A lot of restaurants on here sound really nice but not particularly suitable until we've got rid of - I mean when our 6 year old has left home. What are the best family friendly establishments ( and hopefully cheap/reasonably priced ) within a 6 mile radius

Virtually all Portuguese restaurants are family friendly. They love kids and welcome them.

Ma Jas is run by an English couple and they do home from home cooking and also have games and the like to help entertain the kids.

If you go up to Monte Carvoeiro there are a few restaurants in the square and it's completly car free, so it is possible to let the kids play around the fountain and keep an eye on them. There's also entertainment and if you are lucky, the staff in the Cocktail Garden will juggle bottles.

Try vimar grill at the top of estrada do farol. they have an enclosed play area, very child friendly (football on tv too for footie lovers) and great food.
Havent been anywhere yet that didnt welcome kids.
Enjoy your stay

My 7 year old has been coming to Cvo for the past 3 years. There is no restaurant where he has not been made welcome. I choose not to take him to the loud music type establishments (well, I choose not to take myself to those either!) but we do go to some of what I consider to be the best restaurants in Cvo and the surrounding area. The waiters are all very welcoming and they all appear to have child menus (although mine usually tries to persuade me to let him have a fillet steak rather than fishfingers ...)

My son is 2, and we have taken him to several restaurants in Carvoeiro. If they have a kids menu, they have always always welcomed and been friendly to him, from bringing him extra cushions to at some restaurants even bringing him crayons to use.

One tip I would give is while they are always extremely welcoming, the nice slowish relaxing meal is still the norm, so take something to entertain whilst waiting. But my son has never had a problem, and most people make a real fuss of him when at a restaurant, enjoy!

Likewise. Our first trip was with our then 7 month old daughter. We now have 2 children age 3 1/2 and 21 months and it will be our 5th visit. Have always found all the restaraunts friendly and accomodating to our children. A few have proved a bit impractical (stairs v buggies etc), so we`ve had to avoid them but with a six year old you shouldn`t have a problem.

Thanks very much for all of your replies. Are there many that are reasonably/cheaply priced

Depends on what you mean by cheap!

I guess I'm talking about 2 adult mains, 1 child main, a couple of desserts, 4 soft drinks and a bottle of wine for about 50 to 60 euros.

Pretty much anywhere providing you don't order the most expensive item on some of the menus. i.e. most mains are between 6-12 euros, child mains 4-10 euros, desserts at 2-5 euros, drinks say 20 euros max - fits within your budget. Even the more "expensive" restaurants such as Maximes will be within that budget. You can eat for far less at places like California (pasta restaurant) where you would probably only need two main courses for 2 adults and a child at about 8 euros each. The Stone Steak place near the Carvoeiro Bar does a good steak for 10 euros each - lots of choices really.

Thankyou very much indeed. Most helpful and appreciated

We normally reserve Maximes as a treat if we are away for a fortnight. On nights we want to stick to a budget, good options are ordering dishes such as piri-piri chicken. Steak house is great & reasonable. Our children are only small so we sometimes go out a bit earlier for a pizza (think place called cats but can`t remember) which always works out to be a cheap eat & a hit with them...leaves a bit more for us to spend on the after-dinner baileys down at the square!

This restaurant is round the corner from carvoeiro tenis club.
4 adults 72 euros inclusive of drinks. The all in meal includes steak, chicken, pork, rice, salad you name they keep bringing it...16 euros per person.
One of the best meals we had.

I'd recommend the restaurants at Monte Carvoeiro. My 6 year old loves going there to eat and she always makes a friend to run around and play with. There is a choice of stone steak, traditional portuguese and Indian , and a couple of family friendly bars. Luis and Katiya at the cocktail garden are particuarly good with young kids.

Roma restaurant is also a great one for kids. Its a bit out of the way- you'll need a car to get there and its about 5 mins from carvoeiro, but they have a great play area with a bouncy castle and a lady who looks after the kids for you whilst you enjoy your dinner.

Just back fro CVO and tried Vimar based on tips here. Kids loved it due to play area & food/wine good & reasonably priced.

Also tried Casa Algarvia for 1st time & ended up eating there twice, thought food was excellent, well priced & good with the children, even provided extra seat cushions etc