Every year we go away for a winter break with four friends from work and their partners. We have a competition to find the best value flights and accomodation. This year a seven days stay in the Oceanus Appartments with flights from Birmingham to Faro cost 118.75 pounds per person, not bad value. (20 pounds per night per appartment room only)
The appartments were extremely well furnished, we had a corner appartment which afforded us a large living/dining/kitchenette, separate bedroom, two bathrooms and two balconies. All the equipment was matching and of a good standard. The staff were very friendly and the indoor heated pool a joy at this time of the year, very well maintained.
The appartments are a 10 minute walk down to the village and beach, easy on the way down but steep uphill on the return, not for the infirm. The hotel has plenty of restaurants around it, two good supermarkets and other retail outlets. The restaurant attached to the hotel was awful(not the pooside one this was closed, as was the outdoor pool). Although the staff were very friendly the food left a lot to be desired. Opposite is the Restaurant Atlantico where we had two very good meals, reasonably priced. It is a short taxi drive into Albufiera which has a host of places to choose from.
If you want English pubs/bars (arrrgh) go to The Strip 5 minutes away or there is a pub you can't miss by the beach, typically cheesy but host and staff friendly..
We hired a mini bus for 5 days for the price of 3 days and negotiated a rate at Local Cars , Avenida 25 Abril which is situated on the right going down into the port from the traffic lights. We were able to drop it at the airport which saved us taxi fares. Local trips into the mountains and Cliff Richards Vineyard cost about 65 Euro per head. Hire a motor and do it yourself, dead easy. Watch out when getting taxis from Airport to resort. We had two taxis, on meters, following one another. One charged us 45 euro and the other 36 euro. The fare should be about 30 euros.
Wouldn't like to be here in the height of the summer as I imagine it would be very noisy and busy but at this time of year with the temperatures in the mid 20's it was great.
There were am lot of retired people from the UK and Holland on 90 day holdiay deals. They were all very friendly and helpful, never a dull moment.

This was mine and my boyfriends first holiday abroad together after 4 years together, we stayed at the Oceanus for a week at the beginning of September.

After booking with the travel agents I was pleased when I read some of the reviews, although a little worries it may be abit quiet with nothing much to do to do in Olhos D'Agua itself, which I was wrong about.

We booked with Style holidays and the moment we stepped off the plane to the moment we got home everything was perfect. We arrived at the hotel around 11.30ish in the morning, the lady on the desk was very helpful and we could check in around 12, the apartment was very spacious for the 2 of us and was very clean. We were really lucky to have a pool view balcony, would recommend room 207? The pool snack bar is spot on and the staff there also are very friendly, we were made to feel very welcome, they serve all day and do allsorts of food, we even got a takeaway pizza one night and took it to our room. We found it a brilliant place and the pool area never got too busy so easy to get a sun lounger and although some bits go in the shade in the afternoon still easy to find some sunlight. ( Very clean) Would recommend to anyone who wants a chilled out time as is easy enough and cheap enough to get to the busier places if need be.

On the opposite side of the hotel is the main road, so try and opt for a pool view if you have a chance as I can imagine it being abit loud. It is ideal though for taxis and buses and taxis to Albufreira new town only cost us about 3 euros but we always gave about 5 to be polite. At home it would be much dearer. Loved the strip, lots of cocktail bars and steak houses and full of entertainment. If you get chance then go to the bullring, we went on our last night and it was brilliant.

Olhos D'Agua itself is not very busy but nice in the evening to go out for a quiet drink and a meal, we enjoyed La Cigale the restaurant next to the beach. Also make sure you go to Pickwicks, the English Pub by the beach, proper English food, fish and Chips nice there. Only about a 5 minute walk to the beach from the hotel, but beware the hill back up is steep and tiring in the heat. Good exercise though. The beach is not too small like some other reviews say, always found somewhere to sit down.

We arranged a trip to the Zoomarine on the 2nd day, this is well worth a visit and the dolphins are brilliant. All day only cost about 52 euros for both of us.

Well worth staying there and we would definitely go back there. Would recommend these apartments.

We stayed in Aparthotel Oceanus in early October 2007 and were very impressed with the standards we found.

The apartment was clean and well equipped with a modern kitchen and lovely tiled bathroom. More than adequate for a week of self catering.

The Staff were very friendly and genuine offering advice on local amenities and travel and made our stay a relaxed and enjoyable experience.

The hotel is located close to good local amenities including a supermarket, pharmacy, taxi and bus stops, and the nice local beach.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants in Olhos D'Agua, where the Hotel is, and you can walk to New Town Albufeira in about 30 mins (enough to work up a thirst on the way there and walk off the drinks on the way back!)

We went for a cheap bit of late summer sun and the facilities we found more than met all our expectations for the price of the holiday. Recommended!

We stayed at Oceanus for a week and enjoyed our time there.

The hotel is clean and is close to basic facilities;

- beach
- supermarket
- restaurants
- pubs
- pharmacy
- bus stop
- taxi rank

The staff and very friendly and very helpful.

On the down-side;

- pool is overlooked by high rise apartments and in shadow after 3.30pm
- pool water is cold (common feature of Portugese pools!)
- sofa is very uncomfortable (doubles as sofa-bed)
- roadside rooms are quite noisy with traffic
- big new apartment block being built directly opposite the hotel

Overall, we got good value for money at the Oceanus and we were happy with it.