Adventure Golf Alvor — Local services in Portimão

We visited here one sunny afternoon as a little family outing and whilst we did have a fun time, we were left a little disappointed by the experience.

The local advertising gives it an air of being much bigger than it actually is, the glossy images clearly taken when it was opened, it now has an air of being weathered and a little run down. These same images also suggest the 18 holes of mini golf are set within larger grounds, the site would accommodate a medium sized house comfortably, and I just thought there’d be more too it.

When you first arrive, the signage for the attraction leave something to to be desired so don’t be surprised if you drive past it once or twice as we did, you have to navigate the people selling a photo op with a large parrot. Don’t get me wrong I’m personally not against this kind of thing the animal looked well, happy and well cared for but it was just a hassle to get through the gate keepers that were a parrot and a photographer.

You enter a small bar/ cafe and we were left a little bewildered, had we come for a beer at the 19th hole or have a bit of family gladiatorial mini golf, although I have to say I was left feeling a little sorry for the lady behind the bar/ counter as she was having to contend with a bunch of loud and drunk fella’s who were old enough to know better and weren’t in the right mind space or using the appropriate vernacular for a family attraction which I’m sure spoilt the atmosphere a little.

The course it self was tricky, its a hard course but where would the fun be if life was easy, and you had to contend with the Algarve winds which would send your ball shooting across the course every now and again. But, saying that we had a great giggle among ourselves whilst being beaten by a small ball, artificial grass and the occasional dinosaur bone!

Unfortunately, I’m assuming the afore-mentioned old enough to know better drunks, had left the course in a bit of a tip with beer glasses littering the course, a concern if you have small children I would suggest.

The thing that bothered me the most was the cost, 10 euros for each adult and 8 euros concession for an oldie. We paid 88 euros in total. Which I guess in hindsight isn’t a massive sum but if you are holidaying on a budget as some of our party were you will find it costly for what’s on offer and so whilst they say you can’t put a price on fun, the owners here have and if you were to charge a euro per laugh, I’m not sure you’re getting your monies worth.

If you want to kill and hour or need a beverage then take a punt or putt, but if you are looking for value for money and hours of fun I think you might be left a little wanting.

Finally, perhaps it would be more fun with younger children and I concede that the state of the course was More to do with the party ahead of us rather than the staff, but perhaps make sure you are happy that the course is safe for your...

Great fun for all the family! We came around 11am hoping that with the heat we wouldn't have too much trouble finding a spot and sure enough it was no problem. The lady was super nice and gave us good advice regarding the heat, useful when you have kids. The theme really is fantastic, with cool statues of dinosaurs. The bridge was particularly fun (the kids wanted to do that one again and again, haha!) There were shadows to hang in throughout the course, useful with this crazy summer sun. The whole place is on a slope so this is definitely a challenge. And there is no hard border on the sides of the green, so if you're used to bouncing the ball to get to the end, forget about it! We were putting out of bounds numerous times. That being said, with a bit of practice, even our 6yo was averaging 3 shots per hole on the first 9. After that the holes become longer, but still, if you are a bit skilled, it's probably a very enjoyable challenge. Overall, even for us complete beginners, it was fun and our 8yo even got a birdie on hole 3! But we had to bend the rules a few times and we would stop after 5 attempts otherwise the kids were getting too frustrated. Still, after a break in the shadow of the bar (with a great little breeze, lucky us) and a few drinks and ice creams, they both begged to go do a few more practice holes, which the lady granted them, as long as it didn't bother the other families playing.

Overall we spent an enjoyable two hours, counting a break for drinks halfway, and another at the end. We felt it was totally worth out time and driving from Lagos...

Rude staff.

Called in with the kids to see if it was open for a round. We were there at 18:45 as we thought it closed at 20:00. Apparently last entry is 18:30, which is fine and we were ok coming back another night, however, we spent 10 minutes listening to the member of staff rant at us for coming late.

She said the same thing to us 4 times and we were unable to leave. In the end, we had to walk out mid sentence as we were unable to get a word in…. All we were able to say was ‘ok’ in the 10 minute monologue. We were more than happy coming back another night, as we stay 5mins away.

The kids were completely confused by the whole thing and asked what we had done wrong as we walked away.

We come to Alvor twice a year, and this was the first (and last) time we have...