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Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Exotic and charming hotel located in the first line of Praia da Rocha beach, offering rooms with sea view and direct beach access. Nearby is a marina, restaurants, bar, shops and sightseeing interest places..
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Quiet
Charming
Languages Spoken
English, French, Spanish, German and 1 more
Location
Avenida Tomas Cabreira, Praia da Rocha, Portimao 8500-802 Portugal
Name/address in local language
AP Oriental Beach Hotel
972 reviews
Getting there
Great for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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AP Oriental Beach Hotel is commended for its spotless cleanliness and serene atmosphere, enhanced by live music and tasteful decor. However, guests have called out its varied service quality and noise disruptions. While the rooms are seen as clean and comfortable with good views, some travelers find the bathrooms and amenities outdated.
The hotel's beachfront location and dining options earn rave reviews, despite some guests suggesting updates. Opinions on value are mixed, with mentions of both affordability and unexpected additional costs.
Atmosphere
Tranquil
Rooms
Comfortable
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Spotless
Noise level
Mixed
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Well-appointed
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We drove up to Portugal from Gibraltar to avoid using airports at this time. After reading the reviews we were a bit hesitant however we needn’t have been. From the moment we checked in, the reception staff were really friendly, including sanitizing our suitcases. Of course we sanitized our hands and masks are compulsory indoors Our room was beautiful, it overlooked the beach. There are two restaurants in this hotel but one was closed due to the Covid restrictions. Breakfast was served from 7.30 to 10.30 but again due to restrictions they need to stagger you to ensure everyone isn’t there at the same time. And although buffet style, they give you little tongs just for you so that there is no contamination on the food tongs which I thought was genius. The pool area is lovely, with a private access to the beach. All in all we loved the hotel, and although I’m not difficult to please, I do expect cleanliness which this definitely was and we would definitely stay here again. Thank you for a wonderful stay
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Date of stay: August 2020Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Oriental H, General Manager at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Aug 21, 2020
Dear Guest, Thank you for the great review of our hotel! We are glad that you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you again very soon. Sincerely, Ricardo Santos Hotel Manager
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We visited 2 years ago and re-booked as soon as we came back. Unfortunately we didn't make it last year because of Covid. However we made it this year and we have had a fabulous holiday. We paid a bit extra this time for a partial sea view and it was well worth it. We had a room looking up towards the entrance to the Marina. Lovely sunrise every morning from our balcony watching the river traffic going in and out. Meals were good and varied with choices of meat and fish every day. Our favorites were the Perch in butter and caper sauce and the slow roasted lamb. Lovely selection of salad every night. The location of the hotel is perfect for walking into Portimao , Alvor or along the beach. And if you are not a walker there is a regular shuttle bus which takes you into Portimao in about 10 minutes. We got the train from Portimao into Lagos twice as it is such a lovely place to walk around. It takes 18 minutes on the train and they are very punctual. Cost 4 euros for a return ticket. There is a lively strip further up from the hotel but where the hotel is located there is no noise at night time. Very peaceful. The decor is very different to the usual bland hotels and the reception and route to the dining room is particularly lovely. The staff on reception, in the dining room and cleaning staff are exceptionally friendly and helpful. The beach is easily accessible from the hotel by steps which also take you onto the board work which goes the whole length of the beach and is dotted with bars and restaurants. I can totally recommend this hotel as a great place for a couple to unwind and have a great holiday.
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Date of stay: September 2021
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:We had room 109 with a great view of the river mouth. Lovely sunrises. Not the biggest balcony....
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Oriental H, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Oct 6, 2021
Dear Mrs Janet, Thank you for the great review of our hotel! We are glad that you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you again very soon. Sincerely, Ricardo Santos Diretor / Manager
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We spent three nights in Hotel Oriental and were very happy with our room facing directly to the sea. Also the atmosphere and style of the hotel was to our liking. The front desk especially was very welcoming and friendly.
As we had booked the half board-option we ended up having the dinner at the hotel on each night (being lazy after spending outside all day) . The food itself was ok, nothing special but some quite nice treats.
The biggest problem we had during the dinners was the two-piece-band performing each evening. The music was so loud that it actually caused us to cut our Valentine's dinner short as we were seated right next to the "band". The combination of volume and notes missed by the singer was unbearable.
The hotel should under no circumstances allow the music to be played so loud while customers are trying to enjoy their dinner and trying to have a conversation.
Buffet breakfast was great with good variety of warm dishes.
