The sunny spot in Portugal that never disappoints

Robin soaks up a bit of winter sun in the Algarve – a firm favourite for both him and the rest of the family

Ihave a burning desire to discover new places, but then there are gems like the Algarve. I travel down to Portugal’s Algarve every year – these days my kids insist on it. Fortunately there are always plenty of new adventures to enjoy here alongside some old favourites. For me the beaches in the Algarve are second only in Europe to Scotland. And yes, both the weather and waters tend to be a good bit warmer! A wee secret is the Ilha de Faro. This sinewy sand island is less than 10 minutes from the airport, so if you are desperate to hit the sands it’s a winner. Also if you arrive at the airport on the way back early, you could nip here for a dip.

In the past I’ve had problems at Faro Airport with car hire, but on a local tip off I found the best company we’ve used yet.

VDL met us at arrivals and then when we dropped the car off they were waiting in a car park metres from departures. No queues or overworked kiosk staff to deal with. The deal was fully comprehensive too so we didn’t have to worry about scratches and wee nicks like we often do.

Our first base was only 20 minutes away at the Martinhal Quinta do Lago. We stayed here before Martinhal bought it and we immediately liked what they have done with their revamp. They’ve put a real family spin on things, no surprise as I met the director of Martinhal, Chitra Stern, a few years ago and she explained she got into hotels as she couldn’t find one to suit her own family.

Our villa in Quinta do Lago – an upmarket resort zone near Faro Airport – had its own wee plunge pool, but we spent a lot of our time around the communal pool. By the pool was a play park, a fun campervan for my girls to ramble around and a building housing the new Terraco restaurant. We enjoyed breakfasts in the sun on the terrace, before a superb set half-board dinner, awash with local produce such as Portuguese tuna.

Venturing further west along the coast we spent a day in Zoomarine. We’ve never been anywhere quite like this fun filled aquatic park. You could spend all day just enjoying its water park facilities, but they also have dolphin, bird of prey and sea lion shows, as well as a decent choice of places to eat and drink. You can easily spend a whole day here and many people we spoke to were planning on coming back again during their holiday.

The highlight for us on this visit was the Dolphin Emotions experience. My eldest Tara was lucky enough to have enjoyed it a couple of years ago, but she was excited to be bringing wee sister Emma along this time. They are very careful here to teach participants all about dolphin welfare before letting you anywhere near these graceful marine mammals.

Once the training session was over it was time to slip in the pool with the dolphins under the watchful eyes of a team of dolphin trainers. We had the heart-warming chance to gently stroke the dolphins, and the highlight for me was hearing Hugo breathing and his heart beating as he cruised gently beside me. The girls’ faces lit up with holiday-making smiles.

They were smiling again in the traditional village of Guia, which sits right next to Zoomarine.

It is famous for being the home of piri piri chicken. A flurry of large restaurants offer up this delicious treat, catering to all spice levels.

Most customers were Portuguese so you are getting the real piri piri experience, unlike in some of the tourist resort restaurants.

Heading yet further west we came to not just the western extremities of the Algarve, but the very southwestern