Pestana Alvor Park Hotel

Apologies for the short review but quite simply all the other reviews give a really fair view of these apartments. Simply it was brilliant and the location was spot on. right in between the town and the beach. As its only two years old its also very modern and its an extremely clean hotel. Alvor is a great place - just enough late bars to keep it interesting and plenty of great restaurants. a tip........we tried to book direct through the pestana website but there were no rooms. however we phoned travel republic and they had block booked rooms. We booked flights direct through easyjet and got great flight times....the transfer was organised through polotur - all through their website...polotur.com enjoy it if you go

After some truly awful holidays and hotels over the years our expectations were set on the low side. However this hotel was excellent. From the moment you arrive the experience starts to chill you out. The rooms are very spacious and clean. Large lounge, dining area, kitchen (all the kit to eat in if you so wish) with en suite toilet and shower. (kids don't have to use yours) Large bedroom with en suite. Both rooms have access to balcony. Room standard is just about five star all they need are dvd/cd players and LCD tvs to finish it off. Rest of hotel spotless and modern. All done tastefully in marble. Pool area great kids really safe. Nice and quite, no single sex groups! The place to go for a truly peaceful break.

Location: The hotel sits a little outside of the main town on the road from Rocha to Alvor. A walk into the centre of town would take you no more than 5 mins (brisk) 10 mins (slow lollop, my preferred method). The main beach can be seen from any of the sea view rooms, we could see the carpark for the beach from the one we had. If it takes you more than 5 mins (using my preferred method) to get to the beach you must have taken a wrong turn. Alvor Town: Like most Algarvian towns it has it's own "strip" where most of the eating places/bars are. Go off strip and you'll find other places. The strip leads down to the River front where you'll find plenty of fish places grilling the days catch to order. Eating: There are plenty of places to eat. I would recommend that you go into town to eat rather than take the lazy option of the places close to the Hotel. Avoid Al Dente, slow service, poor portion size and over priced compared to the town, it will always be busy when you pass it, don't be tempted. Places to eat: Goodvilles, Vagabondo (sic?), Tarverna del Guedres (sic?) the one off the strip with the green door, I think it's number 25 and has Tipica in the address plate above the door. You'll know it because it's the only place with benches instead of seats. This place serves good portuguese fish dishes, try the pork and clams or the fish and rice. Goodvilles and Vagabondo are owned by the same man and have similar menus, he also owns a place on the front. Drinking: Make your choice, there are planty of places, we avoided the more English/Irish places so can't comment on them. Beaches: The main beach stretches for about 5 kilometers. You could walk to Lagos if it wasn't for the river disecting the beach. Walk the other way and you'll discover cove after cove, each with it's own bar and each with a view you could put on a postcard. Hotel: There are 55 rooms at this hotel but only 14 of them are actually for paying holiday goers, the others are timeshare/long term owners. This means the place is always quiet, you'll always get a place by the pool and in the bar. When we were there breakfast was made to order, no evening meal although you could go to the other Pestana hotels nearby (we didn't the town was more than enough). Rooms are cleaned everyday, towels changed and bed made along with the usual shower bits and pieces. We had a studio room, large with a kitchenette (fridge, microwave/combi, two electric plates, cups, glasses plates et el). Balcony that had the sun from morning until around 1630, summer it could be a lot longer. Staff are friendly and always attentive. The breakfast man seemed to appear Mr Benn like to take our order in the morning and then disappear only to magically appear with the full order (sometimes more) just as you finished munching down your cereal. I wanted to say never go here because it's a terrible place. I wanted to keep this place as closely guarded a secret as possible. But. Go. Eat. Drink. Relax. Unwind. Walk along the beach, discover the coves and cliffs, eat freshly caught grilled fish drink the roughest wine you can find to go with it and bathe in the Algarvian sunshine. I'm going back, might see you there.

Stayed here for 3 nights over a Portuguese Bank Holiday weekend. We arrived just after 6pm on a Thursday eve - parked the car right outside and checked -in straight away. We given a room on the top floor (4th Floor) - one bed apt - lovely decor/air con/mod kitchen- with all amenties for cooking at home - not that we did - lots of places to eat in Alvor. Two televisions - two bathrooms - large king bed - table and chairs both inside and out on the balcony - great for a having breakfast with fab views of the sea and the pool area. We used the pool/indoor and outdoor/table tennis/gym and games room - all very clean. Staff were very polite and helpful - snacks and coffee at the bar were good but a little on the expensive side - the main restaurant was closed for eve meals but the hotel is located a 5min stroll from Alvor which has plenty of restaurants to appeal to all tastes and budgets. All in all a very good weekend was had - would recommend to all ages - would go again.

