Rocamar Hotel, Albufeira, Portugal
Hotel Information
Recent Price: £72
Hotel Class:
Hotel Description:
The Hotel Rocamar commands an impressive cliff top location, enjoying superb views of the Portuguese coastline with the beach itself just 100m down a flight of steps. It is also conveniently located close to the amenity-packed promenade, and is most suitable for couples. loading...
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Rocamar Hotel Reviews
" My wife and I decided to get away at... "
Submitted By: Mr AB Huntley
My wife and I decided to get away at the last minute for an escape to Eastern Europe. Our friends had been to Krakow last summer and said that it was a hidden gem that we should consider. We went online, to Google of course :-). And typed in Krakow Aparments. Luckily we choose www.krakow-apartments.biz Our apartments was gorgeous, right in the old town and two minutes walk from the main market square. And there last minute discount was great. If you are looking for a romantic getaway to some far flung eastern city then book www.krakow-apartments.biz
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- Date of Holiday:May 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independentlywww.krakow-apartments.biz
" The best points of the Rocamar Hotel... "
Submitted By: Mr R J L Cox
The best points of the Rocamar Hotel is that it is over looking the sea and is just a few minutes walk to the main centre. The hotel is very clean and the staff helpful. The TV has a lot of English programes for you to watch.
The down side is that there is no tea making facilities in the rooms. The pool is very small and so is the sun deck. The food was OK but a bit disapointing on the choice of main course.
This is best suited for couples and I would consider it not suitable for families as there is nothing going on in the day for the children to do.
A good tip for getting around is the local bus service. There are four routes two red and brown route for the old town (red route stops outside the hotel) and blue and green route for the new town. All four routes depart from the main bus station at the same time. The blue route is the longest route. Adults 1.10 euro each on each route when we tryed them out.
Because of the value of the pound a euro will not go far!
The down side is that there is no tea making facilities in the rooms. The pool is very small and so is the sun deck. The food was OK but a bit disapointing on the choice of main course.
This is best suited for couples and I would consider it not suitable for families as there is nothing going on in the day for the children to do.
A good tip for getting around is the local bus service. There are four routes two red and brown route for the old town (red route stops outside the hotel) and blue and green route for the new town. All four routes depart from the main bus station at the same time. The blue route is the longest route. Adults 1.10 euro each on each route when we tryed them out.
Because of the value of the pound a euro will not go far!
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- Date of Holiday:Apr 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Future travel
" Rocomar excellent location, breakfast... "
Submitted By: Mr A Whistler
Rocomar excellent location, breakfast basic but plenty to go at. Rooms clean and tidy but ensure that you dont choose a room on the pool level as that will become your balcony!!! apart from that good clean safe and modern. The Rocomar is a short walk away down the hill to the old town but also a short hill climb on the return.
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- Date of Holiday:Jul 2006
- Board Basis:Bed & Breakfast
- Tour Operator:Expedia
" Just returned from a long weekend at... "
Submitted By: Mr C Marshall
Just returned from a long weekend at the Rocamar and thought I’d add a few words for what they’re worth. We always read the reviews here carefully prior to booking as we’re independent travellers , but we took a bit of a gamble this time as the hotel had been refurbished and the staff changed, so all the earlier reviews were meaningless.
The hotel is minimalist , not boutique or even close to boutique as someone else suggested. It‘s totally devoid of atmosphere and personality and there isn’t the slightest hint of luxury, welcome or hospitality, even the chairs are uncomfortable.
It isn’t just the décor that’s minimalist , the bar was unmanned throughout our stay and you had to try and find someone if you wanted a drink. There were 3 or 4 staff about, but they did their best to ignore you and would wonder off again as soon as they reluctantly served you.
Never once did I see any of them smile nor fathom what they did on their wanderings. The maid, I assume they have one, we never saw, so be prepared to make your own beds and tidy up your room, because no one else will.
We booked half board, but it was also truly appalling. We looked at the meagre offering the first night and then ate out, breakfast was as bad, don’t waste money on half board, or breakfast you wouldn’t eat it even if it were free.
There are plenty of places to eat in the old town , but Albufeira restaurants aren’t going to make it into any good food guides either. We’re more used to Spain where there’s an emphasis on quality, perhaps it’s a Portuguese thing and food and service just aren’t very high on the list.
If you’ve ever been to Brighton you’ll be familiar with the lanes twisting and where every turning brings another surprise. Albufeira old town is similar and very quaint and to add to the twists and turns it’s built into the side of a hill so you go up and down and through tunnels as well.
Leave a trail of breadcrumbs on the first day otherwise you’ll get lost. It is though delightful and there’s a square to sit and have a drink while you watch the ‘lucky lucky’ men try to sell their genuine ‘Rolex’s’ to the unsuspecting, unhindered by the police.
