"my boyfriend and i stayed here for 5 nights in march. weather wise , it was very rainy and a little chilly but we noticed it started to pick up the week after we left so that’s just our bad luck. the hotel was lovely as were all the staff ! super helpful and friendly !
hotel + room
- room had ac ( which we didn’t end up needing lol )
- balcony was great for breakfast in the mornings
- beds and pillows were genuinely very comfortable ( my boyfriend has back problems so this was a big one , he also says they were really comfy )
- bathroom was clean , only thing we didn’t realise that you can see into the bathroom from the rest of the room as there’s a massive window lol but there’s a blind on the outside to close for more privacy. hairdryer in the bathroom was pretty good.
- the whole hotel honestly was kept very clean
- no kettle in the room and when we asked for one from reception , they said it was €10 to have one for the whole stay. they brought it up along with mugs , tea , coffee , stirrers and napkins too but still a little bit of a surprise as these are usually complimentary
- we brought a chromecast from home which we had no problems with casting to the telly ( other than the odd person trying to cast to it also )
- the hotel was pretty quiet at night time , zero issues with noise. the only thing is that the wind kept rattling the balcony door , and when we would leave the balcony door open to prevent this - it would cause the main bedroom door to rattle and make mini slams - for a lack of better word - but we just shoved a sock on top of the door to prevent this and it worked very well.
amenities
- the wifi was just a public one , no password needed which worried me slightly but it worked perfectly ! no issues at all
- the outdoor salt water pool was really cool but good lord it was freezing , but again that’s on us for booking a holiday in march lol
- indoor pool was also lovely along with the sauna , i noticed the pools were never that crowded.
- i got a massage from the spa and it was class. the online booking for it was kinda awkward but totally worth it. if it was available , i’d genuinely get one every day.
- we had breakfast included with our holiday , the buffet breakfast was alright. there was a man freshly making omelettes though which were very tasty. but other than that , it was just quite typical of a hotel breakfast buffet - there were some portuguese dishes there too.
- we got dinner in the hotel the first night. it was €33 per person. it very well may just be our palettes but we didn’t find dinner nice. it was mainly portuguese dishes we think as we weren’t familiar with them. the selection was kind of limited and weirdly there wasn’t a lot of meat options. there was steak which was pretty tasty but people were literally queuing up to get it. a bottle of water for the table also cost us €4.
- we ordered uber eats a lot of the evenings , super cheap food and so good. also the wait time was unbelievable !! literally only like 15 - 25 minutes ! in particular the sushi spot fu was amazing - the platters were so cheap and the fish was so so so fresh and tasty !
town
- we didn’t get a chance to explore much because of the rain but we did go to the main town in alvor most nights which was super cute.
- bolts were really really cheap too , only around €2.50 - €4.00 ! we could have walked it honestly but we’re lazy !
- the restaurants in the town were mainly italian places , not too expensive either !
- some lovely pubs and cocktail bars around too - although some weren’t open yet ( or getting ready to open for the summer ) we really enjoyed the black stove which was an irish bar ! staff there were super friendly and the place just had great vibes overall.
- the hotel is about an hour drive from faro airport but even on bolt and uber , the taxi prices weren’t bad - i’d recommend booking a round trip like with yellowfish
- the“ night life “ was fairly quiet and chill so i felt very safe walking around , no issues at all
taxi
- we booked a round trip with yellowfish from the airport to the hotel. again , super friendly people ! provided us with a 6L water bottle when we arrived ( tbf my boyfriends mam asked them to , but they absolutely didn’t have to and they did ).
overall , we definitely would come back in the summer months lol definitely was amazing value for money especially considering alvor was quite cheap anyways ! it was more of a chill and relaxed sort of holiday. we didn’t really explore because of the rain so i’m not the best judge , but regardless , i’d recommend for couples looking for a chill holiday !"
