Grand Muthu Forte Do Vale

The kids club is fantastic! The lady running it is absolutely wonderful with the children. The kids have so much fun there, and it’s clear they really enjoy their time. I would definitely recommend it!

Great location for both the old town and the new town. The rooms had everything you would need and plenty of space so no concern there. The rooms had been cleaned daily. Have to say Lucian in the bar was fantastic and is a credit to the hotel. Reception also very helpful when needed and helped to organise shuttle to the other hotels. Good choice between all of the hotels and the in house restaurants if you wanted to try something different. Negatives are the bars had been understaffed between the Piccadilly Bar and Pool Bar. This was a daily occurance so not a one off. The swimming pool has no shallow end and this impacted my older childrens experience (does have a kids pool but for small children) Entertainment at night time did not follow the weekly plan and this varied and seemed to be decided last minute. The restaurant was very compact and it was a struggle at times to get a table.

First impressions were great! Check-in was warm, friendly, and efficient. We stayed in room 106. It was a ground-floor room with a view of the road, though a small hedge provided a little privacy. It was quiet enough, but the road noise was a bit of a pest. Honestly, it would be impossible to escape the noise since the hotel is built right on a busy roundabout. On the plus side, the Wi-Fi was really strong. The room itself was incredibly spacious and well-equipped for an all-inclusive resort, complete with a washing machine, iron, and ironing board. It was also very clean. It felt a little dated, but I’ll never understand why people view that as a major negative.

The pool area isn’t great. It is too small for the size of the hotel and the number of guests, making it feel totally crammed. There was no lifeguard, so kids were running riot and jumping off the high handrails while their parents did nothing. The food was excellent. Tip: have breakfast before 9:00 AM, or it’s absolute chaos.

The evening entertainment was pretty shocking during our entire stay. On our first night, karaoke consisted of kids screeching and honking their way through K-Pop, Disney and Irish anthems. The following night was supposed to be bingo, but thanks to the parents of the mini divas we got more karaoke instead. I don't know how that counts as entertainment for anyone—and we have kids ourselves! The quiz night was good fun, but it only lasted an hour.

Lucien behind the bar is an absolute star. He works every night with zero support, yet he always has a smile and a cheeky quip to make you feel welcome. Management, please change the repetitive background music! There is only so much Adele a person can take.

There didn't seem to be any senior staff (or any staff at all!) on the lower ground floor where the bar and games room are situated, resulting in feral kids running riot with their parents not giving two hoots. We saw kids splashing through the indoor fountains, climbing all over the games room equipment while others tried to play, and spraying the poor pool guy while he was cleaning. Some kid will get hurt one day and wait til you hear the parents then!!

The positives are that the hotel is well-presented, the staff are great, and the food is fab. Would we come back? No, but it was definitely good value for money.