We booked via Travel Republic and used Polotur for taxi from Faro Airport plus return, 100 euros all in and no problems with pickups at all,courteous and on time. Will use them again.All booked via the websites. Now to the hotel itself, if you are looking for a hotel that is modern,clean, with lovely rooms,courteous staff,who actually care for their guests, then this is the place for you. We booked the larger apartment room & had a large living room plus kitchenette, large bedroom with super king sized bed,plus ensuite and a separate shower room. TV in bedroom and living room. Large balcony facing the sea, complete with table and chairs. The rooms were cleaned daily and towels changed regularly,plus bedding. The pool area very well maintained and clean, and also beach towels provided which you can take to the beach,so do not bring your own and waste that valuable space in the suitcase. We would definitely use this hotel again as it is in a excellent location, 10 mins walk approx into Alvor town, 10 mins walk to beach,which is lovely & clean, sunbed hire on beach is 10 euros daily, 7 euros after 2pm. The hotel provides a free coach to Portimao each day and we caught the bus to Lagos from town for 13Euro return. Excellent stay and town fab,with plenty of restaurants,we did not eat in hotel due to the restaurants so cannot comment on food. Reception staff,expecially Jose, very helpful on local advice.

We have a timeshare here & this februae=ry was the first time we used it. Absolutely fab. I think because they weren't all that busy, we got a fantastic service. I have never ever stayed in a 4* hotel before & was absolutely gobsmacked by the service. When we got there we left our bags in reception & went down to the restaurant for some dinner, I was dumbstruck when the waiter pulled out my seat for me & poured the drinks for us. OH MY GOD, how thrilled was I. I've never been treated like royalty so much before. When we went back upstairs to check in properly, All our bags (which we had just dumped near the door) had been put onto a bag trolley ready to take into our room. It was REALLY quiet because of the time of year but it meant at times we had full use of the pool, jacuzzi & sauna etc. I think (with us having a 9 yr old) we were the only ones at the time using the games room witch was great. Anyone thinking of buying into a time share, I would recommend it.

Booked this last minute & was thrilled when we arrived. Spotless & stylish rooms and facilities. Pools were excellent. Staff were pleasant & accomodating, quite possibly due to the emloyee bonus scheme. Will definitely return here soon.

Nice and quiet. Betterfor Mature couples.

We have just returned from a long weekend at Pestana Park. The hotel is quite nice and still new. For someone that likes to stay in a nice and in a good taste place, this is a good choice. The furniture and decoration was in a modern design stile. The apartment was spacious, with 2 bathrooms, a nice balcony facing the see and a good kitchen. The breakfast was lovely with a good choice of hot dishes and fruit but there wasn't a big choice of pastery or cheese. The pool is lovely and quite clean and to have towels from the hotel was also nice. The hotel restaurant was closed but there were a huge choice of nice restaurants near by at the beach and Alvor. It was a nice place for families with young children but a small child needs to have a trolley to go to the beach: It is not far, maybe 5-10 minutes walking, but the road is quite busy and dangerous for a small kid to walk.

We saw this new hotel last year while staying at another Pestana owned property in the area and resolved to stay there this February. What is so attracive about the place are the large stylish rooms with kitchen facilities which free you from the morning breakfast "scrum" downstairs and the hotels close proximity to Alvor. The property is decorated in the modern , retro sixties, boutique style and pretty much everything is pared to the bone. However, sometimes it appears that Pestana group have gone too far along the minimalist line and their usually excellent , effusive, service from reception and concierge appears to have been overlooked. We got the feeling that the hotel has not yet found its niche. The downstairs breakfast area and bar were deserted, why would they be otherwise? Meanwhile the one internet facility in the library was often oversubscribed and getting access was not easy. The very efficient "hit team" of 3 room maids just about managed to irritate my wife by showing up around 10 am or earlier every day, there was no "do not disturb" facility in evidence! The property looks smart, but local tourist trade operatives ( taxi drivers, restaurant owners) hardly know about it and there is little identification outside that the place is a hotel, or who owns it (more minimalism maybe?). Rooms , there are only 55 of them , are well equipped with efficient air con and heating. There are huge balconies with views to the sea, comfortable beds and everything works well. Up to the minute piped music, not muzak, floats through the air in all the public areas and creates a relaxing vibe which is only broken by inadequate sound proofing and noisy plumbing in the rooms. Overall this is a very nice hotel but feels strangely out of step with the rest of the Pestana group. In short it's a minimalist boutique, confused about its service levels. If Pestana can sort it's identity and lift service levels it will be great. Just a footnote, but did you know there is a great beach at the rear end of Faro airport runway? It's called Praia de Faro, 2 minutes from the fuel station roundabout. If you want to spend some time before your flight relishing great food and atmosphere, it's the place to go. We found a restaurant here called "Camane" (left after the bridge) which has just about the best food in the Algarve for about 40 euro's each. For a bit less per head (20 euro's), then "O' Pacquette" , opposite is almost as good.