Four Seasons Vilamoura — Hotel in Loulé

My son and I had the absolute pleasure of staying at Four Seasons Hotel for 8 days. I review restaurants, businesses etc. Something I spent an entire module learning at university how to write unbiased reviews. Please see my previous google reviews just to name a few.

When we arrived we were greeted by a wonderful gentleman with such profound professionalism. He explained everything we needed to know and provided us with all the information in the form of leaflets. In this respect check in was spot on. I mention this because there are hotels where check in is a nightmare. A porter carried our luggage to our room which was a real bonus. A few weeks before we went on holiday, I contacted the hotel if they could allocate us to a room closer to the main reception, restaurants, pool etc. for personal reasons. Within a few hours I received a confirmation that my request will be granted. We stayed in a studio apartment and were surprised to see how huge and spacious it was, considering that this was the smallest room. It had a big bathroom, hallway with wardrobes, ironing facilities, washing machine and a few laundry tablets are provided. Then there’s a kitchen with all the white goods, culinary equipment etc. The next open plan is the lounge and then the bedroom. Some rooms have balconies or garden/parties with beautifully maintained gardens. On our first night, there were issues with the bathroom and within minutes a technician came to fix it, this was around 12:00am when I decided to take a shower. Unfortunately by the next day, the issues in the bathroom were not resolved The hotel decided to move us to a different room, which I was skeptical to do because I had already unpacked our bags. We were then moved to a ground floor studio which was even better because it had a patio/garden with a recliner chair and a set of tables and chairs. A place I spent most of my evening after dinner. Breakfast was a buffet with options of hot food and contemporary. Guests can also request for an omelette of their choice and fried eggs are made infront of you. We did not encounter any queues like in a canteen in comparison to some resorts we have visited in the past possibly because we went there on 28th August when most families have returned home. We had lunch at the pool bar and the pizza was delicious. Although the bar menu is quite small. Dinner was themed daily for example Brazilian, Portuguese, Sunday roast etc. Our favourite food themed nights were BBQ, Sunday roast, Portuguese and Sea food. There was entertainment at night but not huge in comparison to some resorts we have been which brings in different artists or white parties etc. The guests looked more like middle to upper class and not the Ibiza drunken loud tourists. Everything was calm, civilised and we made a few friends during our stay. Some have been visiting Four Seasons for over 20 years. The were no issues with deck chairs because they were plenty. No reserving with towels at 5:00am in the morning. The outside pool was a bit cold but we had a choice of using the indoor pool a few times. Inside the indoor pool is a part glass ceiling and it was nice to feel the sun onto the skin. One notion for management to take care of are the small stones on the bottom of the outdoor pool. One of them cut my son’s knee and the reception did a wonderful job to clean and dress it. My son is used to getting injuries from football but it might happen to a family that might not understand it’s an accident or to a much younger child. There were staff members who spent all day cleaning around and offering fresh fruit and cold towels. The rooms were cleaned everyday.

I would like to give an utmost gratitude to the staff members who work diligently, professionally, with smiles on their faces and attention to detail to make sure that thousands of guests that walk through those doors are taken care of. If you want a holiday that is home to home. Four Seasons is the...

