Full transparency: POMAR was kind enough to give me a discounted stay to create this review and some Instagram content. I’d never recommend a place I didn’t genuinely love — as always, the experiences and opinions here are 100% my own.
I spent three weeks at POMAR Na Serra Coliving in the Algarve in Southern Portugal. Claire, the co-founder and host, is also opening up a location close to the beach – POMAR Na Praia. Claire’s family has farmed in the Algarve for generations, and she opened the first colive here in 2022 after renovating her family’s 19th-century farmhouse. I highly recommend staying at POMAR – Claire’s connection to the area and community makes it so special.
Get 5% off your booking with the code TASHAxPOMAR (small “x”!), and let Claire know you were referred by Tasha Prados – me!
I only recommend places I’ve personally vetted – you can read more about what I look for in a coliving space here & find my full list of recommendations (and discounts!) here.
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The Algarve is Portugal’s most southern region, on the Atlantic coast. Think beautiful beaches, stunning cliffs and rock formations, orchards, and fishing villages.
POMAR Na Serra is a rural colive – and that’s part of the magic. Claire opened this place to keep POMAR alive after construction forced her to move the colive from her family home.
Claire is a force of nature – constantly juggling a million balls in the air. Yet somehow she makes time for everything and everyone and makes all her colivers feel so loved and cared about. Whether she’s dragging you to CrossFit with her 6-year old daughter, bringing you oranges and avocados from her family farm, or taking you out dancing, she’s always in motion.
Claire knows almost everyone in town – and all the best things to do, which makes staying here such a special experience. She’ll source quotes for boat days, tell you where to get the best pizza, and find a yoga teacher to come to the house for you. She works hard to support her local community, whether it’s having the local baker come by twice a week so you can buy from him directly, or inviting you to events in town.
This is a more rural colive – so you may want to rent a car (though Ubers are surprisingly easy to get – usually 10-15 Euros and I never waited more than 5-10 minutes!). I didn’t rent a car and was ok, but was definitely dependent on my fellow colivers for rides. Google Maps has a small amount of difficulty finding the place – make sure you take Cam 4112.1.
Let’s get into it!
Price. I stayed in the cheapest room, which is €68 per night – €40 per night with the monthly discount – which includes breakfast on weekdays + coffee. POMAR also offers paid airport pickups (I skipped this and took an Uber), and they offer to stock groceries for you – which I did do for €25 (+ cost of groceries of course). This was awesome since I arrived on a Sunday night – having groceries already (and not having a car) made starting the work week on Monday a breeze.
Value. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5/5)
Bedroom. My room was the only one still available when I booked, so book in advance! My room was in the basement and didn’t get a lot of natural light – next time I’ll definitely opt for a room with natural light. Pretty much all the other rooms are gorgeous. My room did have a lot more space though, and its own bathroom, plus plenty of closet space and a desk. Normally I like having a sanctuary of a room to retreat to, but I was totally fine here. I actually didn’t spend much time in my room – the house is stunning. The bed was two beds put together, and the pillows weren’t my favorite. But it was definitely big, comfy, and had everything I needed!
Work space. I mostly worked from the beautiful coworking space in the main house, complete with ergonomic chairs & monitors. There are plenty of workspaces. POMAR Na Serra actually has two different buildings, and there are tons of tables inside and outside. Some folks enjoyed working from the garden!
Common areas. POMAR Na Serra is stunning. Every morning, you’ll wake up to the most beautiful view – you can see the sea from the house. There is a gorgeous pool, complete with lounge chairs and an umbrella. The roof of one of the houses has an amazing view of the sunset. There are two barbecues and an outdoor pizza oven. Two kitchens. Two laundry rooms. A pool table. Two living rooms. Two kitchens. It’s a beautiful and relaxing place with tons of great communal space.
