The top retreats for good sports
EVERY week, our Holiday Hero NEIL SIMPSON takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you don’t have to. This week: Luxury hotels for sporty families.
HAPPY families are on the cards as a select band of resorts boost their five-star facilities with summer sports academies to suit all ages, interests and abilities.
In Portugal, golf and tennis lessons, plus a star-studded football camp, draw families to the Quinta do Lago resort on the Algarve.
At its heart is The Campus, a multisports complex that welcomes everyone from Olympic athletes and sports stars to families on holiday– and where former England footballers Michael Owen and Joe Cole are set to lead week-long football camps for five to 15-year-olds in August from £550 per child (footballescapes.com).
Stay amid the retro glamour of Magnolia Hotel where parents can get discount day passes for the pool, gym, personal training and sports rehabilitation sessions at The Campus while their children are at the academy. A week costs from £1,318pp plus flights (themagnoliahotelqdl.com).
At Spain’s famous sports resort La Manga, budding footballers can take skills sessions while the recently launched Golf Academyoffers a range of private lessons, week-long courses and 90-minute family lessons for up to six people. Tennis is its other big draw, with 28 courts, and coaches offering private, group and week-long classes. For £25 you can sign up to a taster session for padel, a fast-growing version played on a smaller court.
Families can book self-catering apartments around the resort or head to the five-star Hotel Principe Felipe for fine dining, a huge outdoor pool, wellness centre and spa.
A week costs from £965pp plus flights (lamangaclub.com).
The luxury Chia Laguna Hotel Village on the Italian island of Sardinia offers football and dance academies for six to 15-year-olds.
UEFA-qualified coaches run the football training sessions, while professional choreographers lead classes at the dance school.
Parents, meanwhile, can take advantage of a mountain bike rental service and regular tours run byknowledgeable hotel-based guides, or try hiking, horse-riding, golf, tennis and water sports.
Or, while the kids run around, there is also the option of simply heading to the resort’s spa, swimming pools or white sandy beach to relax.
All-inclusive weeks cost from £1,415pp including flights. Five-dayacademies cost from £335pp for dance and £415pp for football in August (sovereign.com).
Also in Sardinia is the 50-acre
Forte Village Resort with eight hotels – either four or five-star – which give guests access to basketball courts, a cricket pitch, 12 tennis courts, five football pitches, nine pools and a water-sports centre. Golfers can hit the driving range or head to the nearby Is Molas course that’s hosted four Italian Opens.
A week costs from £1,431pp plus flights (elegantresorts.co.uk).
On Corfu, professional instructors are on hand at the beachfront Ikos Dassia hotel. Guests can sign up to a mix of week-long academies or one-off classes in football, tennis, windsurfing, sailing, yoga and even Greek dance.
There’s a spa and wellness centre to soothe aching muscles, and guests can choose from rooms and suites with garden or sea views, or book a villa with private pool.
A week costs from £1,579pp including flights (jet2holidays.com/ indulgent-escapes).