchen / maintenance. Food was great! But in large French style which is sad as wr wanted Portuguese cooking. To be fair to the hotel most guests were French… who aparently left their country to still be surrounded by their home culture. For us traveling means discovering a different culture. We wanted to go to Portugal. If we wanted to go to France ee would have gone to France… so this was very disappointing. Best to be aware of this before you go!

Just had 5 days there! Great fun. Lots of activities for adults and kids. Great tennis teacher Enzo and they kids club staff also amazing - Lili and Catarina especially.

Been going to Club Med for years and this just was not Club Med unfortunately. Many other guests agree. The GO’s are unfriendly and seem fed up. The reception staff are all very rude. The food is subpar and greasy. The mini club staff clearly don’t like kids and often we would see them on their phone scrolling whilst kids everywhere were crying (I wish I was over exaggerating). In general, not worth the money for the experience. The pros? Location is great, the golf team are amazing (shoutout to Luc!) and Portugal is gorgeous. Personally we won’t come back to Club Med in Portugal but will definitely come back to Faro!

We are leaving the Club Med Da Balaia. To be honest, we were hesitating in booking le Club Med. Expensive, a bit repetitive, risk of being bored, food not really good. Guess what? We were totally wrong and it was probably our best holiday since a very long time. OMG it was such a great experience! 1 - the place is amazing. View from the garden is stunning. If paradise exists Da Balaia is pretty close. Rooms are big and clean. 2- Food. So many options and it was tasty. Even our toddler enjoyed the food. (it is great with babies, toddlers and older kids). 3 - Petit club. If you have a young chid, petit club is a no brainer. People working there are truly amazing, A good sign: we never had any drama when we dropped our LO every morning. 4 - GOs. Their energy, their smile. They make you feel comfortable and having so much fun. In just a couple of days with them you will forget your busy life. If they just had to improve something is the check in and check out experience. It was a bit messy and we had some misunderstanding due to a lack of communication. Also a checkout at 10am doesn't make sense for families IMHO. Hopefully they were able to provide us a temporary room just to get a shower. Just wanted to say a huge shout out to: Cecilia and Gaetan (fitness), Enzo + Thomas (archery), Enzo Peanut, Matilde, Ana, Claire, Alix, Alexandre, Theo (kids club), Lilie (drinks), Giulia (reception), Clementine (nursery), Elena, Igor and Luc (Golf), Theo (manager of Le Club) and the great Ulysse!

I don't like that everything closes at 6 pm - the zen pool, normal pool, all the bars... Also, in the evening you cannot make any noise around the hotel, even just talking and laughing because its really a hotel for parents with babies I guess? There is nothing much to do around the resort either. The animations are for old people... In the rooms on the ground floor there are many many many bugs so its best to be on upper floors like 4th floor and above...

As always, our holiday was wonderful. It was our 6th trip to Da Balaia and it always lives up to our expectations. A special shout out to Camille, who makes every day a dream. She is the best GO i have ever met and speaks amazing English and is so much fun. I also loved archery with Thomas and the entire Circus Team were lovely!!!!

The location of the club is absolutely beautiful. The rooms are very spacious and the showers are modern. The cleaning staff are very friendly and professional. Everything is well organized. The only 2 issues are the language, if your kids are not fluent in French they can’t really participate in all the kids activities, which is a shame since the main reason to come to clubmed is to enjoy the kids club. The second issue is the lack of vegan food, if you are vegan or vegetarian you’ll find many vegetarian dishes that are vegetable based, but nothing with tofu or other vegan protein. This is not our first time nor the last time in club Med resort. In general I think it’s a great experience. Of the kids club had more English or Spanish I would have given it 5 stars.

Food's delicious, Cedric the junior animator was super friendly and funny. Recommend.

Amazing hotel, very friendly staff and beautiful part of the algarve. Would definitely recommend.

Fantastic holidays, delicious food, nice crowd and plenty of activities to choose from. Club Med delivers above expectations for the perfect family vacation. The G.O team was very friendly and service-minded and made us feel very welcome. Special thanks to Dario from the sports team and Alex at the Mini Club!

had a great stay at club med da balaia and a special mention to lisa at the teen club who made the week amazing for everyone! also the circus team (gaby, marcos, fiona and marine) were also amazing at helping me learn how to do the knee hang and backflip on the trapeze.

