Viceroy at Ombria Algarve

"We (2 adults and a 14yr old) absolutely loved our 8 night half-term break at Viceroy Ombria. It literally ticked all the boxes of a perfect holiday for us: *Excellent (yet isolated) location - whilst not near the beach it is only a 25min drive from Faro, 15min drive to Loule, a wonderfully historical and cultural town. We also enjoyed day trips to Tavira (50mins) and Alvor (60mins). We hired a car. *Scenic pools - one was heated but wasn't really warm enough for us. Lots of very comfortable loungers and plentiful towels. However we were so busy we only ventured to the pools twice. * Interesting and challenging golf course on site (for 15 handicappers) - 5 rounds in 8 days says it all....when we were only going to play a round or 2! * Exceptionally warm, welcoming and friendly staff - without doubt the highlight of our stay. * Beautifully, luxuriously designed and furnished accommodation. We enjoyed a 2 bedroom residence apartment and it provided 2 huge en-suite bedrooms and a capacious living/dining space with full kitchen. Housekeeping was superb - without turn-down too! If being very picky the water pressure doesn't allow the rain showers to perform adequately (we used the hand held), the bed frames are squeaky, the bedding felt very heavy and had a very fruity scent. * Morning hatha yoga classes given by the amazing Monica -and they're free for hotel guests! * Great food - having visited many other Portuguese resorts Ombria Kitchen beats most other restaurants we've dined at. Superb breakfast buffet and a la cart. Well executed dinner menu - tasty, fresh and well cooked. Solalua, described as fine dining tapas, was sadly a miss - they tried hard (Millie was an amazing host) but was very expensive for the quality and quantity. *Superb spa - not free for hotel guests but that way it's kept calm and quiet. Hotel guests pay 40euros to use their thermal circuit (sauna, steam room, indoor/outdoor pool) and outdoor pool with loungers (note that the loungers only have sun in the morning) If desiring your own relaxation time (there is no onsite entertainment – just a host of activities you can pay to join in on – golf, spa, star gazing, cookie baking, horse riding) and a very comfortable, attractive, refined, friendly environment a little bit out in the countryside then this place could well be for you. We would return in a heartbeat and plan to as soon as we can. In all honesty we have found our perfect Algarve get away!"

"Totally catastrophic arrival We are family of 12 peple arrived today at around 3.45pm in the afternoon. Our rooms were not ready and we waited 2,5hours for them and still no rooms. One couple received their room but the luggage arrived after several requests 3 hours later. Still the elderly couple and the rest of the large family did not have their rooms nor luggage. Elderly couples luggage were left to the street without any observation for hours and they were still there when we had to leave for pre-reserved dinner to a town nearby. No-one could not shower/change their evening clothing but wear the same that they had worn the whole day in the sun in the sea. Irony is that the owner of the property had arrived little earlier with his large delegation with perfect check-in procedures. We heard all kinds of explanations how busy the day had been. If it is true, they have a severe lack of employees in that case. Now we are fully checked in and received our rooms at 10pm and finally also our luggage to our rooms. It seems that the A/C is not that properly functioning the bedroom but that is another story. After all this, no-one even bothered to say they were sorry and apologize for such a bad service. Maybe the hotel staff needs more training?"

"This place was disappointing and so far from a 5-star hotel. I wish I’d known this all upfront because the website really gets you excited for a great experience, however there are so many holes. If you have any kind of bee allergy, I would avoid this place at all costs. They’re everywhere. The saving grace is their spa, which is an additional cost to use. The staff is small and most don’t speak English. This made requests of any sort a challenge. The pool is beautiful and had to go up to the pool bar if you wanted to order anything. No one came over to ask us for our order. The shower in our room was broken. It only had scalding hot water, the kind you can’t put your hand under. We couldn’t use one of the restaurants. Every breakfast order there was some mistake and they’d have to make another. I witnessed that happen all over the restaurant, at every breakfast. Anyone with dietary restrictions should be careful as their GF/vegan/dairy signs on menus are incorrect. The manager of the restaurant was constantly stressed by having to go table to table to understand and translate orders and requests. All of these little things on their own wouldn’t have been an issue, but piled on top of each other made the experience pretty unenjoyable. They turned down the room 2x a day which was a nice touch. This is a hotel clearly in their first year. I think in 3-4 years it’ll be the hotel it claims to be online, but they aren’t there yet."