My son and I had the absolute pleasure of staying at Four Seasons Hotel for 8 days. I review restaurants, businesses etc. Something I spent an entire module learning at university how to write unbiased reviews. Please see my previous google reviews just to name a few.||When we arrived we were greeted by a wonderful gentleman with such profound professionalism. He explained everything we needed to know and provided us with all the information in the form of leaflets. In this respect check in was spot on. I mention this because there are hotels where check in is a nightmare.|A porter carried our luggage to our room which was a real bonus.|A few weeks before we went on holiday, I contacted the hotel if they could allocate us to a room closer to the main reception, restaurants, pool etc. for personal reasons.|Within a few hours I received a confirmation that my request will be granted.|We stayed in a studio apartment and were surprised to see how huge and spacious it was, considering that this was the smallest room.|It had a big bathroom, hallway with wardrobes, ironing facilities, washing machine and a few laundry tablets are provided.|Then there’s a kitchen with all the white goods, culinary equipment etc.|The next open plan is the lounge and then the bedroom.|Some rooms have balconies or garden/parties with beautifully maintained gardens.|On our first night, there were issues with the bathroom and within minutes a technician came to fix it, this was around 12:00am when I decided to take a shower.|Unfortunately by the next day, the issues in the bathroom were not resolved|The hotel decided to move us to a different room, which I was skeptical to do because I had already unpacked our bags.|We were then moved to a ground floor studio which was even better because it had a patio/garden with a recliner chair and a set of tables and chairs. A place I spent most of my evening after dinner.|Breakfast was a buffet with options of hot food and contemporary. Guests can also request for an omelette of their choice and fried eggs are made infront of you.|We did not encounter any queues like in a canteen in comparison to some resorts we have visited in the past possibly because we went there on 28th August when most families have returned home.|We had lunch at the pool bar and the pizza was delicious. Although the bar menu is quite small.|Dinner was themed daily for example Brazilian, Portuguese, Sunday roast etc. Our favourite food themed nights were BBQ, Sunday roast, Portuguese and Sea food.|There was entertainment at night but not huge in comparison to some resorts we have been which brings in different artists or white parties etc.|The guests looked more like middle to upper class and not the Ibiza drunken loud tourists. Everything was calm, civilised and we made a few friends during our stay. Some have been visiting Four Seasons for over 20 years.|20. The were no issues with deck chairs because they were plenty. No reserving with towels at 5:00am in the morning.|21. The outside pool was a bit cold but we had a choice of using the indoor pool a few times. Inside the indoor pool is a part glass ceiling and it was nice to feel the sun onto the skin. One notion for management to take care of are the small stones on the bottom of the outdoor pool. One of them cut my son’s knee and the reception did a wonderful job to clean and dress it. My son is used to getting injuries from football but it might happen to a family that might not understand it’s an accident or to a much younger child.|There were staff members who spent all day cleaning around and offering fresh fruit and cold towels.|The rooms were cleaned everyday.||I would like to give an utmost gratitude to the staff members who work diligently, professionally, with smiles on their faces and attention to detail to make sure that thousands of guests that walk through those doors are taken care of.|If you want a holiday that is home to home. Four Seasons is the...

Visited as a family of four with two young children. The hotel itself was almost perfect for our needs with all the space and facilities we wanted.

The location was slightly further outside of Vilamoura town than we realised and with two kids under 2 we needed to hire a car. Older kids could probably manage the 10-15 minute walk to the marina. Although there is a "complimentary shuttle" advertised, it isn't complementary. It's a train, occasionally a pair of trains, that tour every hotel in the vicinity and chare 2.50 EUR per adult, 2 per child, for a return trip. The problem is the hotel is at the start of the pickup loop so it takes 30-40 mins (on appalling roads, so not comfortable) to get into town. The flip side is the return journey only takes 10 mins because FSV is basically the first stop.

The food in the in-house restaurant was surprisingly good, although the burgers were poor. Stick to pasta and steak and you'll be fine.

Things to note - Highchairs and cots were advertised to us as being available but not flagged as having a charge - it was only when we arrived with no alternatives that we were told they were extra. For a two week trip, two cots and two highchairs cost us 200 EUR - absolutely extortionate. My recommendation is to hire a car and pop to the nearby IKEA, it's considerably cheaper to buy high chairs/cots from IKEA and simply leave them when you go home than it is to hire the old/not great quality ones from the hotel.

Travelling in late may, the pools are very cold, even the indoor pool. Probably not a problem for older kids but we were disappointed the indoor pool was basically the same as the outdoor pool and far far too cold for young kids.

YMMV but we were surprised (and disappointed) that the entire hotel and neighbourhood was custom built-for and overrun-with British tourists, with all the cliches of Brits abroad you might expect, and might hate. You may not care but we want to see something of the place we are visiting and don't want to live in a bubble. Surrounded on three sides by a golf course.

That said, as a base to explore the region it was really good. The room service was good, the staff extremely good (and they genuinely seem to love kids). Vilamoura itself has literally nothing except restaurants and golf courses so be sure to hire a car - the car hire company recommended by the hotel was excellent too, Visacar, and were considerably cheaper than the big name alternatives. For example, a 12 day Nissan Micra-size hire with two baby seats cost £150 for the car and £170 for the seats (that's right, the seats cost more to hire than the car). Same story for other big name hire places. Visacar was much better and hiring a car literally saved our holiday - all the good stuff for kids is outside...