Our party of 14 stayed here from the 19th of July 2014 for 1 week. The villa is in a fantastic location, walking distance to shops, beach, bars and restaurants, sadly this was the best part as the villa itself is really tired and could really do with a good clean and an upgrade. All of the issues we had were small, simple problems that wouldn’t take a lot to fix and if done properly would make this a brilliant villa to rent. When asked by Miguel, midweek of our stay, if there were any problems we replied no as there were too many for us to list and we really didn’t want to spend our whole holiday sorting them out. We had already endured 2 TV repair men working inside and outside of the villa for a day as the TV and WiFi were not working. Having read previous reviews on TripAdvisor, the issues we experienced with the villa were very similar and have clearly been identified before, it is disappointing that improvements have not been made following this feedback.
Overall this villa is in a poor state of repair and in need of a thorough clean and upgrade.
Bedrooms – The downstairs bedroom, off the kitchen, is not suitable for use. It is dark, airless and the bed moves and creaks and is uncomfortable, we had to rearrange our sleeping arrangements, rather than use this room. The second worst room was the first bedroom on the main floor next to the front door, the ceiling looked like it was going to collapse with damp stains all over it, it was also dark and airless. The shutters would not open, we asked Miguel for the key and he did say that he would return in half an hour to open it, he only returned much later when we reported the front door would not open. All other rooms are spacious and brighter but there are not enough mirrors, sockets or lights. There were a few bedside lights but none of them had bulbs or they simply did not work. The lighting in the downstairs bedrooms didn’t work at all, we had to fiddle about with different switches in order to make them work – thankfully we had 3 electricians in our party! We asked Miguel for a bulb for the downstairs bathroom and he said he would get one from his van – he did not return. The shutters in 2 of the rooms wouldn’t open at all making the rooms constantly dark. The air con in the rooms – although most worked it was like sleeping in a disco, when the air con comes on, lights flash and the system beeps, this happens throughout the night.
Bathrooms – The bathroom on the main floor smells and there is no light to see what you are doing, we stopped using this bathroom after day 2. We had staggered showers throughout the evening but even then the water was cold. The top floor showers are more of a dribble of cold water than a shower of water. I understand that there were 14 of us but in order for us all to have a warm shower we would have had to leave around ½ an hour between showers – this is not ideal if you want to all go out at the same time as we did. Some of the bathroom areas smelled like old drains constantly, which wasn't very pleasant.
Kitchen – This is not an ideal space if you all want to eat in together, very little room to prepare any food other than a roll or cup of tea, even then the kettle is only large enough to boil enough water for 3 cups, not ideal for the size of the villa. There was only one wine glass. The air con stopped working in the main sitting area after the TV repairmen left.
Pool area – We were told that this would be cleaned every 2nd day, this didn’t happen until we spoke to Miguel on our 4th day, then the pool cleaner turned up twice. Even then there is scum and slime around the tiles at the deep end and the lid used to cover the drain is broken so when you step on it your foot falls through. There are broken tiles all around the pool and the shower is not something that you would choose to use. There are umbrellas in the picture of the villa but none when we stayed there. The BBQ is far too small for 14 people and the tongs and utensils that were left for us to use were dirty and covered in cobwebs, clearly they had not been used for some time. The lights above the seating area were dangling from frayed wires and the shades broken. There is insufficient space for 14 people should you wish to BBQ and eat outside
Other – The pool table is located on the roof terrace but you have to walk through a bedroom to get to it, the pool table itself is badly worn and not level. There is a table tennis table but we did not use this, as there is no room to set it up and play. We were told that we could leave our rubbish outside and that the pool cleaner would come in the mornings to take it away – this never happened. Internet, this was available but only in the kitchen and pool area. Sky – there is no sky, only local Portuguese channels with one English-speaking channel. Our confirmation email that we received when we booked the villa stated that we would receive a welcome pack and wine – we didn’t. The iron had wires frayed and didn’t look safe to use. We found the villa was not secure, shutters that did open wouldn’t lock and the front door lock broke on our first day. The neighbourhood dogs bark constantly, day and night, although the agents have no control over this, we found it not only noisy, but also frustrating when trying to relax by the pool. There were around 3 or 4 large and small dogs, when one started so would the others, we felt like we were staying in dog kennels for part of the holiday!
Sadly we will not be returning, and in its current state we would not recommend that you book villa Bella. We have stayed at many villas over the years and this is the worst, but it really doesn’t have to be, it could be hugely improved if the issues we have just identified had been addressed and resolved when Jessica D first reported them in her review in September 2013. There were no reviews available for us to look at when we booked, had we read Jessica’s we would have looked elsewhere.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.