Horta Grande Hostel — Hotel in Silves

Summary: I made the unfortunate mistake of booking this hostel. I took a one hour train to get there, and when I got there, there was no one there. I nearly ended up having to sleep outside and I still feel traumatised by the experience.||The details:|I showed up at 7:15 pm and rang the doorbell, then walked all around the building. |Suddenly I realised that there was nobody there! I managed to find a number for the hostel, and... some guy answered who was not at all helpful. ||He basically said: tough luck you shouild've got here by 7pm. A 7pm check in for a hostel? That's the first I've ever heard of such a thing.||I was standing there in front of the hotel and feeling shocked and scared. Will I have to sleep on a park bench in the middle of the town square? Are there any trains returning to Faro? (Fortunately there was one last train. I had to walk 25 minutes back to the station and wait an hour for it but at least I didn't get stuck having to sleep outside.)||And another strange thing: the whole place looks like a ghost town. Half of the property is a decrepit falling-down building. (see photo).||Even if I had somehow managed to get in, I would've been the only guest in this strange, abadonned place. Really not the friendly hostel experience I was expecting.||Where is the very kind Leah who is mentioned in the reviews? Where are all the happy guests? Where are the chickens and the oranges and avocados? My experience was the exact opposite of what I was expecting. So, so disappointing! ||On top of that, they are also keeping my money. I tried to get a refund but, that same guy marked me down as a 'no show' even though I actually did show up and was standing right in front of the door ringing the bell! ||I tried emailing but the same guy wrote back with an extremely negative attitude, again blaming me for everything. (How's that for making a bad situation even worse?) I just don't understand this hostile attitude. ||So they're charging me 35 euros for NOT staying at this place. ||I'm trying to not let this experience ruin my experience of the Algarve, but it was very upsetting. A couple days later I'm still trying to recover from it. The owner or manager has shown no sympathy whatsoever. ||Looking back over the reviews I now see that all the reviews were from before the pandemic five years ago! So forget all those good reviews from the past.||Something has happened to this hostel and it's not good. I strongly advise not booking here due to the risk of the same thing...

My sister and I went backpacking through the algarve a couple of years ago. After hitch hiking and wild camping, we wanted to stay in a nice hostel to get some rest. Found the only hostel that was not fully booked and we were completely surprised. The owners were amazing and the hostel even had its own "olympic swimmingpool" (favourite joke of the hosts). We did not know Silves and were excited to see a mideival festival during our stay. We wanted to stay a couple days longer but they were full for the rest of the week. The owner saw our dissapointment and offered us to pitch our tent in the backyard FOR FREE!!! We were allowed to sleep under their avocado tree and use all the facilities inside. Even after this time we still think back at the great time we had here. Really hospitable family running a hostel with great passion. They could have just said no and let us go but they sincerely care about tourists enjoying their hometown. 10/10 would recommend...

What luck to find this luminous clean Hostel in Silves . We were welcomed by Lena after our day visiting with a welcome smile which immediately made us feel like home .This is what we were looking for ,somewhere authentic and typical of Portugal. Picking oranges from the trees and having this excellent juice for breakfast on the balcony overseeing the cigogne nests in the distance ,with good company and beautiful weather , what more can one ask for -------nature is beautiful . We were given fruit that I've never seen before that tasted delicious. We stayed three nights then left for three days in Lisbon and returned for our last night in Portugal . In fact I was looking forward to return to Silves ,Lisbon is ever so touristique.Lena gave us advice on which beach to go to and where to eat --- just super. Thank you ever so much for our memorable...