Vila Gale Ampalius Hotel

booked this after having stayed in marina across the road. only prob with marina is lack of sunlight at this time of year.
Booked twin room, bit surprised that there wasnt a balcony. But the good news is that they were building balconies onto all the non sea view rooms whilst there. But they only really worked for a few hours per day, thought they were only finishing balconies already attached, so cant say how noisy it would be when building from start. It looks like that they will be at it for a long time, so check before booking.
I would say marina is better hotel, every room has balcony and free indoor pool.
Bit of a shock to be charged to use indoor pool, plus extra for swim cap. Most sites give the impression this is part of facilties. Pool /spa area is nice but is bit small, and turkish bath and showers didnt work.
pool area is open to breeze.
staff in general were nice and helpfull.
try harbour view chinese if only to see unique dish bambi bang gang

Just returned from a week at the Ampalius. On arrival very dissapointed with the room allocated for myself, husband and 15 year old daughter, the room was tiny, two single beds and a camp bed, the floor boards had gaps between them and the decoration was quite scruffy this was not 4 star standard, we did not feel happy to spend a week all crammed into this room. Following a conversation with reception staff our only option was to upgrade to a junior suite at a cost of £230! Having no other option we upgraded to a junior suite on floor 9. The room was excellent the view even better. There was alway plenty of sunbeds available you did not have to put out your towels early, I think the majority of guests went to the beach. Breakfast was very good but is best avoided after 8.30am it then becomes unbelievably busy as the dining room is quite small, clean tables are not available nor are clean cups or cutlery. The staff are very friendly and the hotel is very clean including the pool. The resort is first class there are plenty of restaurants to eat at but be aware food and drinks in the marina area are very expensive! We did not encounter any problems with the night club opposite.

2 readers found this review helpful

Excellent service and location of hotel, in the heart of Vilamoura, very close to the marina. Really good accomodation, friendly staff and great food and entertainment.
Lack of reasonable transfers to and from airport, can highly recommend faroairporttransfers@live.com really nice guy and very very reasonable. Great holiday all round, highly recommended!
DH

Very disappointed with the room and friendliness of staff at this 4 star hotel.
My boyfriend and I booked a double room and got 2 twin beds pushed together, when asked to change rooms we were told it would cost an extra 25 euros per night, but none were available. It ruined our holiday. The reception staff were rude with no customer service skills and definately no smiles.
The room was dirty on arrival, the bins were not emptied and the floor was dirty, TV remote was broken and plug sockets hanging off the wall.
Food choice ok but hot food was luke warm.
Very disappointed and wonder how and who they bribed to get 4 stars.

Just returned from the Ampailus 24th may it is a lovely hotel @ spotless clean. My only complaint would be on arrival our room wasn,t ready @ had to wait 2hrs after a tiring journey ,when it was finally ready it was the wrong room ,as we had prebooked to be upgraded 2months before to full sea view which cost 11euros per night , but was told it would be ready the following day.when we finally had the room we wanted it was outstanding with ex sea views well worth upgrading . The breakfast had something for everyone , we had no probs with the lifts down to the ground floor.pool area clean . The only other complaint would be the weather has only had about 3hrs sunshine a day @it got very chilly but then again not the fault of the hotel.One big rip off was on the beach they charged 10euros each for the loungers. Some good restaurants @bars there 19TH hole @Old Navy was where we went mostly the staff very friendly . On our departure the receptionist had a bill for drinks @room service Which we didn,t use . ANGIE

We visited last year at the same time and could find no faults at all, hence the re-visit. The hotel was clean as expected, our junior suite was as expected, the beds were not creeky, the views were exceptional, meals (50/50 dining) and breakfast were good. The staff were excellent, I still cannot fault the hotel for 4 stars but...
We always take a holiday at this time of year and an important factor in choosing a hotel is that they have an indoor pool. The indoor pool last year was being refurbished but we were invited to use the Vila Gale Marina's facilities, which we did at no extra charge. However this year we did note the 'local charge may apply' in the brochure but did not expect this to be applicable to the pool facilites (I believed that this was for the turkish bath, massages etc.) The swimming pool is nice but very small. We had to pay 2.5 euro's each for compulsory swimming hats, in additon to the 7.5 euro's per adult entrance fee but fortunately children under 5 are free. Therefore the total cost for us to swim was 22.5 euro's, which we agreed to pay because the weather was not good.
I was extremely annoyed at being charged to use the swimming facilities. I did complain whilst there and got the feeling that we could have used the Marina hotels facilities free. The gym is an extra 5 euro's should you wish to use this and is very small. Apparently the facilities do not belong to the Hotel. How bizarre?

