General Overview

All our guests get to experience our flagship location, which launched us into the training camp industry.

Aquamar apartments are located on the marina in Vilamoura. The apartments have access to a small pool and relaxing area. They are also a few minutes from the famous Falesia beach and near several of the world-famous Portuguese coffee shops. This is a special place situated in the heart of the Golden Triangle of the Algarve.

Staying elsewhere

If you prefer to stay elsewhere in one of the nearby hotels or if you find your own accommodation, you can still join the camp as the location is very central. We do not include any transfers or food to camp-only bookings.

More about the rooms

The apartments are fully furnished and very comfortable. Wi-Fi, TV, washing machine, and dishwasher are all standard. Each apartment is different, but for most of them, the bedroom has its own bathroom with towels, and all have a sizeable living room with an outdoor balcony.

Room Choices

We sell the apartment as a complete offering. Therefore, it is private to anyone on your booking. You can add people to your booking (non-training adults get a discount, and non-trining children go for free).

Solo Travellers Sharing Apartments

Solo travellers can let us know if they want to share, and we will try to match them up with someone else also travelling solo to share accommodation, but we cannot guarantee this form of booking.

Our apartments are fully stocked and topped up through the week by our catering team: Scott and Lynn. For many guests, the magic of returning home and finding the apartments re-stocked and home-comfort style dinner waiting to be thrown into the oven is one of the highlights of their camps!

The apartments are your home, so the meals are not cooked for you, but you can create your first, second and third breakfasts at will from the supplies in the kitchen. Your evening meal and various recovery snacks throughout the week will be prepared for you too.

Scott and Lynn are more than happy to provide any meals for any dietary requirements. If you aren’t sure, please just message us. They have huge experience both in athlete portion sizes as well as specifics for diets.

They have also worked closely alongside our sports nutritionist to ensure that the meals are appropriate for the training sessions in the week too meaning, all you need to do is eat!

We aim to do one social BBQ throughout the week and one meal out on a Wednesday as part of the team.

If you want more information about our catering approach, check out this helpful video.

Specialist Dietary Requirements

All dietary requirements are catered for. Please let us know in advance and if you are unsure, email an example of what you would have and we will endeavour to get it for you!

Scott and Lynn have a huge amount of experience here and often people ask to take their recipes home with them!

General Information

It is very easy to get to us in Vilamoura. There are regular flights to Faro International Airport or trains to Loule train station. We can pick you up from there!

Flights are not included in the training camp price.

Transfers

Your transfers are included for those making an inclusive (accommodation) booking. When making your booking; you will be encouraged to provide your flight details. This will allow us to pick you up from the airport or train station. This is included in your price

Arrival and Departure Times

We will not be able to give you room access until 4 p.m., and you will need to leave your rooms at 11 a.m. on the last day of your stay.

We will try to accommodate different times (both earlier and later) where possible. We do have a good relationship with the accommodation provider and may be able to get you in a little sooner, but we cannot make promises!

If you can’t get into your room yet, you can relax by the pool, visit the marina or the beach.

This camp has access to the following training facilities:

– Guiding and Coaching are all included.

– Personal Athlete Report to take home after your trip.

– HD video analysis in Swim and Run with feedback sessions and reports.

– 25 and 50m laned swimming pool

– Picturesque coastline for open water sea swimming

– Stunning landscape for cycling - hundreds of miles of empty roads (we still keep on finding new routes!)

– Mechanical support included

– 400m laned running track

– 2km Cross-country running course

Kit Choice Suggestions

– Bring your wetsuit

– TT or race bikes are welcome!

– Road or trail trainers are appropriate

– Dress for generally warm days with temperature changes.

General Overview

This camp is a coach-led one. Given the time in the season, the training is aiming to offer meaningful technical improvements through the analysis sessions as well as act as build into the race season. There is a nice mix of steady endurance workouts and intervals. Our coaches aim is to give you more than just added fitness to take home, but give you a fresh look at how you are training and how you can make efficiency gains along the way. If you have any questions, just ask!

The winter camp focusses a lot more on technique, testing, and helping athletes get a lot more out of their season as well as a healthy dose of base miles to build aerobic fitness. We can test training zones, physiological markers, the salt content of sweat etc. The Spring one has a bit more intensity than the winter one and less testing focus.

Suggested Ability Level

This camp is suitable to all levels. Due to the high number of coaches, we have had and really can support athletes looking to win races or world championships training alongside athletes who are quite new to the sport. All groups will be challenged enough and take positive training learnings home with them.

Swim

There is access to both the 25 or 50m swimming pool and the open water sea swimming. Sessions will include:

– Threshold swimming testing

– Video feedback

– Technical focussed session

– Open water skills

– Open water swimming training

– Conditioning sessions

Bike

The options for the bike routes are endless and really impressive. Some of the rides or sessions look like:

– Bike handling skills and testing

– Introductory route ~2 hours

– Long ride to our favourite mountain (Foia) with an optional TT to the top (BBQ afterwards though!)

– Transition skills

– Hill repeats

– Tempo or chain-gang work

Run

Running around the Algarve is superb. We have an excellent choice of routes to do too:

– Nature reserve running loop

– Video Feedback

– Running track and threshold testing

– XC interval sessions

– Plenty of opportunities for brick sessions

S&C

There is no gym on-site. We use outdoor locations and space for our S&C sessions on the camp.

The training schedule written below is subject to change and is meant to be representative of the style of training scheduled to help your planning. If you want any further information, drop us a line closer to the start date as we will have a better idea of any tweaks or changes due to facility closures or weather.

Thursday

Arrival and bike set up. Short bike skills session in the evening.

Friday

Pool Swim, Track session in the morning. Introduction ride in the afternoon.

Saturday

Run Analysis discussion and morning run around the nature reserve.

Swim analysis discussion and swim technical session in the afternoon.

Sunday

Long ride day followed by a BBQ.

Monday

Recovery day – transition skills work and Open water skills work in the morning.

A free afternoon.

Tuesday

Morning Hill rep session on the bike.

Cross Country running intervals and open water swimming in the afternoon.

Wednesday

Morning pool swim and middle length ride.

Packing bikes up and a meal out.

Thursday

Depart

The Algarve boasts 300 days of sunshine a year. However, it can be impacted by depressions coming in from the Atlantic. We recommend that you make sure you pack for a “British Summer” bringing a range of items and checking the weather before you leave. It can get chilly on long descents and so there can be some temperature changes from the bottom to the top of the hills!

Spring: The expected weather for the Algarve Spring is generally very nice, it will generally be warm, but consider the temperature changes.

Winter: For our winter camps, the weather is usually very stable, the mornings and evenings can be chilly, but the middle of the day will easily be short sleeves. Pack layers and things you can remove easily as the day progresses.

Both the BBC and Dark Sky Sky are good resources.

Bikes Available

Bike hire is available at this location –either carbon or aluminium road bikes.

You can add this to your booking on the booking pages.

Accessories

If hiring a bike, we suggest you bring your helmet and pedals with you. Depending on your saddle type, it may be worth bringing your own saddle too.

This is a full board training camp and so meal costs are all included.

You will need some money for cafe stops when out and about. On Wednesday evening, our catering team have a night off and so we head into town for a meal in a restaurant, you will need money for this meal out.