Ukino Palmeiras Village
Ukino Palmeiras Village is a four-star, 24-hour all-inclusive family resort at Porches, in the central Algarve in Portugal, set on higher ground a short walk above a Blue Flag cove. Families come for the water slides and splash park, two buffet restaurants with a children's section, a snack bar open around the clock and the Mini and Maxi Clubs running through the day.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who this big all-inclusive suits, what's in the price and the things to weigh before you book.
Ukino Palmeiras Village is a large, well-run 24-hour all-inclusive built for families with school-age children. The round-the-clock food and drink, the water slides and splash park and the two clubs for fours to twelves are its real draws, and cleanliness is the thing families praise most consistently. Two things shape whether it suits you. The pools are unheated and the beach is a walk and around 80 cliff steps below the hotel, and a large French contingent means a good share of the entertainment is aimed at French guests. None of that makes it a poor resort, it scores well with recent bookers, but they're worth knowing going in.
Best for
Families with children roughly four to twelve who want a big 24-hour all-inclusive with slides, clubs and a clean, well-run buffet, and don't mind the beach being a walk and steps away.
Maybe not for
You have a baby or toddler and want supervised childcare or a warm pool, or you want a lively resort strip on the doorstep.
Best ages
Strongest for four to twelve, with the Mini and Maxi Clubs and the slides. Under-fours have no club, and the pools are unheated.
What stands out
The 24-hour snack bar and drinks, the water slides and splash park, plus the cleanliness families rate above everything else.
What to check
The walk and cliff steps down to the beach, that the pools are unheated and how much of the entertainment is aimed at French guests in your month.
Where is it?
Porches, in the central Algarve in Portugal, between Albufeira and Carvoeiro, about 40 to 55 minutes from Faro airport by taxi.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
Where it sits in the Algarve, how the site is laid out and what that means with a pushchair.
Ukino Palmeiras Village sits in Porches, a quiet village in the Lagoa area of the central Algarve, roughly midway along the coast between Albufeira about 25km to the east and Carvoeiro and Portimão about 20km to the west. That central position puts a lot of the coast's beaches and days out within a half-hour drive. The resort stands slightly back from the clifftop on higher ground above the sea, so you look down towards the water rather than straight onto it.
It's a big hotel, 504 rooms across two main blocks of up to eight floors, and it can feel busy in high summer. Ten lifts and internal ramps connect the blocks, so getting around inside with a pushchair is manageable even though the buildings are tall. An Intermarché supermarket is about a six-minute walk, and Porches itself has a handful of small shops and bars around 300m away, though it isn't a lively resort strip. For an evening out beyond the hotel you'll need to travel.
If you've seen the resort under an older name, it's the same place. It began as Portugal Village, became Be Live Family Palmeiras Village under Be Live Hotels and took the Ukino Palmeiras Village name after Ukino Hotels took it on. It's worth not confusing it with Quinta das Palmeiras Pool and Beach in Pêra, a separate self-catering apartment complex on the same estate that isn't part of this hotel. One thing shapes the feel of the place. TUI France runs 124 of the 504 rooms as a separate Club Lookéa programme within the hotel, with its own French animation team, which is why the entertainment leans towards French guests. There's more on that in the things-to-do section below.
Reception is staffed 24 hours with concierge help, currency exchange and luggage storage, and the desk hires out towels for a small extra charge. The hotel holds Green Key and GSTC-recognised sustainability certification, an outside-audited environmental standard. Guests using a wheelchair or with reduced mobility will find the hotel itself manageable, thanks to the same ramps and lifts that help a pushchair get around, but not the beach: the roughly 80 steps down the cliff stairway have no ramp, so the sand itself isn't wheelchair accessible.
Every restaurant and bar
What the 24-hour board covers, the six restaurants, the bars and how the à la carte booking works.
The board is 24-hour all-inclusive. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served as buffets at the two main restaurants, a snack bar stays open around the clock, and local wine, beer, spirits, cocktails and hot drinks are included for at least 12 to 13 hours a day, with soft drinks available 24 hours. Standard all-inclusive guests also get one free dinner at the MOMO Asian restaurant per seven nights and 10% off the NAKKO steakhouse. Premium and imported branded drinks cost extra, and one restaurant, LAMBARÉ, is fully à la carte with no all-inclusive allowance at all, which catches some families out.
Guests in the Adults Only Lifestyle rooms get an upgraded All Inclusive Plus board. It adds extra à la carte dinners, with the number depending on how long you stay, so confirm it when you book, along with premium branded drinks, a premium check-in, poolside snacks and a daily cocktail, an in-room coffee machine, robes and slippers, the adults-only section of the main pool and access to the rooftop Sky Bar.
