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Ria Park Hotel & Spa
Almancil, Portugal · Independent · Accessible Luxury
Rudi Völler came out twice to inspect this corner of the Algarve before the German squad moved in for Euro 2004, and what sold him was how completely it could be shut: three-metre walls, five-metre palms, and a full-size pitch fenced off so neither the public nor Germany's opponents could see the training. The players slept in the four-star Garden hotel next door; the daily press conferences, the sponsors and the VIPs were here. The two houses have been a football camp for decades, hosting Bayern Munich, Ajax, Celtic, Benfica, and the national teams of Portugal, Nigeria and Uruguay, across twenty hectares of pine.
- 175 rooms
- Opened 1998
About Ria Park Hotel & Spa
- The training pitch is laid out to official match dimensions and was fenced off specially in 2004 so Völler could work on tactics without the public or Germany's opponents watching.
- The guest list reads like a European fixture card: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax, Celtic, Everton, Benfica and Sporting have all trained here, as have the women's national teams of Germany, the United States and China.
- Germany's federation blocked both hotels for the whole of Euro 2004. The team drew with the Netherlands and Latvia, lost to the Czech Republic, and went home after the group stage without a win.
- The squad slept in the Algarve but played nowhere near it. Their group matches were 300 kilometres away in Lisbon and 650 kilometres away in Porto, and they flew from Faro to every one.
History
Ria Park Hotels goes back to 1980, and the five-star house now called Ria Park Hotel & Spa went up in 1998 at Vale do Garrão, on the strip of coast between Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo. It is a seven-storey building of 175 rooms and suites on a twenty-hectare estate of pine and planted tropical garden, with the suites on the first, fifth and sixth floors and the penthouse deluxe suites at the top for the valley and sea views. There are three pools, four bars and restaurants, and the Lusitano dining room for Portuguese and Mediterranean cooking. The hotel was renovated in 2004.
What gives it a story beyond the spec is football. The estate has a training pitch built to official match dimensions a few metres from the buildings, and it has drawn professional squads for decades: the national teams of Portugal, Germany, Finland, Uruguay, Nigeria and Morocco, the German, American and Chinese women's teams, the under-21 and under-20 sides of Portugal, Switzerland and Denmark, and a long list of clubs including Benfica, Sporting, Braga, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Ajax, Köln, Stuttgart, Everton, Celtic, Dynamo Moscow and Dynamo Kyiv.
The famous stay was Euro 2004. Germany chose Vale do Garrão even though it meant 300 kilometres to Lisbon and 650 to Porto for the matches, partly because the Algarve was where German holidaymakers already went and partly because coach Rudi Völler wanted quiet and a site that could be sealed. Völler inspected it twice, including the groundsman's work on the grass. The squad was housed in the neighbouring four-star Ria Park Garden, whose balconies and courtyard pool could not be seen into even from this hotel; this one took the daily press conferences and the blocked rooms for sponsors and VIPs. Faro airport, fifteen or twenty minutes down the road, was the other reason: Germany flew to every match from there.
The setting
Vale do Garrão is the quiet seam between two of the most expensive addresses in Portuguese golf, Quinta do Lago on one side and Vale do Lobo on the other, inside the reach of the Ria Formosa Natural Park. Praia do Garrão, a broad stretch of fine sand that empties out completely in winter, is about 700 to 800 metres away, with a shuttle running down to it in high season. Roughly a dozen golf courses sit within easy driving distance, San Lorenzo and Pinheiros Altos among them, which is the real reason this stretch of the central Algarve was built at all. Almancil village, with the tiled church of São Lourenço and a concentration of good restaurants unusual for the Algarve, is a short drive inland. Faro airport is 18 kilometres away, about twenty minutes.
Experiences
- Boat trips in Ria Formosa Natural Park — Walks or boat trips to explore the protected Ria Formosa Natural Park's fauna and flora.
- Golf rounds and golf clinics — Book a round or enjoy a golf clinic at golf courses in the Golden Triangle.
Amenities
- Garrão Gardens of 1,500 m²
- Rooftop terrace
- Outdoor pool area
- Dedicated MICE team with more than 25 years of know-how
- Tailor-made event solutions
- Multilingual staff: Portuguese, English, French, Spanish
- Private beach
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