We had a mixed experience at this hotel. If this review was for Anna, the childcare assistant at the MiniClub, we’d give 5 stars. She was enthusiastic, clearly loved her job, loved kids, and looked after our daughter so well – she was always full of smiles when we came to collect her and had fun all week. The crèche was clean, well run and well organised. Full time childcare was a big part of why we chose this resort, and we were extremely pleased with our experience. Babies and children are extremely well-catered for and we were impressed with the facilities in our room and the excellent “baby corner” in the restaurant. Club Med is a French company, and the resort itself is very French: the vast majority of tourists and staff are French; signs and announcements are in French; and the food caters mainly to French tastes (moules marinières, steak hâché, duck à l’orange, crêpes, chicken provençal etc) This is by no means a complaint – we love France; can speak and understand the language and enjoyed the novelty, but non-native French visitors might feel a little alienated. It did feel like we were on holiday in France, not Portugal! We enjoyed the food at the buffet and the bar was great. At 11.30am there is an “aquagym” which lasts for almost an hour and is incredibly loud. Not very relaxing if you just want to chill at the pool / bar, or if you’re trying to get your baby to nap. We tried escaping to the zen area but could still hear the music blasting. In the end we just thought “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” and just decided to join in! If you’re bothered by noise, try and make yourselves scarce while it’s on! In terms of value for money, we found it expensive. We paid almost £3k for a week all inclusive, with full time childcare, including flights from Ireland. While the hotel and grounds are lovely, and the room was clean and comfortable, in our opinion the standard of the room itself was about a 3*. Now for the two negatives, and they are fairly big. I accidentally left my beach bag containing my phone and airpods when we collected my daughter from crèche on our last day. It took me 30 minutes to realise, and when I went back, it had vanished. The crèche had closed for the day, and while they let me look around (twice), they weren’t exactly falling over themselves trying to help. I then went to reception, and they said it hadn’t been handed in. I went back at 9pm and was told the same. I was pretty upset as we were leaving early the next day and needed my phone to travel, and also as it had all the photos and videos of my daughters first year. I persisted they then checked the back room again, and hey presto, there it was!! Not overly impressed with how that issue was handled. There was also a horrendous mix-up with our flight home the next day. Our flight was scheduled for 11.25, we were collected at 9am, and arrived at the airport at 9.30am, however the flight time was showing as 15:10. After multiple phonecalls with Club Med’s UK number, we were told "the best thing you can do is wait for the 15:10 flight" and given an email address to send a written complaint. No apology, no proactive support or commercial gesture, and no assurance that we were even booked onto the 15:10 flight. We had to call the carrier ourselves, who confirmed we were booked on, and that the schedule had changed 6 weeks previously). What should have been a straightforward transfer, turned into a six-hour ordeal. We had only brought enough formula, food and nappies for the flight home and there was nowhere to buy further supplies. Our toddler went from happy, well rested and fed; to hot, overtired and hungry. Needless to say that made for a challenging, uncomfortable flight home for us, our baby, and those around us on the plane.

An absolutely amazing place. Ideal, all-inclusive resort, with lots to do for both adults and kids.

This place is unbelievable! A paradise on earth, I would like to thanks everybody for the attention especially to Gaby from circus team I had a lot of fun in the trapeze. 🎪🎉👏🏻✨✨✨✨

My stay at this Club was fabulous. I loved the facilities there and the amount of activities that were made possible for us. The GOs were fantastic, especially Lisa. She was respectful, mature, funny and energetic with the teenagers which made the stay much more enjoyable.

Loved every day ,the place supper clean. The go team is so friendly. Welcoming. Loving. Caring. Honest. Friendly. Professional. Special thanks to my beloved More assistant chief of village that took care of me personally. And every need i had was taken care of. The sports team was amazing. Special thanks to myelene the yoga teacher. And tennis team . Thomas the massage was the best. Had the best vacation. Especially for french speaking i encourage you to come.

because when i was in the junior club i had camille and ahe always made things very fun and entrataning she always made sure that i understood everything she was saying

We stayed for 4 days for a part business, part vacation trip. The good points were: 1. The location is amazing. It is so close to the beach, which you can access from Club Med. You can also see the ocean from most of the rooms 2. The food was fantastic. They have so many options to choose from at their buffets and we often ate too much. 3. There's a lot to do at the venue for all family members 4. The business rooms were frequently stocked with waters and other supplies and in good conditions. The bad: 1. Cockroaches everywhere. In the kitchen, dining area, bathrooms etc. Seriously??? 2. The staff were seriously unfriendly and unhelpful. Going the extra mile is not an option. We were often addressed very rudely and lo and behold you ask for something to be delivered to your room. You will wait for hours, if you even receive it. 3. The fixtures, appliances and electronics in the rooms were broken. In my room, the shower door couldn't close, the fridge was broken and leaking, some of the lights didn't turn on. 4. Two of my colleagues had stuff stolen from their rooms.