There's a dress code in the evenings: no swimwear in the buffet restaurants or bars, and the à la carte restaurants and lobby bar are smart-casual, with long trousers for men in the evenings at MOMO and NAKKO.
The buffets and the snack barWhere you'll eat most days
Nossa Senhora da Rocha is one of the two buffet restaurants, an international buffet with show cooking, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's the practical choice with young children: high chairs, a dedicated children's buffet and microwaves for warming baby food. The hotel also asks for no beachwear at dinner. Açoteia is the second buffet, also international with show cooking and the same three meals a day; older reviews and factsheets call it Caribe, its name before the rebrand.
The 24-hour snack bar is a real help for late arrivals, night feeds and children on their own timetable. It serves burgers, chips and lighter dishes, with soft drinks always on, though the hot food runs in three windows, 10:30 to 12:30, 15:00 to 19:00 and 22:00 to 07:30, rather than as a continuous menu, and some guests find the burgers and hot snacks cold or ordinary.
The à la carte restaurantsMOMO, NAKKO and LAMBARÉ
Three restaurants are à la carte, dinner only and need booking. MOMO serves Asian food, Chinese, Thai and Japanese, on around five nights a week, and standard all-inclusive guests get one free visit per seven nights, booked at least a day ahead. NAKKO is a premium steakhouse and Brazilian grill on around three nights a week; standard guests get 10% off and pay the rest directly. LAMBARÉ serves Algarve and regional Portuguese cooking and runs seasonally from 1 March to 31 October. It's named among the hotel's six restaurants, but unlike the others it isn't included on any board, so every guest pays for it à la carte.
The barsPoolside, the lobby and the rooftop
ZEN Bar sits by the main pool and is the daytime entertainment hub, with games and a DJ, and it gets busy in high season. GLEES Bar is the calmer pool bar over by the slides and splash park, open roughly 10:30 to 18:30 through the season from 1 March to 31 October. The KOGNAC lobby bar runs from late morning to around midnight, with a pianist some evenings and a smart-casual dress code. The rooftop Sky Bar on the seventh floor is adults-only, with cocktails and sea views into the evening; it comes with the Adults Only Lifestyle rooms, and some sellers offer it as a paid add-on, so other guests may be able to buy access. Evening shows are held at the La Férias Theatre.
How the à la carte booking works
The three à la carte restaurants, MOMO, NAKKO and LAMBARÉ, are dinner only and need a reservation, with MOMO asking for at least 24 hours' notice. Your free and discounted visits depend on your board: standard all-inclusive gives one free MOMO dinner and 10% off NAKKO per seven nights, while the Lifestyle rooms' All Inclusive Plus adds more à la carte dinners, the exact number depending on the length of your stay. LAMBARÉ is paid by everyone. The buffets and the snack bar never need booking, so they're the fallback on a night the à la carte tables are full.
The rooms, every type
Every room category and how many it sleeps, then the pools and the beach below.
There are thirteen room categories, from a standard double up to family rooms sleeping five and a seventh-floor adults-only room. Room sizes in square metres aren't published, so the picture here is the layout and who each sleeps rather than a floor area. The table below is the full line-up with maximum occupancy.
| Room type | Sleeps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Double | 3 | The entry-level double |
| Standard Double Plus | 4 | Sleeps one more than the Standard Double |
| Double Pool & Side Sea View | 3 | Pool and side sea view |
| Double Pool & Side Sea View Plus | 4 | Sleeps one more |
| Double Pool View | 3 | Pool view |
| Double Side Sea View | 3 | Side sea view |
| Double Side Sea View Plus | 4 | Sleeps one more |
| Double Sea View | 4 | Sleeps four without the Plus suffix, confirmed correct |
| Family Room | 5 | Two-bedroom family unit plus a sofa bed |
| Family Side Sea View Room | 5 | Family room with a side sea view |
| Family Fantasy Side Sea View Room | 5 | Themed family room, side sea view |
| Family Fantasy | 5 | Themed family room |
| Adults Only Lifestyle Room, Side Sea View | 2 to 3 | Seventh floor, adults only, All Inclusive Plus |
Across every room the hotel confirms air conditioning, a hairdryer, a shower, blackout curtains, cable television, a wake-up service and free Wi-Fi, with a safe for a small extra charge and a cot on request. Some booking sites list a balcony, a bath, a fridge or a particular television size for certain room types, but those aren't on the hotel's own all-rooms list, so treat a bathtub or a fridge as something to confirm for your exact room rather than a given. The word "Plus" on a room type means it sleeps one more than the same room without it.
