1 week spent in what is advertised as a 5 star hotel. The approach, the grounds and location are all certainly deserving of the 5 stars....... but the hotel is certainly NOT a 5 star and if i wanted to be really harsh, i would actually say it is more of a 5 star residential home. However, the location and the grounds eased the pain a little. The hotel is situated with its own beach directly below, an even more exquisite cove lies just to the left of the beach in front of the hotel and is beautiful. The location may only be a short walk from the gorgeous Alvor fishing village, but it is a dangerous walk and not one I would recommend at night, or day come to that, which is a shame as we like to walk on our holidays. To clarify my comments on the Hotel, we are in the 35-40's bracket, and still enjoy a night out as well as fine dining, but this hotel was depressing, the decor is outdated, the pool area is a concrete expanse and the bathrooms very, very poor, the bar area is downright boring and basically everything is too large and dull. OK it was clean, and efficient, but I booked a 5 star, not a 3. The breakfast was very good, but don't take meals that are not included in your stay as everything else is outrageously expensive!! Drinks were 3 times the price of Alvor village, a small glass of water around the pool required a mortgage to pay for it! The staff are helpful and the spa is excellent, although I did benefit from the voucher having given up an hour of my time to view their timeshare apartments (although they don't use the phrase Timeshare!!) It was a little difficult to stomach the sales lady explaining why the apartments were so much better than the hotel, which is because they believe that you are investing in a timeshare, so they care about you, whereas they deem you as renting a room in a hotel for a week, so these rooms are less important!!! In my eyes, timeshare is just renting too!!

However, Alvor village is probably the most divine village I have visited in a holiday resort, the bars, the restaurants, the people and just the glorious location are all worth the visit.

Just spent 5 nights at this hotel, had a lovely time. Hotel staff very welcoming, beautiful sea view (preferable to garden view), and good food (especially breakfast which is a fantastic experience!). Not too many people eating at the hotel in the evening, and would recommend that guests try the restaurant on the beach below the hotel, or walk into Alvor which has a couple of great restaurants on the harbour. Also, try walking round to the east along the beach below teh hotel, when tide is out, you come across some amazingly beautiful ( and almost deserted) coves. All in all a relaxing and enjoyable break.

My husband and I took a 3 night break here at the end of Feb looking for a relaxing last minute break, hoping for some sun. We had a fantastic time (sun was very hot) and can thoroughly recommend this hotel. On arrival we were shown a room facing the back (garden & carpark) - when I prompty pointed out that I'd paid for a sea view. As the hotel was full (I was thinking 'here we go'), we were VERY fortunate to be upgraded to a sea facing suite. Wow. Really great and made our trip. I would definintely suggest paying extra for a sea view room (& suite if you can afford it - massive lounge area as well as bedroom). Lovely sunbathing bed on balcony - fab. Hotel very good, great facilities, breakfast a real treat esp with the pianist. Spa facilities great, as is the free clean daily beach towel. Did not eat there in evening as went to Alvor and had some lovely meals by harbour. Beach is fabulous, but can imagine in height of season would be a nightmare as it's small. Walk up and over the rocks to the left for more beautiful small beach. We loved it here (prob better out of season as the local area is high rise towers!!!), and I'm sure we will return. Good little gym there too.

We stayed at the Pestana Alvor for 5 nights. The hotel was lovely although very quiet which was due to the time of year. The location was lovely being a short walk from the village & set very close to the beach. We stayed B&B & the breakfast was one of the best we had experienced in any hotel we had stayed in. We had to have dinner at the hotel one evening due to bad weather but I wouldn't recommend this unless you had to as the meal was very average & overpriced. There are some lovely restaurants on the beach a stones throw from the hotel where we had a few lovely meals. The room in the hotel was nice & had everything we needed. We had a problem with noise & we were moved straight away no questions asked. It was very pleasant for a short break.