LAGOS IS to receive its first five star hotel in the form of the Cascade Resort development, the first stone of which was laid recently at the site near Praia do Canavial. The project is the result of a partnership between Swiss businessman Urs Wild and the Portuguese real estate and tourism group, Fibeira, owned by Armando Martins. The 14 hectare site will ultimately contain 20 residences with swimming pools and 148 apartments in 11 blocks.
The laying of the first stone was attended by Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism, Bernardo Trindade, who praised the project for its high standard of planning from the point of view of sustainable tourism and went on to note that the development flew in the face of the rather recessive trend that has been manifest in Lagos over the past few years with the closure of the Golfinho and the São Gonçalo hotels. Trindade also welcomed the fact that the development is expected to generate around 180 jobs.
The new Cascade Resort will contain 86 rooms, all with sea views, and several bars and restaurants. There will also be conference rooms and indoor and outdoor swimming pools, as well as a health club with a spa and a physiotherapy unit dedicated principally to more elderly guests. According to Urs Wild, the idea is that the Spa will be specially designed and equipped to cater for international business people who seek total relaxation. “It will not be just a holiday hotel, but also a hotel of wellbeing and beauty,” he said. The resort could be finished within three years.
According to sources close to the Swiss businessman, Urs Wild has been planning the project for the past five years. Already owner of the Vivenda Miranda Hotel not far from the Cascade Resort site and the rural tourism development Quinta das Barradas in Odeceixe, Urs Wild has now gone into partnership with Armando Martins’ Fibeira group, who own the Villa Rica four star hotel in Lisbon and the Madeira Palácio five star hotel in Funchal, among other developments, for the purposes of the Cascade Resort project. The venture represents the first involvement of the Fibeira group in the Algarve.