For a family, the Family Rooms are the natural fit. They sleep up to five and are two-bedroom units, one with a king-size bed and one with two singles, plus a sofa bed, which is worth confirming for your exact room. The Fantasy Family Rooms are the premium family option, the same maximum of five, with children's themed decor, a welcome amenity for children on arrival, a PlayStation, an espresso machine, a mini-bar welcome pack and bathrobes and slippers; with All Inclusive Plus they include two à la carte dinners per seven nights. The Adults Only Lifestyle Rooms sit on the seventh floor with a side sea view, sleep two to three and come with All Inclusive Plus, the Sky Bar and the adults-only pool as standard.
One occupancy quirk is worth knowing if you're comparing. The Double Sea View sleeps four without carrying the "Plus" suffix the other doubles use to reach four; that's correct rather than a listing error, as it's a higher-spec sea-view room in its own right. For a baby or toddler, the hotel provides one cot per room on request, and the lifts and ramps make the blocks navigable with a pushchair.
Pools and water features
The resort has several outdoor freshwater pools, and none of them is heated or indoor. That's the single most common complaint in reviews: the water feels cold, especially in the spring and autumn shoulders and even to some children in July.
The main pool sits by ZEN Bar, with a sunbathing terrace, the entertainment team running games and aqua activities through the day and an adults-only section to one side reserved for Lifestyle guests. A second family pool is over by GLEES Bar next to the slides and splash park, and there's a dedicated shallow paddling pool for toddlers within the complex. The water slides run roughly midday to late afternoon, and the splash park has water guns and a waterfall feature; both are seasonal, open 1 March to 31 October, with age or height limits on some of the slides. Baby-changing facilities are by the pools through the same season.
The beach
The resort's beach is Praia de Nossa Senhora da Rocha, a sheltered golden-sand cove about 100m long and 40m wide, backed by ochre cliffs with a 16th-century chapel on the headland above. It holds Blue Flag status, current for 2026, and the award is renewed each year, so it's worth checking again nearer your trip. A small beach restaurant sits on the sand and takes cash only, with sunbeds and umbrellas to hire in summer and lifeguards in the bathing season. It doubles as a small fishing harbour, so boats share the sand and take up some space, and the cove is small enough to fill quickly in July and August.
The thing to plan for is getting down to it. The hotel calls itself beachfront, and the sea is close, but the beach is about 300m away: a five to ten minute walk downhill on a path, then roughly 80 steps down a cliff stairway to reach the sand, with no ramp. The return is back up all of it. A baby in a carrier is fine, but a full pushchair plus a toddler in the heat is hard work, so it's a real consideration if the beach is where you plan to spend your days. When the main cove is full, the larger and quieter Praia Nova next door takes the overflow, reached through a short fossil-lined tunnel through the headland or a separate clifftop staircase; it has no facilities but shares the same Blue Flag water. The sheltered cove is often calm and good for paddling, though it can turn choppy on a swell or a tide, so check the water on the day.
Babies and toddlers
The clubs and the baby kit, then everything else that fills a family day and the days out beyond the gate.
The clearest thing to know first is that there's no crèche or nursery, and no supervised care for children under four. The clubs start at age four, so with a baby or toddler you're looking after them yourselves the whole time.
From four, the Mini Club takes children up to eight and the Maxi Club covers nine to twelve, both running arts and crafts, games, sports and film nights, open 10:00 to 17:00 with a midday break from 13:00 to 15:00, and both seasonal from 1 March to 31 October. Children who joined in generally found the staff warm, though some parents felt the Mini Club leaned on drawing and painting with little outdoors. There's a separate Popular Fair area for fours to twelves with a tree-top adventure, an air bungee and a virtual-reality room, all charged on top, plus the evening mini-disco, which runs roughly 21:00 to 22:00, later than some younger children are used to. An indoor soft-play room for younger children is open from morning to midnight in season with staff on hand, and there's an outdoor playground with a climbing frame, slides and adventure play, with age or height limits on some of the elements.
For babies specifically, both buffet restaurants have high chairs and microwaves for warming food, and you can hire a bottle warmer, a fan or a kettle from reception for a small charge. A cot comes on request, one per room. The on-site mini-market stocks nappies, wipes, baby food, sunscreen and beach toys, which saves a supermarket run, and the nearest pharmacy is in Armação de Pêra about 2.5km away. The shallow paddling pool is the calmest water for a toddler, bearing in mind it's unheated like the rest.
