The Viajandodo family’s review of Hotel Golden Club Cabanas

This family of travel bloggers who are the creators of the Viajandodo Blog and the @viajandodo Instagram page are very interesting to meet! The family consists of mum Lourdes, originally from Spain, dad Vincent, who hails from France, and their two little girls, five-year-old Avril and one-year-old Alba. They are a travel-loving family and, as well as posting all about their trips, they have a blog and have recently published a book with lots of tips and suggestions covering a range of aspects you might encounter when travelling with babies and children.

The name of their blog – Viajandodo – is far from random and the very special story behind the choice definitely deserves to be told. In their day-to-day life, the family often combine Spanish and French words and expressions. After the couple’s first daughter was born and when they were putting her down for a sleep, they would say affectionately, in French, “on va faire dodo”. Since “dodo” is the childish word for sleep, the expression is similar to the English “time for sleepy byes”. When they were looking for a name for their project, it occurred to them that “dodo” is also the name of a bird from Mauritius that died out in the 17th century. They realised that, since their dream was to travel as a family, they could make a play on the words “viajar” (travel), “viajando” (travelling”) and “dodo”. And, of course, the result was “Viajandodo”.

We had the pleasure of being this family’s hosts during their visit to Portugal in June 2022 and we got back in touch with them to ask them about their stay at the Golden Club Cabanas.

• How was your stay at Golden Club Cabanas?

Our stay at Golden Club Cabanas was very enjoyable. From the moment we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised by several things.

The apartment was very spacious, with two bedrooms, a fitted kitchen, living room and terrace. Perfect for a great family holiday. And then, in terms of the facilities, we were surprised to find two big swimming pools, one with entertainment for all ages and the other with a more relaxing vibe. But the children were welcome at both.

Being able to enjoy the beach was very important to us. Golden Club Cabanas runs small boats that you can use to cross the river to the beach, no more than 10 minutes away. The golden sandy beach is huge and the water is crystal-clear. It’s set in outstanding natural surroundings and is one of the best in the Algarve.

• What did you like most about Golden Club Cabanas?

Without a doubt, the family atmosphere that you feel as soon as you arrive, as well as the amount of activities and entertainment. At Golden Club Cabanas, if you want rest and relaxation you can have it, but if you want fun and entertainment, you have that option too.

You can play volleyball, chill at the pool, go to the beach, exercise in the gym, go on one of the outings they offer or watch shows in the evenings. Our older daughter would be beside herself with excitement every day after dinner, waiting for the shows to start. She really had an amazing time watching all the shows.

• Travelling with two little girls – they were four and seven at the time – did you feel the logistics were there for you?

Yes, we definitely did. We came by car and the complex has plenty of parking spaces.

And even though it all seemed to be huge and very spread out when we first arrived, the main areas of the hotel can all be reached on foot without difficulty. Even with a baby buggy, like we had.

The easy transport to and from the beach is another thing worth mentioning. Not just because there are several boats so you don’t have to wait very long, but also because the trip itself is a delight.

• Would you consider us a good choice for a family holiday?

We’ve had the chance to stay at various hotels and all sorts of accommodation during our trips and we can tell you that Golden Club Cabanas has the best all-round range of leisure, facilities and services that we’ve seen for families.

It’s good to see there are properties that still invest in family tourism and that try to meet the needs of people travelling with the littlest members of the household.

• We noticed that you commented on our Lake Pool being temperature-controlled. Would you say that is another benefit?

We stayed in late July and I must admit that the temperature of the pool water was so pleasant that we thought the pool was heated. We found out later that it wasn’t and we thought that was another huge benefit (especially if that is its natural temperature).

Our four-year-old daughter spent the entire day in the pool and even the baby was able to enjoy some very pleasant pool time because she didn’t get cold as quickly as she did in the sea. The pool was definitely one of our favourite things. Personally, I never missed a single session of aqua-aerobics. dia todo e até o nosso bebé pôde desfrutar de banhos muito agradáveis, pois não esfriava tão rápido quanto no mar. A piscina foi sem dúvida uma das opções que mais gostámos. Pessoalmente, não perdi uma única sessão de hidroginástica.

• And, in similar vein to the last question, which do you prefer: the pool or the beach?

We adults are far bigger fans of the beach but, since we have the girls, the pools are an option we can’t ignore because they absolutely love them. In fact, when we’re looking for accommodation for our summer trips, having a pool is usually one of our priorities.

What’s great about Golden Club Cabanas is that it has both, so everyone is happy.

• You opted to stay on full board. Is that your preferred meal arrangement?

I think full board is great when you really want to relax.

You can easily cook in the Golden Club Cabanas apartments because they have fitted kitchens and it’s great that this option is available for whoever wants it (since not many hotels offer this).

But if we were coming back to Golden, we would choose full board in a heartbeat. Not having to think about cooking and being able to simply relax and enjoy our time here was undoubtedly one of the high points of the experience. It’s so nice, even for a few days, to have someone else do the cooking and have your meal served up to you.

• Without wanting to discourage people from reading your book, what three essential tips would you give to anyone travelling with babies and children?

When travelling with babies and small children, we always recommend the following:

1. Be flexible: the pace is different when you have children with you. You need to make more stops and be capable of meeting their needs as well as your own. If that’s all decided from the word go everything will be easier to handle.

2. Adapt your itineraries as you explore. Travelling with a 14-month-old baby is not the same as travelling with a five-year-old. There are specific things to think about for every stage of your trip and it’s best to organise your itineraries so that they suit everyone. We know our children and what they’ll be able to cope with better than anyone.

3. Don’t be disappointed if your plans go away. As I said, it’s a good idea to organise the trip as much as you can but you need to realise that, when you’re travelling with children, you often have to change your plans. We say that these times are all part of the experience and if everything doesn’t go exactly according to plan, the best thing you can do is focus on the positive aspects.

• Would you say the Hotel Golden Club Cabanas is a place where you can make great memories as a family?

For sure. Not to mention that it also gives you the chance to make friends with lots of other families who are staying there too. The children make new friends and so do mum and dad. And that makes you want to go back.

• Do you have a message you’d like to pass on?

Our experience at Golden Club Cabanas has been amazing. The only thing I would add to make it really perfect would be more menu options for babies and children from six months to three years.

Babies go through a really big change in their diets starting at six months, when they can gradually begin to eat everything. So it would be wonderful to have more options without salt, for example in some puréed food, soup, fish and so on, because the great thing about salt is that everyone can add it to their food individually, if they like. That would let the restaurant offer a varied range of healthy options too.

This, together with the fact that more and more families are starting to travel when their children are still very young could, I think, be a decisive factor for properties like Golden that focus on family tourism.

Bed guards, water heaters, bottle heaters, baby nets… These are simple accessories that can often make all the difference when it comes to choosing one property over another.

Of course, these are just simple suggestions in case anyone wants to take us up on them since, as previously mentioned, the facilities at Golden are already very comprehensive.

In any case, we would like to thank Golden Club and all of its fantastic team for having looked after us so well. We hope to have the chance to come back again with our two daughters in the near future.

Read the Viajandodo Blog here and on Instagram here.

Video links:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cglf-iHKjQo/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CggVBs8qD9Z/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgtV6PCKdpW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D&__coig_restricted=1