Club Med Da Balaia

Fabulous food and superb staff and resort. We loved all of it. Only downside is that Club Med is still SO french, which means that young English children are not able to blend in. They are made to feel the odd ones out and that means they hate it / wouldn't partake. Such a shame as everything else was perfect.

Brilliant family trip…… kids loved the Mini Club and the staff were superb with them…… food was good and the evening entertainment for the kids went down a storm…… Tristan at the golf was brilliant with my 7-year-old son who had his first lesson…… a great week for everyone……

Club is unfortunately a 3 stars despite has potential to be upgraded to a 5 stars being located on a breathtaking beach view and in a green pine forest. Missing an infinity Zen pool overlooking the beach. Missing seating on the view. One common pool only. Fitness area is small but nicely placed accessible and outdoor classes are great with soft breeze. Bar is poorly designed. While club needs upgrading and refurbishing. Mini Club is good. Teenager club poorly managed. Overpriced for a 3 stars Club med. Should be upgraded to a 5 stars.

Some of the resort buildings are somewhat dilapidated in parts and our bedrooms needed a modicum of love and attention; the tennis courts and tennis equipment are in desparate need of refurbishment despite the coaches being superb [Julien is particularly good]. The gym is small and consequently poorly stocked [surprising for a sports resort] and the food whilst plentiful, is often short of the quality you'd expect at the price. The beach area is excellent [really really lovely] but there's no facility to get food or drink sadly. Pierre at the golf tuition was also exceptional, a real delight and a credit to club med. The Zen pool was a great quiet space despite the building site at the rear [I don't suppose there's a lot club med can do about that]. Plus if you're going to offer two beers on the menu, you should probably make sure one of them isn't out of stock for 5 days. I'd finish by saying that although the staff were lovely, I wouldn't be rushing back here. There are better offers if you look at the other companies who compete for this space... I should also add that the in resort holiday app is Awful awful awful. If this is supposed to improve the quality of your holiday Club Med, you have desperately failed. From Val Thorens on a ski holiday in 2018 to Da Balaia in 2024, the app is equally rubbish, and you clearly take no customer feedback into account when looking to make non-existent improvements... there's no excuse for such a poor online experience in this day and age - no working resort map and a number of broken in app links - simple stuff to resolve. Possibly better than a 2 star, but enough wrong with the experience to point it out.

Staff was incredibly rude and treated my family and I with disdain. One staff member - a very tall man - left a rude note in our room and then attempted to snatch it out of my wife’s hand in front of our four year old son. We did not feel safe after that. I’ve never before experienced that level of unprofessionalism. Additionally the front desk staff was incredibly rude. At one point we requested they make a phone call on our behalf and they refused and were quite unhelpful and rude about it. Only the male in our group was treated with respect, and he did not even finance the vacation. I’m really disappointed. We have another trip booked already and I’m very seriously considering canceling it based on this treatment.

We left the holiday early and moved to an Airbnb to enjoy our time away. This was not a quality experience for us and would not recommend to anyone. Such a waste of money