Alvorferias or Bust (Hotels in Alvor)

Member Name: boffy

Product:	Hotels in Alvor
Date:	14/09/02 (563 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Large pools, Good resort, Friendly staff

Disadvantages: Next to the road, No views, No TV or phone in the room

One summer holiday a year and I never know where to go. So much choice, so little money and so little time to search. This year I had real problems finding a late holiday with the qualities I wanted. Near the beach, self-catered, small resort, good food, and the happy people at Going Places told me where to go, the Clube Alvorferias in Alvor, Portugal. The holiday wasn't cheap, just under £400 for a week, self catered, but for my money, well timed flights and a one bedroomed apartment.

Alvor isn't a big town, more a few streets with some very good restaurants and a handful of typical holiday shops, let down by the tack some sold. The town then spralls in all directions. The food really is good and the beach is long and white (plus some beautiful coves to the east), nicely cooled by the Atlantic breeze, but sadly the resort is let down by its planning. There are hot spots of accomodation seperated by large areas of scrubland and the building of high rise towers right behind the beach spoils the view. The resort also suffers from many half built arpartments, thankfully not being worked on currently, but eyesores none the less.

The Clube Alvorferias is only a ten minute downhill walk to the resort centre (remember thats up on the way home!!) and the vast beach but sadly has views only of scrubland. The apartments are three storeys and nicely built in blocks so as not to blot the landscape like many hotels in Priaie de Roche. Our apartment was certainly large but suffered from four faults. Firstly and most worryingly the apartment was dirty on arrival, however the friendly reception sorted this out within a few hours. Secondly the rooms had neither a phone nor a television which amazed me for a three star apartment. Thirdly the bathroom was 'land-locked' and so had no window or extractor fan. The only ventilation consisted of two pipes which seemed to go no further than the next apartment. It seemed that only some apartments suffered
this however other apartments were not as spacious as ours. Finally the Clube is split in two by a road and our apartment was in the nearest block to it. Although the road never woke me it did keep me awake, due to loud and frequent mopeds. This may only affect the nearest blocks to the road but affect us it did.

To be fair to the Alvorferias, the two pools (one on each side of the road, connected by bridge) were large and cold (like the sea)!! The area around both has sun loungers and snack bars but is slightly too small for the number of people at the accomodation. The pools do get busy and just watch out for kids' inflatables. There is also a restaurant, bar and two very well stocked supermarkets. The reception is 24 hours and very helpful and knowledgable.

To finish, I hope this opinion isn't too negative. As with most things it's easy to remember whats wrong. I'll talk about the Algarve another time and the area is worth a trip. If in Alvor the Alvorferias is good but aim for apartments away from the road.

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