On resortThings to do
Beyond the pools and clubs there's a fair amount on site. An air-conditioned gym with cardio kit, free weights and a studio takes over-14s, and the all-inclusive includes fitness classes such as aerobics, aqua aerobics, dance, Pilates and yoga, though a few may carry a charge. The entertainment team also runs water polo and aqua aerobics in the main pool.
The outdoor multi-sports court currently offers badminton, darts, petanque, table tennis and volleyball. Basketball, football and tennis are suspended after winter rain damaged the surface, with no repair date given, so if court tennis or football matters to you it's worth checking whether it's back before you book. Indoors there's a games room with a pool table and snooker, with a charge for the equipment, and bike hire is available for exploring the coast and villages.
Evenings are seasonal. From 1 March to 31 October there's a full daily programme of shows at the La Férias Theatre, live music, bingo, quizzes, a DJ, cabaret and the children's mini-disco; it winds down to a reduced programme through to around 20 November and is minimal in deep winter. The entertainment is also where the resort's French lean is most obvious. Because TUI France runs its Club Lookéa animation within the hotel, a good share of it is delivered in French and aimed at French guests, and UK families often feel less catered for, most noticeably in July and August when the Club Lookéa side is fullest. It isn't universal, some 2025 reviews describe a lively, welcoming atmosphere, but it's a long-standing feature of the hotel rather than a one-off. The spa is a small beauty-treatment area, with treatments charged on top.
Off resortThe area and days out
Porches itself is quiet, so most days out mean a short drive, and public transport is thin. Bus 13 between Albufeira and Portimão and the 51 and 52 pass near the hotel only a few times on weekdays, so a hire car opens the area up. The nearest proper town is Armação de Pêra, about 2.5km and a five-minute drive, a traditional fishing town with a promenade, seafood restaurants, shops and a market feel rather than a tourist strip.
For families the closest days out are the best. Zoomarine, a marine and aquatic theme park popular with children from about three, is roughly 7km, a fifteen-minute drive, and some operators sell combined hotel-and-Zoomarine packages. Slide & Splash near Lagoa and Aqualand are both about fifteen minutes away if you want a bigger waterpark than the hotel's own. The Benagil sea cave, the Algarve's most famous, is reached by boat or kayak from Armação de Pêra about 9km away and books up fast in season, worth thinking about with very young children in a small boat. Praia da Marinha, with its dramatic rock arches, is about fifteen minutes west near the Benagil viewpoint.
Further out, Portimão is 20 to 25 minutes and has the Museu de Portimão, free for under-twelves, and the long sandy Praia da Rocha. Albufeira is 25 to 30 minutes; its Strip is the nightlife zone and best avoided with young children at night, but the red cliffs of Falésia Beach are a draw. Silves has a medieval castle about 25 minutes away, and Lagoa town, with its market, is a short drive. For the wider region see our Algarve guide.
Loves and gripes
What families rate and what frustrated them, how it compares, the journey in and the weather by month.
What families love
- Cleanliness, the most consistent praise across the review sites.
- The buffet's range and the separate children's section.
- The 24-hour snack bar, for late arrivals and night feeds.
- Friendly, helpful staff, especially at check-in and housekeeping.
- The water slides and pools, for children old enough for them.
- The Fantasy Family Rooms, for the children's decor and welcome gifts.
- How close the beach is, a five to ten-minute walk from the hotel.
Common gripes
- Unheated pools that feel cold, raised even by some summer guests.
- Entertainment aimed largely at French guests, most noticeable in peak summer.
- Weak adult evening shows in several accounts.
- The extra cost of LAMBARÉ and the à la carte restaurants surprising some.
- A charge for on-site parking that reviewers rate poor value.
- Variable Wi-Fi, the lowest-scoring facility.
- The steps down to the beach, tiring with a pushchair in the heat.
- The small cove crowding at the peak and reduced facilities in the shoulder months.
On the numbers, the resort scores well where it's most reliably measured: 8.7 out of 10 on Booking.com from around 1,600 verified stays, and 9.0 on Trip.com. Booking.com's sub-scores put cleanliness highest at 9.2, with comfort, facilities and staff all around 9.0, location at 8.8 and value at 8.6; Wi-Fi is the weak point at 7.8. TripAdvisor sentiment is solid, though it sits below the other platforms.
