Family Fun in the Sun: Sailing, Swimming, Surfing & Hiking in the Algarve

Portuguese explorers of old honed their skills and planned their voyages into the unknown from Sagres and the coves around the Algarve, and this morning you will follow in their footsteps. After breakfast you will drive down to the marina to meet your luxury yacht and skipper. After a short briefing you will board ship and set sail, navigating around the reddish cliffs - your skipper will be more than happy to teach you the ropes, so that you can do a bit of sailing yourself - to reach a deserted cove, where it will be time to practice your water-based pirate skills, as you lay anchor and jump in. After a morning splashing about in the sea you will clamber back aboard ship and sail back to the marina, before spending the afternoon at your hotel.

The next three days are all about relaxing and having fun as a family. We know that the daily rigmarole of school runs and removing toothpaste from seemingly every item of clothing can be exhausting, so we heartily recommend a few days of RandR by the pool and on the beach. Our favourite family friendly hotels all have excellent kid's clubs, offering everything from surfing lessons to videography classes, cork workshops, a visit to a local market, followed by a hands-on cookery class, pottery workshops, birdwatching and cultural and guided tours so parents can relax in salubrious spas or on the Algarve's excellent golf courses. Some kid's clubs even run late into the evening, giving the grown-ups a chance to enjoy a wonderful dinner a deux, safe in the knowledge that the little ones are being fed their own delicious meal, and tired out in time for a (hopefully) pain free bedtime! Should you get itchy feet and want to get out and explore the Algarve, we can arrange all kinds of activities, both relaxed and more active.

Today is you last full day in Portugal, so we've arranged for you to spend a full day hiking on the southernmost tip of the country. After driving to Costa Vincentina Park. You will be met by your expert guide for a private hiking tour between the beaches of Salema and Ingrina, where jaw dropping views red sloping cliffs, and the ruins of Fort Figueira give way to glistening ocean, providing an adventure and a half (by our measures). Keeping an eye on the sky for local birdlife including Peregrine falcons and blue rock thrushes is exhausting work, so you will finish the trip with a picnic on the sands and indulge in some traditional produce. After the hike, we recommend one last dip in your favourite pools before dinner.