Vila Rosa Hotel

Just came back from the Vila Rosa, we had a great stay and the weather was really nice! Apartment was very spacious but self-catering facilities were lacking. Hob with old pans and a toaster is it really. was expecting at least a microwave? we wanted a holiday on a bit of a budget but soon realised we would have to eat out the whole holiday. the pool bar does good food but after a few days i was a bit fed up of chips! There are several nice restaurants by the beach for the evenings though. rooms were clean although sheets and towels are only changed once per week- not really too much of a problem but i do like having clean towels. Our balconies were nice but other people we had met didnt have a balcony with their room so if you are thinking of going it is definatley worth going into the travel agent and requesting which block to be in, even if you do have to pay a little extra than on the internet. avoid blocks 21, 23, 24- some dont have balconies and the dogs from the timeshares will keep you up all night!! the pool was kept very clean and there were lots of sunbeds- no need to run down and put your towel out early. depending on which route you take the walk to the beach isnt bad at all. one route is quite uphill on the way back but if you go through the pink capony way it is pretty much flat the whole way, its about a 10 minute walk and the nightlife down there is great. the beach is very clean but can get extremley busy! we booked with thomas cook and werent impressed with our rep- Mark. he was quite arrogant and while out on the bar crawl he was speaking to my boyfriend quite aggressivly for no reason- prehaps it was the drink but i would try and stay out of his way! Overall, our stay was very nice, the weather was great but do expect to eat out every night and it is definatly worth requesting which block to stay in.

The appartment was spacious, lacking in self catering facilities though, site shop sells pizzas but no way of cooking them?. The complex was very clean and staff were very helpful and pleasant. The beach about 10min walk was a bit difficult with pushchair two ways out of the complex one negotiating many steps or down the steep main road. The area is a bit expensive for food and dose not cater much for childrens menus unless they want chicken nuggets or fish fingers and chips. Beer at the hotel costs 3.00 euro and in town and local brandy is also 3 euro but good measure, fags cost 33 euro for 200 richmond, 38 for l&b. dont shop around they cost the same every where. if you are self catering use the ali supermarkets in town. they are cheaper than the site but more expensive than UK, Heinz baked beans 1.64 euro. Be aware that there are a lot of dogs in the area that continually bark at any time of the day or night. We will definitely consider returning to the complex and or area in the near future, it was a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. We booked with Thomas Cook the local rep Mark had to be chased for details of pickups and when asked by resort reception to speak to us refused and left, arrogant or what!!

Just returned from Vila Rosa. Went with low expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the complex. Pool and grounds perfectly kept and bar / café good. Went to the Brazilian buffet one night but wasn’t raving. Room VERY basic, not even a kettle and incredibly noisy but on the plus was very clean. Don’t be fooled by the “sofa bed” this is just a pull put shelf and not really suitable for anyone to sleep on. However, I believe that some of the apartments are privately owned and are more modern (ask not to be put in Lot 4). Take your ear plugs though!! No children’s club or children’s entertainment whatsoever, we were told that’s because it was “low season” hello – it was June!!! I think it’s starting next week. From the bits of entertainment we did see, it was OK. Walk into the town wasn’t bad – uphill on way back but only took about 15 mins with a trolley. Unfortunately our holiday was ruined by a group of 24 Welsh men, which was a shame as before they arrived it was nice and relaxed. Why they wanted to stay at Vila Rosa I don’t know as its really not that type of complex, but hey. Once they arrived it turned into a 18-30 hotel, they were snorting coke in bar toilets, fall down drunk, waking everyone up at 5am screaming up and down the hallways, vandalising the lobby, bringing scanky women back – just the type of environment I want my 3 year old involved in – NOT!!!! Hotel and Reps did nothing about them. It was a shame but that bunch of [--] ruined our holiday!!! Don’t think I would return to Vila Rosa as the lack of Children’s facilities put me off and the quality of the room.

We stayed from 22 May 2008 to 29 May 2008. Party of 4 including one 4 year old and one infant. Hotel is immaculately clean and the room we stayed in was huge and very well equipped with TV, Hob, Fridge and decent bathroom. All the reception staff and bar staff were excellent - Fatima, Carlos and Alexandra on reception were extremely helpful and went out of their way to help us with our lost luggage. Resort is nice, beach is excellent. Would definitely go to the hotel and the resort again. Booked with Thomas Cook and they were a nightmare from start to finish - would never never book with them again.

the apartments were really spacious and more than what we expected. all the apartments were however different. we were in block 22 and it seemed that all these apartments were owned and let to the hotel. security was good in the apartment block. there was a key operated lock to access the lift to the room and all the rooms were secure. the safe was cheap to rent. 15 euros for the week and 25 euros refundable deposit. our room overlooked the pool and was fantastic. the apartments were fitted with kitchenettes. the reception was imaculate and well manned with english speaking staff. the bar was run by some great people. senna has been there for nine years and was brilliant.entertainment was ok. town was a five minute walk. there is two ways to get there. staraight out of reception and down some steep hills or if you walk past the swimming pools there is a gate which you can use and access the town that way. the second way takes some of the hills out. the town has everything there for you to do and see. the land train is good for getting around on. it costs 3.50 euros for a round trip,well worthwile. loads of bars and restaurants to explore. the area is a bit expensive for food but worth it. beer at the hotel costs 3.00 euro and 1.50 euros in town. fags cost 28 euro for 200 richmond, 36 for l&b. dont shop around they cost the same every where. if you are self catering use the ali supermarkets in town. they are well cheap. the holiday was great and we would go back again. the place is a bit tiring if you have kids as it is hilly.

