Hotel Suave Mar, Braga

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Location
Hotel Suave Mar is located in Esposende in North Portugal. It is about half hour on the coach from the airport at Oporto. This is a great distance for the kids' tolerance. This is on top a much shorter flight from the UK compared to other sunny destinations.
It is a smallish hotel, which gave it a comfortable and cosy atmosphere.
The hotel is set a little walk away from the centre of Esposende where there ...
...the central courtyard of the hotel consisting of its swimming pool and sun terrace area. This was a more interesting look out than the front of the hotel as there was more to see and be involved in. It cost slightly more but was well worth it and I believe it was necessary in order to get the extra bed in. The room was regularly and well cleaned. Inside the room, it was air-conditioned and had a television. There wasn't much in English on the television ... more

My young family had a lovely time at this hotel

Location
Hotel Suave Mar is located in Esposende in North Portugal. It is about half hour on the coach from the airport at Oporto. This is a great distance for the kids' tolerance. This is on top a much shorter flight from the UK compared to other sunny destinations.
It is a smallish hotel, which gave it a comfortable and cosy atmosphere.
The hotel is set a little walk away from the centre of Esposende where there is a pleasant enough market square. However the town is a small, ordinary place and there is not really much to see of interest. It would be a good base to explore the area of the Costa Verde and Oporto, but being with young children that was not for us. It is also set fairly close to the beach, although you do need to cross a fairly major, though not busy, road and walk round to get to it. There is a more direct way across a sort of inlet but it is not practical with small children. The Atlantic coast did not make an inviting sea with its rolling waves so that was not a popular destination for the kids, despite the large, sandy beach. We found it quite windy so we did not go there very much.
The place, at least, had the feel of Portugal and the guests were mostly British and German. There were not many other children around but that made the facilities less crowded than they might have been so it was great for us.

Accommodation
We stayed in a first floor room consisting of bedroom, bathroom and balcony. The room did not seem huge but there was room for double bed, a single bed and a cot so it couldn't have been small. The bathroom was fine and the balcony had a high enough wall to be safe. We had a family room that looked out nicely into the central courtyard of the hotel consisting of its swimming pool and sun terrace area. This was a more interesting look out than the front of the hotel as there was more to see and be involved in. It cost slightly more but was well worth it and I believe it was necessary in order to get the extra bed in. The room was regularly and well cleaned. Inside the room, it was air-conditioned and had a television. There wasn't much in English on the television but the children enjoyed children's programmes in any language, especially the ones in German!

Facilities
The main attraction of the hotel was the attractive central courtyard, as described above. The main pool was deep, even adults could not touch the bottom in most parts, and a bit cold in the morning. However, with armbands, the children would venture in the afternoon. The main focus was, though, the baby pool. This is a huge circle with steps and safe shallow water. Being shallow it had the added benefit of warming up quickly in the morning. We played in there all the time such games as ball, Frisbee, boats and chase. There was plenty of space on the terrace to base us for time out of the pool. One night we realised what it really was when the area was cordoned off and a wedding reception took place there with the pool becoming a wonderful fountain. We stayed as half board so the children had lunch at the poolside café and essentially we had little reason to return to our room, except perhaps for a siesta! All meals could be put on your room and paid for at the end of your stay. This saved having to carry money about and we put our valuables in the central safe at reception. The attractive low-rise buildings of the hotel leant shade on one side or the other plus there was the cloister area running all the way round the courtyard and there were also parasols.
Other facilities included the restaurant. The meals were not fancy but very nice. My child did not like much on the menu and ended up having something called a Brazilian kebab virtually every night! However, the waiters were very friendly and seem to positively enjoy having children around. In the morning there was a large unlimited buffet breakfast that kept us adults satisfied all day. Only the kids needed a lunch after our morning feast.
There was a nice bar area. At one end of this was a giant chess game. The children loved to play with the pieces that were as almost as large as themselves and learn how they moved. They would spend every evening moving them about. Also they were allowed to play pool if no one else was playing. It all had a completely unstuffy atmosphere about the place that was very refreshing. Reception was more formal but that was an amusing contrast.
In another area, there was a satellite TV lounge with a big screen. This was good to watch the major sporting events that occurred during our stay.
Around the back of the swimming pool, there was a small gym and playground. However, we never saw either of them used. The playground did not look particularly safe or inviting.

The hotel was an attractive, friendly place to stay with young children. However, if the weather hadn't been so good, there might not have been so much to do. Older children might prefer somewhere with more children about and entertainers. For us it was a great holiday and would like to return another time.
 

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