Tivoli Marina Vilamoura

Stayed 3 nights at this hotel... location is perfect - walking distance to everything - the beach, marina, shops, restaurants, and casino!!! The rooms are neat but a bit worn, hotel staff very helpful and friendly and they did a great breakfast.

If you are looking for an excellent hotel in Vilamoura, Portugal, then the Marinotel is it. Fabulous views either over the marina or sea. Standard of cleaning and fabric of the hotel is superb, our cleaners were in the room three times a day!. Internet access in the foyer with five pc's, free of charge. Staff were efficient and friendly and very professional. Restaurant absolutely superb with the presentation and quality of food highly recommended. Would go back to the resort which my partner and I, who are both in our 50's, considered it to be for couples and families. Casino is only 5 minutes walk away but there is little else to do other than shop around the marina in the evenings. Restful and peaceful though.

Having just returned from a weeks stay at the tivoli marinotel I can honestly say it is an excellent hotel ,for its location and facilities.The staff were very friendly and helpful and the thomas cook select rep was on hand for 1 hour a day if needed.our room on the 5th floor was spotlessly clean and we recieved complimentry champagne and flowers on arrival (an anniversary treat i think)The sirus grill was fantastic for service and food although there are plenty of good eating places around the marina,I guess october is the start of the quite season and the hotel did have conferences on,and they were a bit noisy at times when they were roll playing with drums around the pool!! but this didn`t make us feel any less special when it came to service. we would definately return.

nice hotel +facilities +health club and pools +Location and marina +friendly staff +Wheelchair accessible +free internet on 4 computers by the reception +large and nice rooms +balconies with view +good food -variety and quality -large -characteless property -wifi only on reception area -internet from rooms 20euros

We booked our holiday via mytravel. September 18th - 25th. Panorama was the cheapest operator and there was a discount for booking over the internet too. We got a very good deal! We flew with Monarch Airline on their A300 from Gatwick. Flight was delayed by 45 minutes although it only took us 2hrs 5 mins when it was supposed to take 2hrs 50 mins! Flight was very smooth. There isn't a Vilamoura rep for Panorama, Direct Holidays or Airtours so you get the Manager instead, which isn't a bad thing! Temperature for the week was around 28-32oC. Hotel is beautiful. I've stayed in a lot of 4* and 5* hotels, the Marinotel didn't wow me but it certainly didn't disappoint either. We had a sea view room on the 9th floor (top floor) and didn't hear a thing... We were Bed and Breakfast based. Breakfast is between 7-10:30am. There is plenty of choice - cereals, yogurts, juices, cold meats/cheeses, pancakes, omelettes, breads (sweet and savoury), hot breakfast, and champagne (located near the yogurts). We didn't go down to the pool until 11am and there were still plenty of sun beds available. Pool was fairly cold but wasn't unbearable. Didn't see pool bingo or keep fit but I wouldn't have minded if I did. Good to have a laugh on holiday!! Lunch we either had at the poolside bar (cheeseburger and chips or a toasted sandwich - with some sangria) or we went to a lovely restaurant called the 'Old Navy' next to the Haagen Das ice cream shop around the Marina. For the evening meals we went to the 'Old Navy' once (very good), to Thai Thai (Chinese restaurant) three times (!), a pizza place not far from the hotel once, the Irish Bar once (fantastic food) and an Italian behind the Irish Bar once (not bad). We didn't have one bad meal. The evening entertainment at the hotel was quite funny even more so as we were the only ones in there! Perhaps it was something to do with the time of year. The bars in Vilamoura stayed open until 4am. Dress code was smart casual to smart. If you plan to go to the Castor or Sports Bar at the hotel then I would advise that you dress up. Take a jacket/cardigan if you go the same time of year as we did. Jeans and shorts aren't allowed in the restaurants at the hotel. The sunsets were fantastic although it got dark quite early (7:30-8pm). We went via taxi to 'The Big One' water park. It wasn't as big as we thought it would be but we still had a good laugh. We advise you don't get on coaches as often you get left for ages at the coach/bus depot where there are many poor people.... get a taxi or hire a car! The Casino is expensive - the slot machines will only take notes! The main game room isn't very big and is full of local portugese (some look like the mafia!). Nothing wrong in that but we didn't understand what was going on! Cigarettes and Alcohol in the shops are half the price however meals and drinks in bars are roughly the same price as the UK. You are allowed to bring back as many cigarettes as you like as long as you can prove that they are for yourself, your family or friends. I stayed at the Dom Pedro Golf 8 years ago and much prefer the Tivoli Marinotel! I hope that covers everything. We are planning to return next year at the same time of year (as there are no kids about!!).