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Kitchen/ coffee/ breakfast. One awesome thing about POMAR is the free breakfast. On weekdays from 7:30am-10:30am, POMAR provides oats, muesli, eggs, bread, butter, jam, and peanut butter, which is pretty awesome. There’s also a great espresso machine + free coffee. There’s a big kitchen with (almost) everything you would need. I cooked quite a lot given the rural nature of the place. As in many colives, folks weren’t always great about cleaning up after themselves and emptying the dishwasher, so a bit more enforcement of that would be great. Since both of the two houses at POMAR Na Serra have a kitchen, it never felt too crowded.
Amenities. Honestly, so many! Free breakfast. Free coffee. I loved that they stocked groceries for you before you arrived. You can also get an airport pickup if you want (I took an Uber). But beyond that – the community, events, and local knowledge is amazing. Claire is super social, and there is so much value provided through the contacts and events she shares. She’s always looking for opportunities to collaborate with local businesses and make sure her colivers have a great experience. And it doesn’t feel transactional or pay-to-play. A few examples – she’ll drive you to CrossFit (and get you a discount!) and bring you to local festivals and community events. She’ll organize things at the house – sunset yoga, calisthenics workouts, or even have a pizza-making class. She even had the local baker come by twice a week. You can also use the POMAR car one day for free. There are bicycles to borrow as well. And there is some workout equipment at the house – yoga matts, a pull up bar, some dumbbells and kettlebells. It felt like a very rich experience. In terms of supplies, it was a bit confusing what was and wasn’t provided by POMAR – when we arrived, there were paper towels and olive oil (from Claire’s farm!!) for example, but once they ran out we needed to buy it. I do wish basics like dish soap, salt, and cooking oil were included.
Location. The Algarve is the southernmost part of Portugal. POMAR Na Serra is a 20-minute Uber from Faro airport – or you can take the train or bus from Lisbon. The colive is a 25-minute walk to the nearest town, Estoi, which is super cute and has a couple of restaurants. It’s about a 20-minute drive to Faro or Olhão, where we often went for dinner or drinks. You’ll be surrounded by farmland and orchards, and the landscape reminds me of California and Crete. It’s about a 20-minute drive to the beach, and there are some truly stunning and unique beaches. It can get quite hot, but the house & rooms have air conditioning. We definitely spent a lot of time at the house, but I didn’t feel too isolated, and it felt like we were quite busy with activities.
Cleanliness & room cleaning. The common areas are cleaned once a week, and the rooms are cleaned every two weeks. I definitely would have preferred a room cleaning once a week. I also didn’t love that the cleaning day is Saturday, when I want to sleep in.
Staff. Claire is the co-founder, and you’ll see her most days. She’s absolutely lovely. I didn’t meet her partner, Hadrien, but he was always available to help with WiFi issues (we didn’t have any – WiFi was great!). When I was there, Ceci was the community manager, and she is absolutely great. Both of them felt like friends and we had a blast together.
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Community management. We had a family meeting every Monday to discuss plans for the week, and usually planned 1-2 things a day – workouts, skillshares, dinner, drinks. We had family dinner once a week, including some really memorable barbecues. In very Portuguese fashion, we often changed or tweaked the plan a bit last minute. We planned lots of fun activities and weekend trips – hikes, beach days, nights out, trips to the market and to the islands. They could have done a little bit more to facilitate logistics, planning, communication, and community – for example, helping folks understand how to use splitwise, helping make sure we didn’t run out of supplies, and making sure plans were decided on in advance.
Members. I loved the group at POMAR! Almost everyone had been here before – which speaks really highly of the experience. I met some really amazing people and loved our little group. Since it is a more rural colive, the group really matters, and who is there can make or break your experience – in this case, it made it. I was the only American during the three weeks I was there – otherwise, all Europeans (German, British, French, Italian), so I was the only one working US hours, but folks were pretty accommodating.
Community. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5/5)
Overall feel. Rural, small-town, farm and orchard, beach vibes
This was a really special, unique experience as a nomad. I loved being somewhere more rural and enjoying a slower pace of life. Highly recommend!
Get 5% off your booking with the code TASHAxPOMAR (small “x”!), and let Claire know you were referred by Tasha Prados – me!
