Vila Gale Cerro Alagoa, Albufeira

I like to write my reviews in a bit of a story-teller fashion, and so setting the scene is a vital aspect of the review.

23 of us departed Thursday night/Friday afternoon to Albufeira in Portugal for Jimbo's stag do. Jimbo is a 30-something dentist with a highly successful practice in Leeds, opening quick bowler for Old Leo's and all round top egg. He is getting married in January to his long time wonderful girlfriend Claire and this ...
...party was made up of a total mix of people, from Students to Dentists, and all thoughts pointed firmly at Golfing and Drinking. Not necessarily in that order either.

So, onto the nitty gritty of the review.

Check In
***********

Was remarkably easy. The receptionist was very helpful and spoke excellent English. She covered all of the necessary information very efficiently - room location, breakfast ... more

I like to write my reviews in a bit of a story-teller fashion, and so setting the scene is a vital aspect of the review.

23 of us departed Thursday night/Friday afternoon to Albufeira in Portugal for Jimbo's stag do. Jimbo is a 30-something dentist with a highly successful practice in Leeds, opening quick bowler for Old Leo's and all round top egg. He is getting married in January to his long time wonderful girlfriend Claire and this was the away leg of his stag do. The party was made up of a total mix of people, from Students to Dentists, and all thoughts pointed firmly at Golfing and Drinking. Not necessarily in that order either.

So, onto the nitty gritty of the review.

Check In
***********

Was remarkably easy. The receptionist was very helpful and spoke excellent English. She covered all of the necessary information very efficiently - room location, breakfast times, where the pool was, room service and check-out times.

It was nice to see that the hotel operating on a key-card system, rather than keys as you could fit it into your wallet, reducing the chance of losing it, leaving it lying about or worrying about it when you go to the pool.

The Room
************

Was distinctly average. Well, the room itself was pretty nice, the bathroom was distinctly average.

The room was painted neutrally with brightly coloured red and yellow stripes. The bed was 2 doubles pushed together, covered with a single large bedspread. The bed itself was pretty comfortable (Well, the 2 nights I pretty much passed out, I found the bed comfortbable!) and the pillows were a refreshing change.... There were 2 of them!!!! and they were big and fluffy.

There was a TV there with a disappointing lack of watchable programmes on the TV. For the Brits, there was Sky News, BBC News 24, Eurosport and Cbeebies (When on). The rest of the channels were German or Portugese, and whilst I understand German (Thanks to a German grandmother, who whilst going a little senile rapidly switches mid-sentence from English to German) watching Friends without the right voices is just wrong. Maybe it's just me though!

There was plenty of storage space in the room, with 2 chests of drawers and a full wardrobe, more than adequate for the kit that I took with me for the weekend. There was also a table and chair indoors, and French doors out onto the patio with another oudoor set of furniture. Sadly, the view left a lot to be desired. The room was air-conditioned and remote controlled which was a huge bonus since it was at least 25 degrees.

The bathroom left a fair amount to be desired, the tiles seemed very dated and there were cracks running down the walls by the shower. The showerhead looked like one of those horrible 1970's microphone and had horrible stinging water due to large volumes of pressure being forced out of very thin holes. I guess they were trying to blast out the hangover!

The toiletries provided were average. A Bath Gel, Shampoo, Needle & Thread Kit, Shower Cap and Soap. Sadly there was no robe, the towels were hard (Although I actually prefer them that way, I know a lot of people don't) and there was a horrible rubber suction mat seemingly araldited to the bottom of the bath.

The Food
***********

We were staying on a bed and breakfast basis so I only got to sample the breakfasts on both mornings. Fortunately my hangovers permitted breakfast and they were well taken advantage of. There was a plethora of fresh fruit, yoghurts, cold meats and cheeses, along with breads, pastries and sweet treats for those looking for a touch of the continental.

For those "Brits Abroad" there was a full hot buffet with everything from fried eggs to sausages. Coffee was machine based, which was a little unfortunate and it was truly terrible, but the fresh juices were varied each day and were very fresh.

Seating wise, there was a large choice and the breakfast hours at the weekend were until 10:30 which was an absolute Godsend for those of us rolling in at 3 and 4am...

I managed to sample just about everything, except for the cornflakes, which just weren't Kelloggs!

The Facilities
***************

There was a full fitness centre which I considered for all of 30 seconds before deciding that a dip in the outdoor pool might be a bit more refreshing. I was right. In a fashion. The water was so cold that when I dived in, my B*ll*cks shot up into my throat and I came up shivering and swallowing wildly.

The pool was a decent size, but it seems, rather oddly that pools don't have a deep end any more, which ruins the whole diving thing.

There was a game room onsite with an interesting pinball table (Judge Dread), non-full size snooker table and air hockey.

The Dog and Duck pub was an abomination. It was a trite blend of poor British pub art and terrible Portugese pub signs. We sat outside.

The Surrounds
*****************

The hotel was quite well positioned. It had the new front a mere right turn out of the main door, sadly though, there was a MacDonalds straight across the road, something that always disappoints me when going abroad.

The old town, which is much nicer, and aslo has the beach right next to it was a left turn, down a flight of seriously steep steps and a walk across the Marina car park. The restaurants were you're standard tourist based sea front affairs, although don't go anywhere near the one run by the ex-pats. The food was terrible and it took 3 1/2 hours for us to finish our meals.

There are plenty of golf courses nearby, of a good standard, although you need to be able to play golf to a half decent standard to really enjoy the course. Vilamoura is just down the road, and in my opinion, is far nicer than Albufeira.

Overall, the whole place isn't bad for a cheap week away, stag do or such likes. I wouldn't recommend using the hotel for any more than a base, and at £60 a night, there are probably cheaper places to stay.

The hotel is family friendly, as long as you are keeping a close eye on the kids and they like the beach. 

...less