They agree it’s worth the trip just to see Portugal’s largest marina, where floating palaces jostle for attention.
Earlier, the girls had looked horrified when we asked if they wanted to join the free Anantara Adventurers’ Kids Club, clearly considering themselves far too grown-up.
Then along came one of the club’s kindly British helpers who asked if they would like to join in a game of water polo, thereby abandoning their sun loungers and smartphones.
They barely leave the pool after this, striking up friendships with several children, leaving my wife and I to dive into our Kindles.
The service here is excellent, with charming touches such as custard tarts on your bedside table when you return to your room in the evening. But the five-star treatment means little to the girls so long as there’s water in the pool.
Montserrat is Spanish and bristles when a barman tells us one evening that the Portuguese serve the tastiest tapas. However, the petiscos, as they are known here, give her food for thought, especially when our nibbling is accompanied by a trio performing fado, traditional Portuguese music.
A balding, elderly man with a bushy moustache, who looks more than a little like Manuel from Fawlty Towers, croons passionately. Fado is known for its mournful tone, but the effect here is strangely uplifting.
The Algarve has more than 30 golf courses and Anantara has its own ‘golf guru’, Tomas Carlota, an amiable, aspiring pro. Fluent in English, he gives the girls, who have only ever played crazy golf, a taste of the real thing. ‘What is a hole in one?’ Sofia asks as we peruse the plaques on the wall of the nearby Laguna golf club, where all those who have achieved the feat have their names engraved.
