Not for nothing does Vale do Lobo claim to be ‘Europe’s finest golf and beach resort’. Accommodation ranges from stylish two-bedroom apartments to luxury villas with private pools. There are two golf courses, a tennis centre, a wide choice of restaurants, and swimming and watersports from one of Europe’s finest stretches of sandy beach.

A chauffeur-driven Mercedes took us from Faro airport to Vale do Lobo reception where we collected the keys to our villa and hire car. With more than 1,200 properties in a surface area three times the size of Monaco, a car is useful, although a circuit bus runs every 20 minutes until 11pm.

Our villa was fabulous: marble floors, cream and white furnishings, and air-conditioned bedrooms. Plus a sparkling blue plunge pool and a spacious balcony with sweeping sea views. Work and domesticity suddenly seemed light years away.

The biggest decision that night was where to eat. We headed for the Praca – the hub of Vale do Lobo’s café and restaurant operation. Eateries range from Italian to Oriental, fresh fish to grilled meats. We dined in the open air, listening to live Latin-American music. Then it was back to our whitewashed villa to talk late into the night over a nightcap on the balcony.

We enjoyed outdoor breakfast next morning at Spikes Brasserie. This overlooks the practice putting green, where
a group of Dutch players warmed up for the weekend’s Millionaire’s Tournament.

Golf and Tennis

Vale do Lobo has two courses – the Royal, set among lakes and tree-lined fairways – and the Ocean, where undulating fairways lead down to the Atlantic. It also boasts Europe’s most photographed hole – the 16th on the Royal, which spans a cavern between two red cliffs above the beach.

Liz and I don’t play golf, but we’ll try anything once, so we booked an hour’s lesson. Antonio Sobrinho is one of four professionals at Vale do Lobo. Despite being Portugal's no. 1 golfer, he took us through the basics with patience.

We also signed up for a lesson with one of Vale do Lobo’s nine tennis coaches, despite not having wielded a racquet since school. The Tennis Academy has ten all-weather and four synthetic courts, plus a swimming pool, café and gymnasium. The largest tennis centre in Portugal, it hosts many international fixtures. Just weeks before our visit it had welcomed Jim Courier, Michael Stich and Henri Leconte. Was it really ready for us?

The girl at reception directed us to Court No 5 for our lesson with Enrico and – to her credit – looked only mildly surprised when we admitted we didn’t have racquets. “Choose one of these,” she invited us, indicating a bulging wicker basket.
“How?” we asked in unison.

The last racquet I owned had a wooden frame and lived in a press, while Liz completely destroyed our street cred by consistently calling them bats. Enrico, we felt, would need a sense of humour. And he had one. Not only that, he actually praised our efforts in attractively accented English.

To our amazement, we found ourselves not only hitting the ball, but also enjoying it.

Vale do Lobo marks the western tip of the Ria Formosa natural park. It's a protected area of dunes and wetland which runs eastwards to Faro and beyond. A healthy hike along the tide-washed sand took us to a wooden footbridge – Europe's longest – which crosses the tidal area.

At low tide we stood captivated by myriad crabs scuttling across the mudflats to disappear into their mollusc villas, hiding from predatory wading birds.

A sunbathe and a swim on the way back, and we returned to our villa ready for a poolside snack, glass of wine and quiet sunlounger siesta. Heaven!

Holiday in Luxury

If you want to discover traditional Portugal and integrate into local life, Vale do Lobo is not for you. You can visit picturesque Loulé or the Old Town in Faro and you can reach Lisbon in two hours along the new motorway, but the strong temptation is to stay cocooned in your comfortable little community. And why not? Whatever you need, you have only to call reception.

For two working mums with two husbands and five children between us, a short break at Vale do Lobo was a blissful change from daily routines. And with nobody to worry about but ourselves, we were able to savour a special friendship that has spanned more than three decades and could easily last for three more. One thing is for certain – we’ll be reminiscing about our Portuguese weekend for a very long time to come. Happy birthday to us!