Just a quick review because everyone has already said such great things.
Basically, everything you read in the positive reviews is true. I travel on business A LOT and this hotel is really lovely. My fiancee and I have just returned from a week (end of March) and we really loved the place.
For the Brits reading, the Gale Praia is a lot like a Malmaison hotel, modern design, upscale and cool.
The service is great, the food excellent and the rooms are comfy, with well designed features an fittings. All rooms have LCD television with CD/DVD player, aircon and the usuals.
The pool was a little cold, but it was March. We played Tennis every day and used the spa and gym as much as possible. (The spa was closed for 3 days but is now open again. it offers couples massage, cocoa therapy etc... try it out (I didn't but I'm wimpy about massages... low pain threshold I think).
The Surroundings...
The area around the hotel is full of villas so not very busy, Gale has a great beach that is 200metres from the front door of the hotel.
we would suggest a visit to Guia, it's inland, about 5 minutes by taxi and it has some lovely restaurants.
Oh, a little suggestion, the hotel offers a free shuttle bus to Albufeira (around 15 mins away) Don't bother... Albufeira is an old tired resort and is also in the middle of a massive reconstruction. We spent around eight minutes there before getting a taxi out of the "hellhole" to Villamoura instead.
Finally... Didn't see any Parador reps (or indeed any reps)