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Date of stay: February 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from OrientalH2, Manager at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Mar 5, 2020
On behalf of the entire Oriental Hotel Team, thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you soon. Our most sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by our musical entertainment. However, we inform you that we have already adopted procedures regarding the volume of the sound. No more and with our sincerest regards. Ricardo Santos Hotel Manager
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This summer. Unless you have booked specifically for The Festivals I recommend you contact your Travel Agent and ask for another Hotel immediately. We arrived as have others unaware the Festivals were taking place. Several times during the summer. Hays Travel and Jet2 failed to inform us of this when we booked our relaxing 2 week break with easy beach access. The Municipality have taken over the beach shown in the brochures and turned this area into a 18-30s Festival area. Such a shame as the beach would have been beautiful without the huge construction going on day and night. We have already been through the 3 night Afro Nation weekend and now bracing ourself for Rolling Loud Portugal Rap and HipHop!! a four day event 4pm-3am, but this is minus sound tests etc. The Main Street of this location is full of tacky shops, cheap restaurants and no longer a pleasant evening stroll as you make your way through the drunks and are offered drugs, viagra and NOS balloons are widely seen on the streets and by ‘latest hotel guests’ who today amused themselves today playing football over the sun loungers on the grass area. How pleased we are that at least we got moved to an upper room on day 2 of our stay.
The hotel itself is really nice, most of the staff are helpful, housekeeping, restaurant and reception. The Manager is rather abrupt, or perhaps he was fed up with complaints from guests re the Festival. As you book in your asked to choose what times you want your meals. We found it’s also a rule that the restaurant staff have been instructed that only longlife carton eggs can be used for omelettes at breakfast regardless of the fact fresh eggs are piled up nearby. Don’t dare ask for a fresh egg. Unless it’s fried. Also the water machine in the evening is turned off unless the ‘Big Manager’ visits! Bottled water is sold. As others have mentioned drinks are served but only expect to be asked once. Guests usually go to other venues after dinner or return to their rooms, no real space for socialising. I have never know this in any other 4/5 star hotel. On an additional note face masks are compulsory on Public Transport in Portugal but it seems no longer required in hotels or public spaces.
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Date of stay: July 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Oriental H, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Jul 6, 2022
Dear Mrs Tina, Thank you for your comments, but no one is fed up because of the festivals or anything else. What we are not used to deal with is bad manners and arrogance. As for the eggs, and has spoken and explain to you, this is mandatory from our governet health department. What you wanted was an omelet with egg white. The Half board regime as no drinks included. This information is on every website an brochure. Best regards Ricardo Santos Manager
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The hotel is nice ...situated on the boardwalk. Private access to boardwalk. The breakfast is excellent as is the 27 Euro buffet dinner. Live piano music for both breakfast and dinner added a nice touch. The rooms and beds are nice too - lot of light and you can hear the waves. Parking was not a problem as we feared based on prior reviews - it is on the next block and we found it easily because it was March. We booked a tour to Benagil Caves from the Hotel (perhaps 5 Euros more than the outside vendor) only because we had more confidence in the hotel if anything went wrong.
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Date of stay: March 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled with friends
Room Tip:Waterview is best !
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Hotel AP Oriental, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Apr 14, 2023
Dear Mr. /Mrs. Cricketer, We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your most recent comments about AP Oriental and its Team. Your kind and complimentary words mean a lot to us and fill us with pride and satisfaction. Our goal is to provide all of our guests with an unforgettable and enjoyable experience, and knowing that we were able to achieve this goal is extremely rewarding. Your positive comments encourage us to continue working to maintain our high standards of quality and exceptional service. Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us and other travelers. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you again soon. Yours sincerely, For the AP Oriental Team, Ricardo Santos (Hotel Manager)
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Stayed here at a time when Portugal Covid restrictions were quite severe so it is impossible to give an unaffected review, suffice to say the hotel did as much as they possibly could to ensure the safety of their guests and tried to make our holiday a pleasant and enjoyable experience A very nice hotel in a brilliant location overlooking and with direct access to a breathtaking beach. Food is buffet service, quality, good selection including vegetarian options, we never had problems finding sun loungers which were well separated, the staff were all excellent, helpful, pleasant an asset. There were many Covid related things that spoilt our holiday, (the mask wearing, the Covid testing, the form filling) the hotel and its staff made it worth the hassle
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Date of stay: June 2021Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Oriental H, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Jun 28, 2021
Dear Mr. John H., Thank you for the great review of our hotel! We are glad that you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you again very soon. Sincerely, Ricardo Santos Manager
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This is one of the few hotels we have stayed in wherby you always feel things could be better, but at the time seem perfectly adequate. The reception is totally confusing as each receptionist appears to work to different standards, one is both abrupt and rude and the other more accomodating. In the end you will be allocated a room but don't expect any favours as they excel at telling you what they can't do not what they can do!. For reasons unknown one of the receptionists asks you to nominate you meal times (they have 3 sittings for breakfast 7.30, 8.30,and 9.30 and 3 for dinner 7pm, 8pm or 9pm) whatever you decide there are no systems of enforcement and especially in the evening there is a "stampede" at 7pm to grab a table so in effect no one takes any notice of the system at all. The rooms are clean with comfortable beds etc, bathrooms are modernish but the showers are a bit old fashioned and take an age to adjust to a suitable temperature with much wasted water. Any toiletries suplied are all fixed to the wall and poor quality so take your own. Any pictures you see of the rooms on their website suggest you will have both slippers and bath robes... you wont get either!!. The room maids are by far the most friendliest staff in the hotel. Meals are all buffet style. The quality and choices are good but let down by cold plates and only luke warm food, for some reason their food warming system just doesn't work. Coffee and tea is also self service (morning only, you pay extra at night if you want one). All bar drinks are served by the staff with an archaic system of "signing paper" which you either pay or charge to your room providing you have previously arranged cedit facilities. You won't get a copy so reconciling your account on departure is difficult. You won't get a smile either and may well be told off if you attempt to order at the bar, we were told in no uncertain terms to sit at the table and order. The design of the hotel means the general sitting areas are mainly restricted to groups of 4 or 6. There is a tv situated in the dining room with room for 12 people sat at 6 x 2 tables, this is the only place you can watch UK sport as the tv's in the bedrooms seem to show different channels. The grounds are well kept with plenty of sunbeds on the lawn areas and rather surprisingly not covered in towels at 7am!. Access to the beach is by wooden steps easily managed by anyone who is able bodied.