We spent 8 nights at the Tivoli Marinotel in early September. In our opinion there are some really good but also some very bad things about this hotel. First the good: The location is wonderful, overlooking the Marina and with direct access to the beach. Our room was large and well equipped with bathrobes, tea and coffee facilities (complementary-an earlier review says these used to be charged for). The room was kept spotless with an evening turn down service. All the staff we had dealings with very extremely friendly and efficient, particularly pool bar and Orion restaurant. The gardens around the pool are large and there are plenty of loungers so people did not need to book them with towels! There is direct access to the beach. The lunch available at the Orion restaurant is great and varies from toasted sandwiches to a buffet with prawns,lobster etc. In the evening we mainly had dinner at the marina. There is a good choice of restaurants but we would particularly recommend O Marisco for quality of food,value and friendly service. Now the bad news: Firstly the hotel can be extremely noisy at night with music booming into the bedroom until 2am and later if there is a function in the hotel. We had requested a high room to try and overcome this( having read other tripadvisor reviews) but even on the 7th floor it was a huge problem. It may be that the noise travelled particularly badly because our room was near the lifts (701). We did complain at the time but to no avail-individual travellers are not important compared to large groups. This leads to our second point. The hotel caters for individual holiday makers, golfers, and conferences. This is not an easy balance and large groups have a tendency to take over restaurants/polls etc. To a certain extent the quality of a stay will be determined by the mix and behaviour of others at the hotel. We had dinner one night in the main restaurant (ok- a bit overpriced and somewhat pretentious) but our romantic dinner for two ended up being surrounded by tables of gregarious golfers. Would we stay again? Possibly - the service is generally extremely good and I loved the pool/beach/location-but we would only stay if we were guaranteed a quiet room.

Stayed there in September 2005 with my girlfriend. First impressions were positive - reception area looked impressive and the concierge was friendly. When booking in we heard someone else being told various things about the hotel (the safe, the pool etc) but we weren't told anything. I had previously emailed ahead and tried to ensure we got a room on a higher floor and to see if I could get an upgrade, but despite receiving a reply, this wasn't acknowledged at reception. The room itself was on the 6th floor facing the marina. It was small in comparison to other 5* hotels we have stayed in and was clean, but I wouldn't recommend enough that you got a room on the sea side of the hotel - our balcony never got any sun on it throughout our stay. It also appeared to be very windy and smelt quite a bit at times. There is also a karaoke bar around the marina that you can hear until 2am if your on the marina side. You could also hear people in other rooms around you during the evening - not right in any hotel nevermind one of this apparent quality. The service in the hotel was average, but the breakfast was very nice. Unfortunately they don't clear the tables away too quickly and we had to hunt around trying to find tables at times! The pool is small and at times you feel like sardines (not like the ones in the marina swimming around!) with all the people around you. I was shocked at the pool bingo being blasted out, along with the keep fit classes at times, when you're trying to have a quiet time by the pool - this is certainly not something you expect from a 5* place. Yes there was bird excrement on the loungers, but too be fair Portugal always appear to have issues with little birds (rather like England with seaguls / pidgeons) - we just covered it with our towels provided! The Snack bar is useless for food (too cold as it's brought over from the other restaurants) but good for drinks. The other restaurant beside the pool is average for food quality but good on service. I can't believe you have to pay extra for using the jacuzzi / sauna etc and have to wear a cap in the indoor swimming pool. An additional charge of 5euros for the cap is insulting. We didn't try any of the restaurants in the hotel in the evening and instead opted to eat around the marina. There's not too wide a range of "quality" establishments around it, but we found a fantastic place literally directly opposite the hotel on one of the corners. It's blue in colour with a glass frontage and a sign outside saying "Ciao". Food and service were fantastic and the staff were extremely friendly - highly recommended!! Overall I would rate this as a mid four star hotel. It may be the best in vilamoura, but at the end of the day you should earn your stars on the hotel standards / ammenities / service and not that it's the best of a bad bunch.