Albufeira old town is charming if you don’t have walking difficulties, but there wasn’t enough there to hold our interest for a weekend even though nearly everywhere was open. True it would be different in summer when you could use the beach, but there are much, much better beaches elsewhere if you want a beach holiday. It’s a day trip place really.
A train runs between the old town and the ‘strip’, it’s not really a train as there are no tracks and it uses the road, but it looks enough like one to please the kids. An all day pass is 3 euros and you can get on and off as often as you like.
There’s only three stops on it’s twenty minute journey, but there’s nothing really to get off for at the ‘strip’, and only really makes sense if you’re going from the strip to the old town, but I’m sure you’ll do what we did and go and look for yourselves, realise there’s nothing there , then wait twenty minutes for the train to take you back 6 euros poorer.
In fairness the view from the Rocamar terrace is stunning , but there’s public access, in fact it’s a public right of way i.e. a footpath and not part of the hotel so you don’t have to stay there to enjoy the view. Which reminds me, tread carefully as you walk the locals let their dogs roam freely and they use the path and even the old town square as a loo, and I can assure you there’s no shortage of dogs nor evidence of them in Albufeira.
The beach can be reached via a tunnel in the old town, also there are steps near the Rocamar, but they are very steep and anyone less than 110% fit wouldn’t be able to climb them. Can’t say whether or not it’s true, but we were told at least 10 people a year die from heart attacks using the stairs, and I see no reason to disbelieve it. In fact the stairs themselves had collapsed about a week prior to our visit, so I wouldn’t recommend them for the descent either.
Can’t speak for the summer, as we’ve only been this once, but there where lots of Portuguese holidaying while we where there, but it could be completely different in July/ August. We all tend to generalise, i.e. the Spanish and Greeks are friendly the French less so etc, all I can really say is the Portuguese we encountered weren’t exactly the life and soul of the party.
We used Resort hopper for the transfers and they were very efficient, but were tarred with the same brush. Not so much as a grunt from the driver when he picked us up. I’d sooner he turned up 10 mins late with a smile than early with scowl. He sat and watched a woman struggle with two cases and a push chair without moving a muscle to help her, and perhaps more importantly not feeling as if he should and that sort of sums up our weekend.
We’re used to the laid back attitude and service with a smile of the Spanish and the nothing is too much bother Greeks, who both know what hospitality means, not the surly indifference we encountered.
To sum up the Rocamar is dire and the staff even worse than the food, and Albufeira in reality only a day out. After this weekend I feel I should give a totally unsolicited word of praise to the kind people at Travel Lodge, who’s sterling service I’ve sadly taken for granted over the years and now belatedly realise how professional they are.
I doubt we shall ever return to Portugal as we found the inhabitants less than welcoming. We don’t expect to be treated like royalty, but we like to feel we’re being treated as paying guests.
Judging by the treatment we received the Rocamar obviously doesn’t want return guests , so it’s probably easier not to go there in the first place then you’ll save them the bother of discouraging you from returning.
Although I’m sure lots of readers will be thinking it can’t be as bad as I say and will want to form their own opinion, by all means do so, you’re perfectly entitled to ignore everything I’ve written and waste your own money finding out firsthand. I only wish I could be there after to say I told you so.
Portugal is cheap, certainly cheaper including the flight than staying a weekend at a 3 star hotel in this country, but the truth is I wish we had gone to Brighton it would have been worth the extra. Anyway I’m hoping my luck will now change having stepped in something recently, several things actually.
Almost forgot the building works next door. They seem in quite an early stage , so despite drilling on Sundays they’ll probably take a while, but you’ll only really notice it if you look out of your window or use your balcony because it’s boarded from the path and behind the steel barriers used to cordoned it off.
But I’m sure it will be worth all the noise and inconvenience when it’s eventually finished, although I must admit they didn’t seem to be in too much of a rush.
The hotel is minimalist , not boutique or even close to boutique as someone else suggested. It‘s totally devoid of atmosphere and personality and there isn’t the slightest hint of luxury, welcome or hospitality, even the chairs are uncomfortable.
It isn’t just the décor that’s minimalist , the bar was unmanned throughout our stay and you had to try and find someone if you wanted a drink. There were 3 or 4 staff about, but they did their best to ignore you and would wonder off again as soon as they reluctantly served you.
Never once did I see any of them smile nor fathom what they did on their wanderings. The maid, I assume they have one, we never saw, so be prepared to make your own beds and tidy up your room, because no one else will.
We booked half board, but it was also truly appalling. We looked at the meagre offering the first night and then ate out, breakfast was as bad, don’t waste money on half board, or breakfast you wouldn’t eat it even if it were free.