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Date of stay: April 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:Rooms facin east have very little afternoon sun.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Hotel AP Oriental, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded May 7, 2024
Dear Guest, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We hope to welcome you back to our hotel very soon! Sincerely, Pedro Contente Diretor / Manager
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1hr from Faro airport. Exceptionally friendly reception staff who took a copy of our passport, vaccination certificates, proof of PCR test. Room was available after 3pm (which is clearly stated on the website).
Gardens - Immaculate with plenty of sun loungers/fixed parasols and a few daybeds. Access to beach was via a gate with keypad entry, steps down to the beach not suitable for anyone with mobility issues. Pool, spotlessly clean plenty of sun loungers/parasols with stunning views over the beach. Room # 522 very large plenty of wardrobes, fridge, safe, kettle with variety of teas/coffee and sugar (no milk) 1 large bottle of water. Tea bags etc not replenished after arrival. Aircon excellent. Bed very comfortable, extra pillows and blankets/duvets in the wardrobe. Bathroom, large walk-in shower and a range of complimentary toiletries. Terrace, small table and 2 chairs plus 2 full size sun loungers, sea facing with stunning views. Restaurant, buffet style (hot and cold) breakfast & dinner, good variety. Face masks had to be worn in all public areas and everyone adhered to. Staff, exceptional, helpful, friendly nothing was ever too much trouble for anyone, from reception to the restaurant, maintenance, housekeepers (in particular the deputy restaurant manager). To summarize a fabulous hotel well worthy of its 4 stars with exceptional staff in a beautiful location and we would 100% return.
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Date of stay: August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Oriental H, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Sep 6, 2021
Dear Guest, Thank you for the great review of our hotel! We are glad that you enjoyed your stay and hope to see you again very soon. Sincerely, Ricardo Santos Diretor / Manager
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Just home from a seven day break at the AP Oriental, Praia da Rocha. Fabulous hotel, fantastic friendly staff. Cannot fault anything. The food was brilliant, plenty of choice for even the fussiest of eaters, at both breakfast and dinner. We only ate out once! Drinks are very reasonably priced and plenty of cocktail choices. Lots of beds and you didn’t need to race for one every morning, we tended to stay on the grassed area away from the pool. Beach towels are free using the ticket system - never stayed in a hotel where the towels were free, a very nice touch. Rooms are spacious (we stayed in 523) with tea and coffee facilities and a free safe. The hotel is a short walk from the resort centre, and also a short walk from the harbour. Would definitely recommend the hotel and resort and will return in the future.
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Date of stay: September 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Hotel AP Oriental, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded Sep 19, 2022
DearMrs Claire, On behalf of the entire AP Oriental Hotel Team, thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you soon. No more and with our sincerest regards. Ricardo Santos Hotel Manager
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Outstanding hotel Visited in full pandemic, this hotel and its staff did not hesitate to make our stay very pleasant. The hotel in an oriental style that makes you dream of 1001 nights. The rooms are very spacious, comfortable, with a breathtaking view of the beach, do not lack anything. The restaurant and its team have made an impeccable service. I am not a fan of half board or full board, but here the menus served are of a superior quality. I will surely come back to this hotel Thank you for all
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Date of stay: November 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Oriental H, Diretor-Geral at AP Oriental Beach Hotel
Responded May 17, 2021
Dear Customer, On behalf of the entire AP Oriental Hotel Team, thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you soon. No more and with our sincerest regards. Ricardo Santos Hotel Manager
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Hassocks, United Kingdom22 contributions15 helpful votes
Sorry it’s taken me so long to answer. The weather is great in October. Mid twenties during the day. Even in the evening we were in t shirts eating outside. We also went in may & it was the same. Hope this helps…. Oh it rained once in may , for 10 mins light misty stuff, then instantly cleared up
Dear customer, Thanks for showing interest in visiting our property.
Regarding your question, our gym provides 2 Treadmill, 1 multifunction muscule, a few training mats and some gynastic ball.
Hoping for your visit sooner.
Best regards,
Marco Rodrigues
There are more places to choose from in the Praia da Rocha area.
PRICE RANGE
$79 - $160 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
oriental hotel praia da rocha
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Hotel Oriental
LOCATION
PortugalAlgarveFaro DistrictPortimaoPraia da Rocha
NUMBER OF ROOMS
90
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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