Very shocked by reviews. We stayed in July and thought the hotel was great. We asked for a quiet room with sea view and thats what we got. The cleaners were very friendly and kept our room spotless, they cleaned our room twice a day. In ideal position for restaurants/bars/marina in the evening. Lovely beach. Only slight downside was expensive to eat/drink at hotel and pools not great a bit small. Overall still excellent and we will definately stay there again.

I stayed at the hotel for a week in August this year with my partner and my parents. The hotel has a great potential given its view (to the beach on one side and the marina on the other), the easy access which for me was specially important given my father's reduced mobility (to the beach, swimming pool, and the marina with lots of restaurants, bars, shops, etc), size and diversity of activities. What I considered unacceptable was the quality of the rooms, in particular hygiene - I found a cockroach in the bathroom, we had a terrace in each room as we're in the first floor which was dirty, plus the walls and some of the pool beds had bird excrements. After being one week before in Greece, paying a similar price of 240 euros per double room, in a 5 star hotel ranked the same way, I can only say that the Tivoli Marinotel is unfortunately way behind in terms of quality. There are much better hotels in Algarve, but given the potential this one has for the reasons mentioned above, it is a pity!

Just back from a week at this Hotel with wife & 9 yr old daughter having booked at the v.last minute. The taxi driver from the airport said this was the best hotel in Villamoura - I'm not so sure. The location is great sandwiched between the beach (direct access from the gardens) and the Marina. Our room was of 4 star qualty only and with 3 in 1 room it was a bit small. The balcony overlooked the Marina which was a great view although the balcony itself was a bit grubby and had astro-turf on half of it! Also only had 2 chairs for the 3 of us. We stopped on a B&B basis and I cant fault the breakfast - a good choice and very well presented/cooked. The prices for food & drink around the pool however were v.steep - 2.50 euro for a coke! They did have a summer party when we were there which was great with a buffet meal , a band and fireworks - 49 euros each extra. The pool area was nice and quiet with good loungers, brollies & towels. The pool itself was good & clean although 80% of it was at least 1.7m deep going up to 2.5m deep - not ideal for non or weak swimmers - they did have a childrens pool that was about knee deep but nothing in-between. The staff were generally efficient although the housekeepers did tend to knock briefly & then walk straight in without waiting for a reply - could be embarrassing if youve just got out of the shower! The Marina area is a good place to spend the evening with a wide range of choice although again not great value for money with an everage 2 course meal for 3 being about 80-100 euros. The food was generally good although 1 place we did try was dire with the oddest brushetta I have ever eaten (it was a small pizza!). Some great places selling ice cream in 50 flavours including cheese flavour & tomato flavour! My overall view on this hotel is that it is probaby a good address to say you were staying at and some of the guests appear to reflect this, although the quality did not always match the location. Also v little else to do in Villamoura - unless you are there to play golf. I would agree with some other reviewers in that it is proabably more 4 than 5 star quality - you also need to ensure you take account of the other prices for eating both at the hotel & around the Marina when considering this hotel. I have stopped at much better for the money.