We stayed at Terracos Do Vau in mid October this year. We had never been to Portugal before, we just chose it as a last minute holiday as we had heard the Algarve was lovely.
On arrival in the dark we were initially disappointed with the location of the complex as it appeared to be up a long sloping driveway and was surrounded by open land. However, the reception staff were very friendly and welcoming and we found our apartment very clean, spacious and ample for what we needed. The balcony was accessible from both the bedroom and the lounge and looked over open land - what looked like an old olive grove, with (we discovered next morning) resident chickens and a cockeral!
The kitchen had a stove-top kettle which was a bit slow and no toaster - just a grill. But this was no problem as we didn't eat there at all - we found a great place to go for an exceptional breakfast 'Lena's Croissanterie' in Praia do Rocha - well worth the walk along the beach!
The shower was great, plenty of hot water, maid service almost every day, they even hung our damp towels on the airer outside for us.
The pool area looked fine, but the beach was so lovely we didn't use it.
On the whole the only problem we encountered at Terracos do Vau was noisy neighbours in next room who had a toddler whizzing about on the tiled floor in a baby-walker at 6am. Not amusing especially when it happened every morning. Not much sound-proofing between the floors either, you can hear people upstairs scraping their chairs back.
The staff on reception were exceptionally helpful and even lent us a room to change our clothes after we had checked out so we could go to the beach and return to catch our transfer coach in dry clothes!
The bar looked a bit tacky but the staff were great in there too - you can get hot meals, drinks etc and they also sell milk which is handy on the first night.
The complex is a bit out of the way - but the beach at Vau was only five minutes walk and well worth it when you get there. Fantastically clean, plenty of amenities without being tacky and a gentle slope access to the sand - most other beaches have steep stairs due to the cliffs.
We were very happy with the bars/restaurants near the beach - especially the Jacaranda (run by a friendly Richard Branson look-alike!) - don't be put off by the walk to the beach from Terracos under the underpass which looks a bit dodgy! Its fine really.
Walk to Praia do Rocha along the beach if you can (about half an hour), its great - you go through caves and gaps in the rocks and see the amazing cliffs. Rocha is a bit commercial even in October, I imagine it would be heaving in Summer. Weather was great in Oct though so will definitely visit at that time of year again. (28-30C)
The sea was warm, although powerful so watch out for your children if they go in.
Eating out was great - we had some lovely meals. Try the Italian restaurant behind Bulli & Pupi's on the quieter end of the strip at Rocha - can't remember the name but the food was fab. Can't comment on Bulli & Pupi's - we didn't eat there.
We were disappointed with Alvor - not quite the 'fishing village' we'd expected. Enjoyed Portimao for a bit of culture though - cafe culture too!
We will be going back to Praia do Vau, but next time we might spend a bit more and stay at Jardim do Vau, right on the beach!

We travelled on 30th August 2007 and booked the Terracos Do Vau Apartments as an extra holiday so we had a limited budget in doing so, particularly travelling at any point during the school holidays so we were prepared to get what we paid for.
Upon approaching the hotel our teenage boys looked in horror initially as the hotel complex appears to be ‘a bit out of the way’. Indeed it is set at the top of a gentle hill approx 50 metres back to the main road and at the edge of what seems like a residential area. However, at the road there are 2 or 3 shops and similar amount of bars/restaurants. Along this main road (and no more than 6 or 7 minutes stroll) from the hotel door under the flyover is Vau Beach where several more bars and restaurants are located. So quite a compact resort but if you were there for a week as we were you could certainly eat at somewhere different each night in Vau alone. Vau beach is amongst the best I’ve seen! Clean and good facilities (loo’s, café’s, even supervised disabled access I believe).
The apartments themselves were what I would normally expect for a 3 *** complex, adequate and functional (but take a travel kettle as the electric ring takes too long to boil the one provided). Particularly spacious, but on the downside every noise made by the guests above screeched through the floor – most annoying! The reception and bar staff were very friendly and families made very welcome here. The pool itself and area with the sun loungers is fairly small but there was usually space if you wanted to ‘squeeze in’ (afternoons were always quieter so there was always room then). Overall the complex exactly matched our expectations and it proved to be quite a good base.
If you want lively (and even if you don’t it is still worth a look, much quieter by day) head for Praia De Rocha, particularly at night when it is heaving. It is a 25 minute walk (which sounds a lot but what’s the hurry on holiday), and our teenage lads thought it was great – they could go into the bars and play pool and order their own drinks.
All the meals we ate all week were really good so it would be difficult to recommend all the places but in Rocha ‘Big Red’s Ribshack’ is certainly worth a visit (we went 3 times in the end as our lads thought it was great) and in Alvor a fantastic ‘sea bass’ was had at the Captain’s Table near the harbour.
We found the ‘freemaps’ of the area (given to us by our rep but located everywhere in the resort) very useful and were not disappointed when following it’s recommendations. Taxi’s all around the resorts (to Alvor, Portimao, etc) cost generally 4 to 5 (max) euros on the meter, are efficient and I think good value and we used them often.
It was our first visit to Portugal and I was very impressed. Modern, excellent facilities and extremely clean. We would certainly go again in the future and maybe to this area again but would more likely choose a different hotel, but that’s not to say the Terracos is a bad choice at all.

We have just returned from 11 nights stay at Terracos do Vau and it was fabulous. Clean spacious apartments that had maid service daily Mon - Fri. Pool was great and well used by my 9yr old! The bar staff were second to none especially Pedro, Fernando and Rui. Bar meals were very good and very well priced. Nothing was too much trouble for the Thomson reps. The kidzone reps, Helen and Frankie, were fantastic. Many thanks to them both for helping my daughter have a memorable holiday, particularly choc-o-lot!! Alvor is well worth a visit, try the sardines....delicious. Also Jacaranda which is a ten minute stroll from the apartments is worth a visit and big reds rib shack, if you can find it, in Praia da Rocha is excellent. All in all an excellent holiday, especially for families. We are booking for next year!!

We booked a 2 bedroom room way back in june 06 with thomsons in the expectation of ensuring a place here in july 07 but got told in march 07 that there had been a room allocation reduction by the hotel and we were to be moved or given our money back. All thomsons could say was that hotels can sometimes reduce allocation for refurbishments or other problems, but surely no-one refurbishes in summer, i think thomsons had overbooked. Shame as we had heard and read good things about this place but will be suspicious about booking again if the hotel reduces rooms 9 months after a booking is made.