I had never been to the Algarve before (and never really fancied it much) but the chance of a cheap winter break, with sensible flight times coupled to the “rave reviews” of this hotel on trip adviser sold it to me. So off we went on 28th Feb 2008 till 6th March 2008. This is a good hotel – but I don’t think it is quite as good as the reviews led me to believe.
The first problem we noticed as we approached the hotel in the Thomson coach was that the last half mile to the hotel was through the middle of a building site. The newly built Riu club hotel was on one side and the recently sold and now being refurbished Riu Falisia (now Porto Bay) on the other. The noise did not intrude into the hotel but as we discovered this was the only way to walk to the village and shops etc. It was dusty and full of trucks and builders vans manoeuvring for a large part of the day so not a pleasant or safe walk. At night it was badly lit and the work went on until at least 21.00. Very surprising that no previous reviewer had seen this as a problem –it would have changed my holiday plans for sure! On the plus side the work is due to finish in March on the Porto Bay but this will create another 500 ish rooms in the close vicinity of the hotel. The work on the Riu Club is due to finish in the “summer”. This will introduce another 500 ish rooms so the area will be a lot busier. Parking for our hire car (booked on arrival in the hotel with Hertz – 126Euro for 4 days) was at times tight during our holiday in part due to the building works. When these 2 hotels open it will be a nightmare!
We arrived at check in at 14.00 and were given a room straight away but we were warned on the coach that check in time is 16.00 and so in the high season you may have to wait for a room. Contrary to a previous reviewer we found that the room safe was not free but was 16 euros for a week. He must have been lucky and reception had forgotten to lock it.
The glass of cava at check in was a nice touch but we had to ask (quite forcibly) for the 18.00 dinner sitting. The receptionist was keen to slot us into the 20.00 sitting. We discovered later that the early sitting seems to be favoured by the German visitors and we got the distinct impression that they got preferential treatment in this respect at least. The Thomson Rep gave us check in forms to fill in on the coach which saved a bit of time as there were around 20 of us on the coach. There was normally only 1 receptionist on duty so queues did occur. On this occasion though a second member of staff appeared and helped out so there was little delay.
Our room was on the West side of the hotel and fairly large, very clean and comfortable. The aircon was switched off for the winter so if the room was too hot there was a ceiling fan which helped. The weather was kind to us so we had a week of temperatures in the low 20s almost every day and the sun in our room in the afternoon so it did get a bit warm at times. Outside the rooms on this side of the hotel in the garden was a bank of 12 large aircon fan units which were not all in use due to it being winter but beware in the summer as they will be very noisy! Across the valley there is a school on this side of the hotel so after 15.00 (till about 17.30) the children seemed to have sports outside. A quiet sit on the balcony was therefore impossible.
On our first night we turned up at 18.00 for dinner to be met by the whole group of kitchen and waiting staff lined up to greet us for dinner. This took place every night and was another nice friendly touch. As it was our first night we asked for a table and the head waiter allocated us to a table and instructed a waiter to show us to it. We had just sat down when another head waiter arrived to tell us we were at the wrong table and told us to move to another table. Having been shown there by the waiter and sat down again another guest arrived and told us that this was her table so we were shown to yet another table which we eventually kept for the rest of our stay. The food was good but not great which I would say of every buffet I have had. Help yourself to soup and/or salad then there was the possibility of waiter service for a choice of 2 main courses. The food served by the waiter was by and large the same as that on the show cooking so not a big deal really. The deserts were the usual buffet selection with lots of plastic cream. Many of the dishes tasted identical even if they were a different colour! They did lay on a hot desert every night which was unusual but it was the same/similar every night. A large scoop of ice cream, covered in a hot sauce containing fruit finished off with a generous measure of brandy!

The restaurant did have a school dining hall feel to it. The Germans started queuing up about 17.50 and rattled the door if it wasn’t open at 18.00 precisely. There was then a rush to the buffet and a bit of a scrum for the first 10 minutes. There was always a good choice on the buffet and a reasonable amount of variation. The dining room was a bit noisy and stuffy at times I think due to the lack of aircon at this time of year – opening the doors onto the terrace would have helped but I don’t think they wanted us outside either for dinner or breakfast.
Wine in the restaurant starts about 11euro a bottle but pay a bit more if possible. Beer is 2.20 euro and a small bottle of water is 1.90euro. These are added to your bill at check out but make sure you keep the receipts and check your bill. Mine was wrong and so were several other couples we spoke to! Tap water is not drinkable so you have to buy water but it is very cheap in the supermarkets –as is the wine and beer.

Breakfast (08.00 – 1030) was fine with plenty of choice and a glass (or 2?) of cava available. The bacon was the usual continental variety mostly fat. The croissants are to be avoided – one I had was more like nan bread! There were no problems with tables as you sit anywhere, but some mornings they seemed to be short staffed and there were a shortage of clean tables by 09.00.

Like most of the Algarve the village is now a long way from a little fishing village – hotels and apartments are taking over. There are 2 supermarkets and quite a few restaurants and bars. During our week most of the bars closed by 20.00 so we couldn’t go for a walk and drink after dinner.

We enjoyed our week and toured most of the sights but if I was to return (unlikely) I would go for the Sheraton hotel. It has a better location and is not surrounded by other large hotels – it will no doubt be more expensive however.