50 Million Almargem Water Resort That Never Quite Made It...

J_a_t_33 · Apr 10, 2023

Back in September, while exploring Portugal, as one of my birthday suprises, on a rainy afternoon, my girlfriend lined up a visit to this incredible place right in the centre of the country...

Apparently around 25 million euro has already been invested... And for anyone with an extra €26,000,000.00 to spare, the project is available here: Almargem Water Resort - 3.0 Business

There is still a basic website live for the project, dating back 10yrs to 2014 with pictures of how the finished project will look: Complexo Turístico do Almargem
Perhaps they still have hopes of finishing this beast of a project. Looking at the state of the place, I think it's chances are getting slimmer and slimmer...

Let's explore...

Entering via the car park...

Across the bridge that goes over a cute river

Fibreglass pirate ship dominates the internals

Water slide finishing pool

Into the childrens area...

Something a little fishy about this place you know...

My dog trying out the slide

She wasn't up for trying this one...

Venturing upstairs

Pay attention to the coloured lines on this slide, you'll see why shortly...

Remember those coloured stripes on the outside of the slide?

Kinda creepy...

One last stroll past before leaving

Whatever will come of this place? Any thoughts?

Thanks for looking!

night crawler · Apr 10, 2023

That's a great shame it ended up like that, can't see any money being poured into the place now, more like it will be torn down, The cost of finishing it would be more then building a new one

BikinGlynn · Apr 11, 2023

That is well cool, never done a good waterpark myself, I could spend hours in tehre

Hayman · Apr 11, 2023

Just what are the planning laws in Portugal? From the photos, the place has been carved out of a wooded area close to a small town. Where would the customers have come from? Imagine building such a place in the Lake District!

J_a_t_33 · Apr 17, 2023

Hayman said:
Just what are the planning laws in Portugal? From the photos, the place has been carved out of a wooded area close to a small town. Where would the customers have come from? Imagine building such a place in the Lake District!

I have similar questions... Seems like planning laws are probably not so disimilar to Spain as, like Spain, there are also many half-built houses and developments in Portugal.

Tis certainly an odd location choice for such a resort. No where near beaches, cities or the Algarve...

Hayman · Apr 17, 2023

J_a_t_33 said:
I have similar questions... Seems like planning laws are probably not so disimilar to Spain as, like Spain, there are also many half-built houses and developments in Portugal.

Tis certainly an odd location choice for such a resort. No where near beaches, cities or the Algarve...

When I visited the Greek islands in the 1980s and 1990s, there would be many
partly-built houses in the small towns and villages. Usually the ground floor had been constructed, including the concrete slab that acted as the ceiling for the ground floor and the floor for the next level. There would be the reinforcing rods for the upper walls poking out and pointing skywards. It was something to do with planning and building regs. Once construction had been started,
there was no limit on when it was completed. Often the money for building the property came from Greeks living overseas, sending it back in dribs and drabs.