We booked this holiday for a week to spend some time together as my partner was working away alot at the time. The hotel its self is very nice and is in a great complex with gardens, tennis court and a little shop. Our room was very spacious as we had a corner suite which had a lovely balcony looking over the pool. However when we arrived the beds wernt made up so we had to wait for the cleaners to do that which is not really what you want when you have just got there. Also the cleaners didnt change the sheets once while we were there and only came 3 times in the week at about 6pm so we turned them away as we were getting changed for the night . It was very quite as the season was just starting and a long walk up a dusty, busy highway that had a steep incline to get to the centre bars and resturants. The centre is also very tacky and not alot of choice. The hotel pool is very pretty but was absolutly freezing, the 1st dip was the last. The bar was reasonable and did great sandwiches and snacks through the day. The 2 best things about the whole holiday was taking a 5min taxi into the fantastic little neighbour village Alvor we had the best fish we have ever eaten on the seafront, also the resturant half in the Vila Rosa complex accessed by the road (sorry cant remember the name but cant miss it) does the best steak on the stone! It was a "so so" holiday and we would never go back there or to Praia da Rocha.

We decided to book directly with a Travel Agent as for a change there was not much difference in price from the Web offers. As such we were led to believe by the brochure that we had made the right choice. The latest reviews also helped us make our decision to stay at the Villa Rosa. Indeed the hotel reception is 24hrs a day but Alexandra wasn't as helpful as we had hoped. To be honest the room we were allocated fell seriously short of the usual Thomas Cook standards and I can only guess that TC Staff don't inspect the rooms before we weary travellers arrive. In their favour it was spotless, but even for me the smell of bleach was overpowering, anyways I digress, it would appear that this complex has a main building that houses their TimeShare people and thereafter once full they seem to have acquired rooms in regular living accommodation around the main block. We spied "For Sale" signs, and in our block some doors had doormats and there were letter boxes. Oh to be in Block B1 and listen to the barking dogs and these rooms are much more pleasing to the eye so if you get a room in the main "Pink" building then you are very lucky. Meanwhile, because we were in Block 21 it smacked of us holidaying amongst Portuguese Tenants/Residents. This is not a great issue but becomes apparent when you're leaving for the pool and their off to work. There weren't many ground floor properties as the ground floors were car parks except for Timeshare and if you did get one of these TS jobbies then you had to pay for the electric. If you do get an "off site" Apartment you get 3 keys.....one for the stairs.....one for lift......and the other for your room. Btw it took 3 trips in the lift to get our luggage and ourselves up to our room we aren't big and neither are the lifts. When we asked the Rep the next day about moving as reception made it clear that they were unable to deal and we quoted the JMC Complete Customer Satisfaction for good measure the Rep's response was " don't worry about that"! The upshot was there was slim chance of moving us to a room in keeping with the brochure but she did manage to get a cot for my Son as the 4th bed was a draw under the sofa, and she got us a remote for the telly so we didn't have to put our fingers directly onto the circuit board to change the channel. She did try to maintain some sort of credibility and explained why a move was not always so simple.....TimeShare.....there were 2 UK arrival/departure days (Thurs n Sat) and all this during the "low season", but her story was shot out of the water when we could clearly see rooms in the main Pink Building that had their shutters permanently closed indicating that these rooms were not in use!!!! We didn't let this spoil our long awaited Family holiday and of course you don't travel all that way to live in your room but we booked our holiday based on the info in the brochure and feel let down. We later found out that we weren't the only ones to be dissatisfied with our room and even the offer of a paid upgrade did not help.....so we can confirm that they are not money orientated. So to close.....make sure you get a place in the main block......think pink........don't worry about the dogs you can hear them all around if you've had enough fun during the day you'll be too zonked out to hear them howling in the private villa over yonder.....and there is a Supermarket on site but it's fairly limited so when you go up to the Resort pop into AliSuper and fill up!!!!

Relax place to go to. Just 5 min walk from the beach. Nice swimming pools. Good bar... all facilities are there. Nice staff.

We were very pleasantly surprised by these apartments & felt overall that our choice was a real winner. The location was only 7-8 mins walk from the main centre & the beach, however with 2 fantastic clean pools & plenty of sunbeds we never bothered sitting on the beach once! That said, this beach was glorious golden sand, very wide & extended for miles. It was great just to stroll along the beach & parts of the beaches were connecting by walking thru archways cut into the sandstone rocks. I can honestly say the beach was the most beautiful i have seen & not just in Europe either! The studio apt was very spacious with a seperate little kitchen, hallway & bathroom. It was spotlessly clean, fluffy towels changed twice a week & rooms cleaned daily. Stayed in B1 apt. WARNING- Don't stay in block 23 or 24 as someones barking dogs will keep you awake at night!! LUCKILY we were for warned by other reviewers before we checked in & found that they were right! Even though the temp was about 85 the place never seemed hot, even though no aircon & they had shutters you could close but keep the windows open which kept the room cool. The gardens were really nice & every evening on the walk back to the room you got the wonderful scents of various flowers. On reception we found Alexandra to be very helpful & pleasant. The restaurants we would recommend are Atlantic (favourite meals), Squash, Titanic & Asia. Asia (a chinese) had just opened & food was excellent & plentiful in modern, clean & friendly surroundings. Overall loved apts & Rocha & will be coming back!

this hotel was very good considering we booked a late deal.the grounds are mature and very well kept. the apartment was very clean and the furniture was in very good condition.the maid came every day ,and the quiete pool was good if you did not want to be by the main very large pool.best places to eat in the village was the japanise restaurant "a portugeise" restaurant and "ju",also the casa da rocha restaurant has great setting sun veiwing as you eat.the beach facility's have improved beyond belief since last year, with new beach bar's ,with toilet and shower facility's, and a broadwalk right along the full lenth of the beach.the main street is mid way through the process of being pedestrianised. it will be finished by the end of may i would think and that will be a big bonus to holiday makers.