In its marketHow it compares
Among Algarve family all-inclusives, this one's pitch is the 24-hour board, the water slides and splash park and the two clubs for school-age children, backed by consistently high marks for cleanliness. What sets it apart, for better or worse, is the Club Lookéa mix: a large French contingent and French-led entertainment, which suits some families and frustrates others. One comparison of Porches hotels places it around mid-table locally, roughly fifth of eight, while its own guest scores are strong on the major booking platforms. The trade-offs against a typical rival are the unheated pools and the walk and steps down to the beach; the draws are the round-the-clock food and drink, the slides and the cleanliness. If a warm pool, a beach you can wheel a pushchair onto or supervised care for a baby or toddler are your priorities, weigh those carefully.
From the airportGetting there and when to go
Faro is the airport, about 40 to 55 minutes away by private taxi or car. A shared coach transfer varies a lot by operator, from around 90 minutes to over two hours where the coach runs a string of hotel drop-offs, so check the expected time on your own transfer confirmation rather than relying on a single figure.
UK visitors need a passport issued within the last ten years and valid for at least three months after the return date, and no visa for stays up to 90 days in the Schengen area, though the EU's Entry/Exit System of biometric checks is now in force at the border. A GHIC covers state healthcare in Portugal and travel insurance is sensible on top. Portugal uses the euro, is on UK time and English is widely understood at the resort. A child travelling with someone who isn't a parent should carry a letter of authorisation.
The hotel's address is Quinta Das Palmeiras Bloco E3 IV, 8400-350 Armação de Pêra, in the Lagoa municipality in the Algarve. For a question before you book, call +351 282 321 200 or email [email protected].
The best months with young children are June to September, when the resort's splash features and clubs are all open and the sea is warm; May and October work too if a cold pool isn't a dealbreaker. The pools, slides, kids clubs and full entertainment run from 1 March to 31 October, and the resort stays open through winter on reduced service.
When to goWeather
Porches sits in the central Algarve and shares the coast's climate, hot dry summers and mild, wetter winters. The figures below are typical monthly averages through the resort's main season.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16.5° | 8.5° | 49 mm | 6 | 16° |
| February | 17° | 9° | 42 mm | 5 | 15° |
| March | 19.5° | 11° | 38 mm | 4 | 15° |
| April | 21° | 12.5° | 39 mm | 5 | 16° |
| May | 23.5° | 14.5° | 21 mm | 3 | 18° |
| June | 27° | 17.5° | 6 mm | 1 | 19° |
| July | 29° | 19° | 1 mm | 0 | 20° |
| August | 29° | 19.5° | 0 mm | 0 | 20° |
| September | 26.5° | 18° | 22 mm | 2 | 21° |
| October | 24° | 16° | 56 mm | 6 | 20° |
| November | 20° | 12° | 76 mm | 7 | 18° |
| December | 17.5° | 9.5° | 90 mm | 7 | 17° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Can you get a pushchair down to the beach?
Not all the way. It's a downhill path and then around 80 cliff steps with no ramp, so you'd carry a baby in a sling and fold the pushchair, or leave it at the top. If beach days with a pushchair matter, a flatter, sand-level beach elsewhere on the coast will suit you better, reached by car.
Is everything included in the all-inclusive?
Almost. The buffets, the 24-hour snack bar, local drinks and one MOMO dinner a week are in. The LAMBARÉ restaurant, premium branded drinks, the Popular Fair activities, parking and the spa all cost extra, so budget a little on top.
Is there a crèche for a baby or toddler?
No. Supervised care starts with the Mini Club at age four, so for a younger child you'll be doing all the childcare yourselves or bringing your own help. If supervised care for an under-four is what you need, this isn't the resort for it.
Will UK children feel left out of the entertainment?
The animation is run partly by a French tour operator's team, so a good share of it is in French. Younger children usually still join the mini-disco and pool games happily enough, and the gap shows most in the adult evening shows. If a big UK-style programme matters, check recent UK reviews for your month before booking.
Are the pools heated?
No, none of them, and there's no indoor one either. For a young child who chills easily, aim for June to September when the water's had time to warm, and pack a rash vest for pool time.
How long is the transfer from Faro?
A private taxi is quickest at about 40 to 55 minutes. A shared coach can be anything from 90 minutes to over two hours depending on how many hotels it serves, so with a baby a private transfer is worth the extra to keep the first day short.
Do you have to pay for parking?
Yes, on-site parking is charged, and reviewers rate it poor value. If you're hiring a car mainly for a few days out, you might weigh a shorter hire against paying to park it all week.
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Useful links
- Ukino Palmeiras Village: the resort's own site for rooms, board and the children's clubs.
- GOV.UK Portugal travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- The Algarve with little ones: our guide to the wider region, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 17 July 2026.
