Location fabulous, however only the reception/bar area has been upgraded and the rooms and the general feeling of the rest of the hotel is one of neglect. The rooms are spacious and clean but our room was fusty and the decor and fittings were ancient - the bath was pink!!! The breakfast was ok but again the restaurant needed a complete revamp. This could be a fabulous hotel and having stayed in the Axis Viana prior to this hotel it was a shock to see the condition of the rooms as we had expected the same outstanding standards as the Viana hotel. The staff were friendly, the rooms were clean and it could be a wonderful hotel if some money was spent upgrading the facilities and the location is great. There is a fabulous town for eating about 30 minutes away by foot - Apulia with excellent fish restaurants along the beach with excellent prices and food.

We spent two weeks on half board at this hotel with Archers "Douro Valley and Northern Portugal" tour as a way to find out more this part of Portugal and stayed on for a second week with a hire car. The hotel was comfortable and well equipped, the staff friendly and helpful. On settling in, we found several shortcomings with our room. A bedside light switch was in bits, but this was fixed within minutes. There was no free power point near the desk for a laptop (WiFi was free) so the electrician promptly supplied a three-way extension. The built-in hairdryer was missing but a hand model was instantly supplied by reception. It took a couple of days to get a chair for the desk. Perhaps because we took the early booking discount, we had a room with a car park view, but it was probably cooler as a result. The buffet was very restricted - one meat dish, one fish dish, sometimes pasta, salads, vegetables and deserts repetitive and unimaginative. Cooked food was cold to tepid due to the outdated means of keeping it warm though later a plate warmer was provided. Breakfasts were marginally better. Groups with other tour companies had water or wine included with their meals. Not ours. Ordinary water was not available nor was wine by the glass, so we finished up with a large bill at the end of our stay. Curiously, some of the other guests found a way round this. The location of the hotel provided us with the chance to explore the wilder parts of the north and enjoy some local festivities as well. It is possible to get to places by bus, but it is a long walk to the bus stop. There is little to do on site but to use the hotel facilities and beach, visit the local cafes or walk. Unfortunately, our second week saw the hotel hosting a UEFA tournament and for meals, we were unceremoniously moved from the restaurant to a small area of the bar by an open corridor, where conditions were cramped, some guests had to wait and some had to sit on melamine chairs, the buffet was even more restricted and there were insufficient staff to cope. Finally, it is as well to remember that this is an area where the vast majority of tourists are Portuguese or Spanish - English speakers are hard to find and many of the hotel staff, who couldn't have been more friendly or helpful, found it difficult to cope. Compared to the only similar holiday we have had, at the Sage Coastline, Malta, this hotel comes off very badly - the management should pay a visit there to see what a four star hotel should provide.

My friend and I have just returned from a week staying here with Archers Direct Douro trip.
This was good but beware you will need Cash to pay for the 2 optional trips.
The Hotel was good and we had a nice room on 1st floor -265 but this week there was a football tounament going on with 8 teams of under 21's staying. No alcohol was consumed on their part though. So if you want to stay here then please ring the Hotel first before booking up to make sure no tornaments are taking place as there is another one here in October.The footballers took over the restaurant so we had to eat at the back of the bar area all week which meant the hot food was warm as it was heated only by hot water. I could go on but I think you get the picture.!!!

We have just returned from the Archers Northern Portugal & Douro Valley Tour which was based at the Axis Ofir. The coach trips were excellent, taking in many of the little towns and villages in the area. The hotel is in a nice situation on the sea front - excellent beach - and there is a very good nature reserve nearby where you can take pleasant walks and do some bird-spotting if interested.

The hotel itself is very clean and modern-looking, but we found the food disappointing. The breakfasts were OK but the evening meals were repetitive - meat, fish or pasta, one dish of each. The food was often lukewarm to cold and we mentioned this to the staff - in fairness, towards the end of the week there was an improvement.

We also noticed that there were no handrails on the stairs in our area of the hotel, and the stairs were very uneven - we regularly tripped when walking up, and that was before any wine intake! OK, there is a lift, but we felt there was a health & safety issue and mentioned this in our questionnaire.

On the plus side, we did manage to reserve a table by a window, giving us superb sea and sunset views.

Prices in the local cafes and shops were very reasonable by Euro standards, so we escaped the hotel regime on two nights, would recommend La Ferreira restaurant in the little village of Fao which is about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. Superb prawns and ribs.

Bar prices in the hotel were reasonable, and we hired a safe in the room for 10 Euros for the week, which is excellent compared to Thomson Gold hotels for example.

The hotel is also well-equipped leisure-wise, with an excellent pool and gardens, also tenpin bowling, table tennis and a good gym.

So we thought the pros outweighed the cons, not 4 star though.