There are plenty of places to eat in the old town , but Albufeira restaurants aren’t going to make it into any good food guides either. We’re more used to Spain where there’s an emphasis on quality, perhaps it’s a Portuguese thing and food and service just aren’t very high on the list.
If you’ve ever been to Brighton you’ll be familiar with the lanes twisting and where every turning brings another surprise. Albufeira old town is similar and very quaint and to add to the twists and turns it’s built into the side of a hill so you go up and down and through tunnels as well.
Leave a trail of breadcrumbs on the first day otherwise you’ll get lost. It is though delightful and there’s a square to sit and have a drink while you watch the ‘lucky lucky’ men try to sell their genuine ‘Rolex’s’ to the unsuspecting, unhindered by the police.
Albufeira old town is charming if you don’t have walking difficulties, but there wasn’t enough there to hold our interest for a weekend even though nearly everywhere was open. True it would be different in summer when you could use the beach, but there are much, much better beaches elsewhere if you want a beach holiday. It’s a day trip place really.
A train runs between the old town and the ‘strip’, it’s not really a train as there are no tracks and it uses the road, but it looks enough like one to please the kids. An all day pass is 3 euros and you can get on and off as often as you like.
There’s only three stops on it’s twenty minute journey, but there’s nothing really to get off for at the ‘strip’, and only really makes sense if you’re going from the strip to the old town, but I’m sure you’ll do what we did and go and look for yourselves, realise there’s nothing there , then wait twenty minutes for the train to take you back 6 euros poorer.
In fairness the view from the Rocamar terrace is stunning , but there’s public access, in fact it’s a public right of way i.e. a footpath and not part of the hotel so you don’t have to stay there to enjoy the view. Which reminds me, tread carefully as you walk the locals let their dogs roam freely and they use the path and even the old town square as a loo, and I can assure you there’s no shortage of dogs nor evidence of them in Albufeira.
The beach can be reached via a tunnel in the old town, also there are steps near the Rocamar, but they are very steep and anyone less than 110% fit wouldn’t be able to climb them. Can’t say whether or not it’s true, but we were told at least 10 people a year die from heart attacks using the stairs, and I see no reason to disbelieve it. In fact the stairs themselves had collapsed about a week prior to our visit, so I wouldn’t recommend them for the descent either.
Can’t speak for the summer, as we’ve only been this once, but there where lots of Portuguese holidaying while we where there, but it could be completely different in July/ August. We all tend to generalise, i.e. the Spanish and Greeks are friendly the French less so etc, all I can really say is the Portuguese we encountered weren’t exactly the life and soul of the party.
We used Resort hopper for the transfers and they were very efficient, but were tarred with the same brush. Not so much as a grunt from the driver when he picked us up. I’d sooner he turned up 10 mins late with a smile than early with scowl. He sat and watched a woman struggle with two cases and a push chair without moving a muscle to help her, and perhaps more importantly not feeling as if he should and that sort of sums up our weekend.
We’re used to the laid back attitude and service with a smile of the Spanish and the nothing is too much bother Greeks, who both know what hospitality means, not the surly indifference we encountered.
To sum up the Rocamar is dire and the staff even worse than the food, and Albufeira in reality only a day out. After this weekend I feel I should give a totally unsolicited word of praise to the kind people at Travel Lodge, who’s sterling service I’ve sadly taken for granted over the years and now belatedly realise how professional they are.
I doubt we shall ever return to Portugal as we found the inhabitants less than welcoming. We don’t expect to be treated like royalty, but we like to feel we’re being treated as paying guests.
Judging by the treatment we received the Rocamar obviously doesn’t want return guests , so it’s probably easier not to go there in the first place then you’ll save them the bother of discouraging you from returning.
Although I’m sure lots of readers will be thinking it can’t be as bad as I say and will want to form their own opinion, by all means do so, you’re perfectly entitled to ignore everything I’ve written and waste your own money finding out firsthand. I only wish I could be there after to say I told you so.
Portugal is cheap, certainly cheaper including the flight than staying a weekend at a 3 star hotel in this country, but the truth is I wish we had gone to Brighton it would have been worth the extra. Anyway I’m hoping my luck will now change having stepped in something recently, several things actually.
Almost forgot the building works next door. They seem in quite an early stage , so despite drilling on Sundays they’ll probably take a while, but you’ll only really notice it if you look out of your window or use your balcony because it’s boarded from the path and behind the steel barriers used to cordoned it off.
But I’m sure it will be worth all the noise and inconvenience when it’s eventually finished, although I must admit they didn’t seem to be in too much of a rush.
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- Date of Holiday:Dec 2006
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Travel Republic
Advice: very good
Activities: o tunel restarant
Good for: Beach