Vale d'Oliveiras Quinta Resort & Spa — Hotel in Lagoa

I’m here now with my wife and 2 children a few days in to our 10 days stay at this resort.|After reading some of the negative reviews on here we were a bit sceptical that we had booked the wrong resort,but all I can honestly say is it depends on what you want out of your holiday.|We are here on a half board basis which suits us fine as we like to venture out to the local towns of an evening, exploring and trying the local cuisine.|The management and staff are very pleasant and warming towards me and my family which is a nice touch nothing is to much trouble as we’re half board we go down to breakfast around 9 in the morning the restaurant is Not the usual all inclusive cattle market its not to busy always get seated straight away nice and clean with a good variety of food obviously your not going to get English bacon and sausages which is the norm when you venture abroad which we as a family are not that bothered as we like a variety of other options.|As for the sun beds people are moaning on reviews that you can’t get one maybe this is the case if you like a lie in of a morning but if you put your towels out just before breakfast about 8.30 there’s No problem always loads left.|We like the half board option here as you can either have breakfast and evening meal or breakfast and lunch and you can change day by day to suit your needs some days we have lunch around the pool which has a nice 3 course selection of starter main and dessert which you pick off the menu with a nice selection which keeps us and the kids happy ie pizza, burger,fries, prawns, mozzarella sticks, ice creams etc, or you can opt for the evening meal which is A la carte sit down with a good selection of tasty options, not a buffet a nice 3 course meal which is what we like very tasty ie steak , salmon,duck etc.|It’s great that you have the option to mix and match to suit your needs day by day as some evenings we like to stay in the complex and some evenings we like to venture out.|As for accommodation it’s fantastic not run down and tatty like some people are saying on here the rooms are very spacious kept clean and tidy by maids who do a great job cleaning,more like villas than your normal hotel rooms.|The pool is clean and well kept |The grounds and gardens of the complex Is well maintained clean and a pleasant place to be.|There is only a couple of down sides if your a family that likes entertainment of an evening then this is not for you as there’s not a lot going on but as we like to venture out for that of a evening then this suits us fine.|This is the most quiet of resorts I’ve ever stayed in as I’ve not even heard a neighbours voice of a night what about a tv or a drunken argument like in your usual so called 5 star hotels, if you want a safe secure stress free break away with your family then this is the one.|There is a couple of downsides here it’s a bit off the beaten track out in the peaceful countryside nothing within walking distance, but don’t worry taxis are very reasonable 6 euros to all your nearest towns so it’s not a problem.and there’s a Aldi and Lidl a short taxi ride away if your self cater or just b&b.|A tip for the complex there’s not a little shop on site which is unusual it would make good business sense to have one here maybe something for the management to consider as it would be a nice touch, but other than that I can’t fault this resort we’re...

To start with the positives, the hotel is clean, well kept, with friendly staff. The rooms are spacious and clean with everything you need (if a little dated) and the location is good, with Ubers arriving in a matter of minutes and only 5 euros to the nearest resort.||Breakfast is nice, with a good selection each day and the bar is small but nice and drinks are not too pricey.||On the negative side, as I mentioned the hotel looks slightly dated in areas and needs a bit of an update. It was too cold to use the outdoor pool whilst we stayed, and the indoor pool is quite small and makes you use swimming caps which is a little odd these days and charge you 6 Euros each to buy them at the pool.||Small irritations that you don’t expect from a 5* hotel are the fact that you are charged extra for a lot of things that are usually free. They have tennis courts and we were charged nearly 30 Euros for 30 minutes with using their rackets and balls, you get 2 coffee pods for the coffee machine on arrival, if you want more then you must pay 1 Euro for each.||The biggest let down was the restaurant in the hotel, which we ate at on the second night of our stay and was pretty good. We decided to use the restaurant again on the last night as we had an early flight the next day and as was Good Friday had a set menu which was limited compared to the normal menu, but we continued with the booking. The experience was a bit of a disaster.||Our kids decided to go for the kids menu and therefore didn’t have a starter, we asked for their meal to be at the same time as our main course, we double checked this and was told this was fine. Despite this, the kids main course arrived with our starters, we questioned this and were told they misunderstood us and thought we asked for the opposite, we reluctantly agreed. ||Our soup starters came out cold so we had to ask for them to be heated up so they had nearly finished their entire meal by the time our mains arrived. We chose the lamb as a main and my wife asked for no apple as she has a mild allergy to it. They bought the 2 main courses out and my wife asked whether the one she got had the no apple, to which she was told that it was. Upon eating it turned out it was the other way around and she had the one with apple. Luckily her allergy is mild and we spotted it very quickly into the meal, but it could have been a lot worse if it was a severe allergy. Particularly annoying when she made the point of checking.||When presented with the bill, we weren’t asked how the meal was and nobody seemed interested in checking how things were. All in all a really disappointing experience and makes you think how they could cope in high season when the guest numbers must be much higher.||All in all, a dated but nice hotel with lovely grounds, let down by unnecessary charges you wouldn’t expect...

Lovely resort, it's more serviced apartments than a 5 star hotel, but that was perfect for us and we really valued the spacious 2 bed apartment we had - so much bigger than we expected. I'd definitely recommend a hire car, we've been able to explore caveioro and ferraguda easily, both have lovely beaches and restaurants, we also did a boat trip along the coast from portimao, visited quinta des vales winery for wine tasting and took the kids to slip and slide waterpark which is maybe 5 mins away. Parking at the resort is free and allocated next to your block of rooms, so very easy. |The hotel was very good value, this is clearly because there's some updating to be done and a little cost cutting. We got 2 coffee pods, 1 dishwasher pod and 2 tea bags all week. There's limited toiletries in the bathroom. The bathrooms and kitchens are large and well equipped but I'd say are at least 20 yrs old and at some point need updating . None of this was a problem, but it explains why the resort is such good value. Breakfast was nice but fairly limited compared to some larger resorts, but there's sparkling wine, continental and hot food and a little kids area with cereal, doughnuts, pancakes and Nutella. Coffee at breakfast is awful and comes from a machine- they really should just make and bring you proper coffee. We all still ate plenty and enjoyed it, and the dining area felt peaceful and very clean and calm. The pool is fairly small, and there was quite a lot of sunbed reservation (suspect it's people who like to just stay by the pool, it didn't bother us as we like to be out exploring), they should have more beds though for those that do want to just lie at the pool all day. The grounds are immaculate and grand, our room looked out on the gardens with our own loungers and dining area which was perfect after a busy day, it was always quiet and peaceful. It's not the right resort if you're classic brits abroad, there's no evening entertainment, kids disco or poolside entertainment/animation, the pool bar is available but theres no waiter service and we noticed the drinks/cups at the poolside werent cleared during the day, theyre just not really set up for people staying on site and stacking up cocktails all day at the pool, although some people clearly did this and enjoyed themselves - i just think there are better resorts catering to that type of holiday. Instead it's very pretty, in a beautiful and quiet spot, near some glorious towns and beaches with spacious accomodation. Ideal for relaxing and exploring the algarve. We've had a fab time and would...