Having just returned (with 3 other couples) from the hotel boa vista and having prior to our visit ,read some negative reviews, I felt compelled to write a review highlighting the wonderful friendly and helpful staff in the hotel. Nothing was too much trouble and the restaurant and bar manager, Manuel was extremely polite, humerous and helpful. The food was excellent and well presented. The location and the views were fantastic and the rooms adequate and clean. The pool is in need of renovation, however, I was informed that this was due to be done this winter. I would recommend this hotel but would think twice about taking young children as there are no facilities for them. However, I would certainly return...if only to experience the hospitality of Manuel. Thankyou!

This hotel has the potential to be amazing but lets itself down in some areas. The hotel has wonderful views and our particular room had a pool view. The room was ok and the bathroom was nice. Some parts of the hotel were quite nice whereas others seemed slightly charmless. Our arrival to the hotel wasn't great. Admittedly we had arrived at 9am in the morning, but were not offered a room to change in, leaving us walking around albufeira in the searing heat in trousers and dark tops. One of our rooms actually only became available at 5pm after arrival! The reception of the hotel is a big flaw really. Basically helpful but do not go out of their way to make you feel special. The breakfasts were pretty much the same, a pretty limited selection of cooked food combined with a basic selection of other breakfast fruits, cheeses and meat. The pool suffers greatly from people rushing down to put their towels on the loungers at the crack of dawn and then not using them. Not the hotel's fault but really some system should be put in place. There was a BBQ twice at the hotel whislt we were there but neither seem greatly attended although they weren't very well advertised by the hotel. The walk to the old town of albufeira was a bit of walk but manageable. With a bit of attention and thought the hotel could become very special indeed, but right now it is an average 3 star. O Penedo is a good local restaurant with nice views and A Ruina on the fishermans beach is overpriced and pretty average. I try and avoided eating on the tourist trap of the old town square, but we did have one okayish meal at Bank. The best meal probably was at a restaurant on Fishermans Beach on the corner opposite A Ruina with large canopies.

Like many others on this site, after reading the reviews I was a bit concerned about staying here. But thankfully I found Hotel Boa Vista to be really nice! We arrived about an hour before check-in started but the front desk staff were really nice and told us to leave our luggage in the reception until we could check-in and to make full use of their services.

Our room was a little bit dated in terms of decor but it was fine. The air conditioning was fantastic, especially when it was 37deg outside! The bathroom was very different from the rest of the room, nice and modern with a really good shower/bath. However I would reccommend not trying to have a shower between 5.30pm and 7.30pm as this is when everyone seems to be having a shower and the water pressure is low and the temperature jumps between really hot and really cold!

The food was something of an issue however. While the quality was always good, the variety was not. It was always the same menu. We found ourselves eating out every night after 4 days, which is not something that is desireable when you are half-board. I would reccommend only booking bed and breakfast.

The pool is fantastic for cooling off as it is always nice and cool. However if you are not a confidant swimmer, you should stick to the shallow end as the pool is very deep! We spoke to the bar manager about this and he said that there are plans to sort it as it is now deeper than regulation allows!

The views from this hotel are spectacluar! You really should spent a little extra for a sea view room as there is nothing better than waking up to such a magnificant view.

I found all the staff to be very pleasant and helpful, we were always greated with a smile. The cleaning ladies were always respectful of your privacy and understanding everytime we had to ask for a new Do Not Disturb sign as ours was constantly being stolen! The bar manager was wonderful, always full of conversation and really made us feel welcome.

The only problem we had was when we were checking out, we had paid our bill in full two days before and they tried to charge us twice for our last two days. But this problem was rectified quickly.

The hotel is ontop of a lot of hills and in the heat this can be a problem! But to get a taxi from either the Old Town of The Strip only costs about €5.00 so this was not a problem. The hotel is also not wheelchair friendly, this wasn't a problem for us but i feel should be mentioned!

We stayed here for 10 nights and found our stay , very pleasant. The hotel was lovely, quiet location and pool area.
Breakfast was fine, lots of choice.
Location was lovely, views etc, however walk to main centre was quite tough sometimes after a stomach full of food and drink!
Pool area could have been cleaned a bit more often, but I wouldnt complain and would definitely stay here again!!

Previous reviews made us apprehensive, however please do not be put off by these. Most comments are not even worth worrying about!!