Karyn Moore
A resort hotel full of package holiday tourists. You get a bracelet to identify you as a guest, breakfast is the standard "large buffet fare", sun loungers at a premium at certain times of the day. The breakfast buffet near reception starts a little later but looked better, and less crowded. €29 for a buffet dinner, service at the al carte restaurant was dreadful, they basically forgot to ring in our order so it took ages. There’s live music until 11 PM on the weekends. The band was really good but our room was directly above the restaurant patio where they play and we weren’t told about this when we checked in. If that’s not your thing, ask to be in a different building.
It’s a 10 minute walk to the solar boats that take 5 mins to get across an estuary, to then walk another 5 mins to get to a lovely beach with no amenities. We just needed somewhere to stay overnight while on a road trip. The "adult friendly", and "parking available" appealed but really it definitely wasn’t for us.
Kent Routen
My wife and I booked 3 nights via Booking-com and the cheaper economy double bed room was good. On level one close to restaurants, pool, free spa and reception. We enjoyed breakfast at the pool restaurant for excellent food selection with beautiful views. Our room was quiet and we preferred the location near rooms 120 to 130. We had dinner in town not far to walk and spent most of our time relaxing by the pool away from the grass to avoid mosquitos. We didn't go to the beach due to the inconvenience however taking the fun train to Praia do Barril is a fun afternoon. After sunset there will be a lot more mosquitos but we used spray and for us it was fine near the bar or inside. After checking out we stayed for lunch and relaxed by the pool until 5pm. The gym is good and the clothing boutique is worth the visit. If you go into town you will find good seafood restaurants but avoid the bars which do not accept bank cards because taking cash out can cost 5 euros. This is a lovely hotel resort and we would return next year.
Liam Bainbridge
I'm sure you have had many a holiday where your expectations have been sky high, your need for a bit of luxury and to be well looked after has reached breaking point...and the place you book after weeks or months of research falls annoyingly short. I'm delighted to say this was NOT the case here! The location, amenities and service surpassed our lofty expectations and we are very pleased we came.
Plenty of bars and eateries around the compact complex make it easy to get what you need, when you need it. The rooms, corridors, and all communal areas are completely clean and there's an air of sophistication and style everywhere you look.
Bottom line...unlike some holidays, this place looks and feels like the pictures. If you're on the fence, BOOK NOW!
Side note, it was both mine and my wife's birthdays while we were there. We didn't highlight this to anyone at the resort. However, upon returning from a day at the pool in the early evening, we found we had been gifted a bottle of bubbly, a lovely card and a piece of cake! Whether they got this info from our ID's or perhaps the cleaning staff saw we had displayed our own birthday cards in our room, but this attention to detail and unprompted kindness was hugely appreciated.
We don't like going to the same place more than once. But I'm quite sure that we'll be making an exception here. Five stars.
AJ Perkins
The hotel and location are really nice. It seems to be full of golfers and so we seemed to have the place to ourselves alot during the day.
The food if plentiful and everywhere is clean.
The service, however is lacking and bizzare. Twice during out seven day stay housekeeping took all put towels even they they were not on the floor and never replaced them.
On both occasions we had to go to reception twice. Second to last day they did it again we reported it and never got towels for the rest of the stay.
Also we booked into the restaurant as a group of four, starters was bread rolls and sauces, we only had three rolls between four of us while other guests had basket fulls. we asked for an extra roll so we could have one each and the waiter never came back.
Like I said a nice hotel, good location but we won't go back.
Miguel Meirim
The good: The spa was good, the jacuzzi, steam room, indoor pool and sauna were all clean. There was a pianist playing during breakfast, which was a nice touch. Dinner at the Flor de Sal buffet was genuinely good, with Portuguese food full of character, I'd say keep doing what you're doing there. I would have liked to try grill and ria. The boat to the beach was a great experience and the staff running it were friendly and welcoming. The beach and cabanas itself made for a lovely place for the resort. Breakfast was decent, with a nice variety, though the scrambled eggs were overcooked. It could be slightly improved. Evening staff and chefs seemed friendlier and more approachable than the morning team. The rooftop was lovely both day and evening. The rooms themselves were well laid out and nicely decorated, though if you want a quiet stay, be aware there's noise from outside.
The bad: The pool's chlorine and ph levels were out of the required range and it didn't smell of chlorine, and the pool floor was visibly dirty at the bottom. A couple of the floor tiles were also loose. Some of the pool umbrellas were becoming diagonal and falling off. People reserve chairs with towels at the pool and staff do nothing about it. Music was playing loudly almost everywhere, at breakfast, in the corridors, and especially by the pool, where it was hard to hold a conversation with the person next to you, other guests were complaining too. Even in the rooms, outside noise from the music carried in, and the lift was about the only quiet spot in the hotel. Noise is a big problem in this hotel. There was little sign of family or younger-guest activity, it loses a bit of soul. Maintenance work on the palm trees was being carried out during peak summer, which blocked the path to my room and meant walking across wet grass instead, why not any other time of the year. I also couldn't rest in my room afterwards because of the noise. The sprinkler system ran at 00:30, making it difficult to get to the building without getting wet. In the mornings, staff were making their own coffee and tea in front of guests at the front of house rather than in the back. The poolside/reception snack bar was pricey without matching quality, the fries were good, but the chicken sandwich wasn't worth the price, with hard baguette bread, try to change it to a alentejano bread chicken or tuna paste toast. The building's decor felt a bit dark and lacking character with dirty glass. Some staff seemed to need more training or guidance on table clearing and service standards. When I mentioned the noise at checkout, I was told it would be passed on to management, though I'm not confident it was. I also had an odd experience at the bar, despite it serving both the indoor and outdoor areas with a portable card machine, I was asked to walk all the way around to the outside to order a drink, then walk back to drink it inside, even though I could easily have been served from where I was.
Suggestions: A pool/snooker table could be a nice addition. It might also be worth adding a QR code to each pool umbrella linking to an ordering system for food and drinks, with card or mobile payment, so staff could deliver directly to guests at their umbrella, I know I'd have ordered more if that had been available, as I didn't want the buffet options or get up to get drinks or food. If willing to implement it, almost like Wetherspoons do it.
Overall: It's a nice place but badly run by it's management team. I think it should be 3 stars rather than 4. There is very little attention to detail. Noise was the single biggest problem here, it undermined almost every part of the stay, no peace or relaxing time. Combined with the other issues, the negatives outweighed the positives, and don't think the stay was worth the price point. It is very Instagramable but no. I used to come to this old hotel for more than a decade and personally don't look forward to repeat it again. Would much rather relax on a vacation with Solverde or Real hotels group which I had better experiences.
