"Stayed as a couple in Cerro Marr Garden first week in June. Overall very nice stay and would definitely book this hotel again even with the few negative points we have:
Location –Perfect although 99 steps to the old town and you are literally in the middle of it. It’s at the top of a hill although Albufeira old town is all very hilly. Didn’t bother us went up and down twice a day I could not see another way to walk down it would be taxis if you are not mobile.
Room – arrived and it was spotless, dishwasher, washing machine, oven, large fridge freezer totally equipped for a self catering holiday. I think we were unlucky with our maid service. We were directly outside the maids room and we were last in the day. I think she had possibly run out of steam by the time they got to our apartment. Towels were changed regularly and I think the bed only once during the 7 night stay. The beds were made daily but that was it, no sweeping, mopping or cleaning of any other kind. It didn’t bother us too much as we didn’t make much mess but noticed fluff and bits and bots on balcony and kitchen floor that were there the whole week.
We were on the 4th floor. We did email and ask for a high floor and would have preferred to be further up than that. Annoyingly for us we had a concrete wall for our balcony (floor 4) the other floors have railings. When sat on our balcony it obliviated the lovely town and sea view. We did ask to be moved but not possible due to the hotel being full. The balcony furniture is very uncomfortable and we had a broken chair for the first 3 days of our stay which we constantly asked to be replaced and they eventually did on day 3.
Pool – lovely although our last day there was a big gang on boys quite rowdy and throwing a ball round. The other side there were young boys playing football. So sandwiched on the sun lounger with balls coming in all directions. Otherwise the pool is really quiet.
Sun loungers – This depends on if the hotel is full. We like to have a wander in a morning and relax around the pool in the afternoon. The first day no loungers and quite a few being hogged and no one on them. Only 2 days out of 7 was there a few free in the afternoon to choose from the other days we had to walk around to find an odd one. The last day there were none but we just dropped lucky that where we stood someone got up. There were people all over the grass on the floor with no beds. The facilities are open for the whole complex (other buildings). You could see at 8am people coming over the road with their towels to reserve beds even though they had their own pool. I don’t think they had a bar so wanted to be near the facilities which is allowed.
Shuttle bus to beach – only tried once as it was due as we were leaving the building. Only a small mini bus and not enough room for everyone. As they were boarding one passenger looked at us and said I am sure you can walk it! Bit rude. We were going further afield so booked an Uber.
We used Ubers to get around very economical. Get the app before you leave and make sure its set to local currency. Wherever we were all week they literally arrived in less than 5 minutes.
We only used the restaurant once as we liked to go into town for a nice meal. I would highly recommend it. The food was very good and the service and atmosphere really nice.
The hotel description does say they do not accept large groups of people. There were a few when we were there. They were a bit noisy and the pool experience was a bit annoying but luckily we had none near our room. As the aircon is pretty good we had the doors shut at night and never heard anything. May have been different though if they were nearer us.
There is limited entertainment and not really anything for children to do. If you are not very mobile I would not recommend this hotel or even this resort or you will be spending a lot of time in taxis."