This is as it it is! We were upgraded before arrival from a twin sea view to a mini suite - luckily - BUT!!!
1. On arrival - no water in hotel at 4pm.
2. Some guests did not get a room until 6pm.
3. Chairs and beds were old, and the beds creaked all night.
4. Cooker hood filter and fridge smelt of pies.
5. SAT TV picture broke up.
6. Air con needed resetting.
7. Food, although varied was lukewarm and sometimes inedible.
8. We had to do a maintenance check before we could settle!
Why do some people rate this hotel and why do they return? Are their homes poor and do they not stay in other 4* hotels?
But----- The staff were superb, as was the location of suite 932. Unfortunately the hotel staff were let down by the owners!! Worst 4* we have stayed in!!!

Firstly the staff were excellent & let down by the management!
We were up graded before arrival from a double twin sea view (paid for) which was possibly a marina view or a local marinotel view room, as opposed to a standard casino view room, which reported possible casino/disco noise supposedly noise till 4 am!!
The room had no water at 4 pm. TV kept breaking up. Mini kitchen fridge & cooker filter smelt of pies! Air con needed resetting. Air con bolted to adjoining wall & vibrated early morning!
Beds were old & creaked all night. Public lounge & bedroom furniture were tired.
Food generally 3* quality & lukewarm. Although varied.
Unfortunately we can’t comment on the evening entertainment as we did not stay in!
This hotel is probably the worst 4 * hotel we have stayed in compared to Cyprus/Madeira / gran Canaria/ Lanzarote.

This was a golfing holiday for my husband and friend and a 'chill out' holiday for his wife and me. We found the hotel to be spacious and comfortable. Because of the time of year, the pool area was never overcrowded and there was always a sun bed available.
The breakfasts were good if you chose to avoid the cooked items which were rather unappetizing. The eggs, bacon, sausages were cold and the baked beans were 'weird'. However, there was always a good selection of fresh fruit, breads, rolls, cakes and continental food such as cheese, ham, yoghurts etc.
We chose to eat out each night and found the following restaurants to be excellent:
O Vitoria, Casa do Pescador, Colombo, Fisherman's Creek, O Colonial. The local wine, Vinho Verde is well worth trying and is very cheap to buy in the wine shops or supermarkets. There is a nice easy stroll along the sea front to the next resort or you can get an 'Eva' bus to either Albufeira or Fara. Both worth a visit. There are two 'road trains' which take you on a local tour. Worth stopping at the 'Old Village' on route.
We would certainly come again. October seems a good time as it's still quite hot but not too busy.

2 readers found this review helpful

Hotel accommodation good and well maintained. Pool area very small with limited facilities.
Restaurant poorly organised and staff unhelpful/ food only average and not much variety. Not enough tables to accommodate busy periods.
Charges apply for use of all facilities including use of gymnasium, (not specified in brochure.).
Main problem with hotel is lack of availability of rooms on arrival. Forced to wait five hours after arrival before room became available.
We arrived as a group of six clients to be told that our rooms were not ready and to return in three hours. This would have been approximately one p.m. in afternoon of day of arrival.
On returning were told rooms were still not available. At three p.m. we had to cause a fuss at reception to get our rooms. This ruined our first days holiday.
During our weeks stay we witnessed regular ugly scenes at reception with new guests who were experiencing the same problem. We have informed Thomas Cook who basically don’t want to know about the problem, and who are prepared to do nothing to improve the situation.
Be warned! Their lack of customer service in dealing with this problem has ensured that none of us will travel with Thomas Cook in future and we will endeavour to make sure as many people as possible are aware of their appalling attitude to clients.