Vila Alba Resort

Good Location, but not 5 stars Room: booked a week-long stay, but the experience was marred by various issues. Initial corner suite smelled strongly of damp, faced the staff cleaning buggy parking and had issues with cockroaches. While staff facilitated a room change, management offered zero compensation/upgrades: base service recovery for a serious issue. Even our second room had ants, a blocked shower drain, and no bins outside the toilet - unsure how the cleaning staff knew what to bin. Modern suites lack cutlery, so suggest a Villa. We drove out for meals. Amenities are sparse (basic toiletries, two small waters).Dining: Breakfast was underwhelming. The selection is beige, identical daily and virtually vegetable-free (spinach appeared once in 7 days). Staff are pleasant but visibly overworked and stretched thin. Facilities: This is a strictly "self-serve" resort. There is no pool staff, no organised activities, and you must rent pool towels. Despite the prime beach access, no gear (umbrellas, mats) is provided. Saunas are clean, but tired. The Good: The location is stunning, with great wildlife (birds, snakes, lizards, etc), sunsets and direct beach access. Pools are peaceful and family-friendly. Nearby towns (15–30 mins) offer decent food and Lagoa has a great supermarket with sushi. Verdict: A beautiful property let down by pest issues and lack of amenities. Good for families prioritising location, but could be magical with some better services and features.

Breakfast daily was amazing. Huge variety of options and always a great start to the day. Location was perfect for us. It sits on a hiking trail with a beautiful beach (Albandeira). It’s small but private. Some days the water was rough but others it was fine to swim. Rooms were clean, small but had everything we needed. Our only wish is that staff were a little friendlier. Maybe I’m just used to friendly Canadian culture and this was noticeably different.

NICE RELAXING STAY STAFF HELPFUL

hotel is a bit remote from the towns, but sits right next to the cliffs and a beach. the trail starts right at the cliff. free parking onsite, but you need to drag your luggage’s over stone roads, or ask for help of staff to drive a kart. resort is nicely laid out and breakfast is great. one issue is the power was out for one night due to the coastal weather, and no staff was at the reception for the night. luckily internet and heating was still available.

Closest hotel to the most photographed arch along this coast.

This was a wonderful place to stay and our room was awesome! Very nice features. Close to the beach and the Seven Hanging Valley trail. Gorgeous. Breakfast was excellent. It was a remote location so less people and tourists which was great but also far from other amenities. For example, at least 15 minute drive to get to other restaurants. Food at Vila Alba was very expensive. Check-in staff were great.

My wife and I finished off a 12 day Portugal trip with a two night stay at Vila Alba. Very relaxing. She enjoyed a massage at the spa. I relaxed at the salt water, infinity pool. We ate all our meals, but for one local beach lunch, at the resort. All the meals were well prepared and the buffet breakfast had a lot of variety. Local see walk has great vistas.

This is a beautiful resort. I wish we had more time to spend there. The only downside was getting there because of the narrow roads and even though they tried hard to rectify it, the dinner I ordered was really bland, although the presentation was gorgeous.

An absolutely beautiful location. Beautiful resort! We had a wonderful time

Absolutely stunning location surrounded by nature and right on a lovely little beach. The on-site spa is free for gusts to use and was spotless, and three were three swimming pools to choose from. There was a wedding and quite a few families with young children during our stay but it never felt overcrowded and was very peaceful. We didn't have a car but it was very easy and cheap to order taxis to and from the hotel for day trips. The food at the restaurant was also really tasty! Overall a fabulous location, would highly recommend and would visit again.

This is not a 5 star hotel. The service is almost non existent and the facilities are tired. The breakfast is extremely limited to the extent that we brought our own fresh vegetables from the supermarket. The kids club has no working toilet and the supervision is so poor that my 4 year old managed to leave alone and found us in the restaurant. There is no pool service and in order to get fresh towels you have to change them at reception. Half the sun beds are broken and missing their cushions. Our shower gel ran out 3 days before our leaving and was never replaced - instead we had to call every evening for some small bottles. It is a real shame because it is a stunning piece of real estate with incredible views. But we will certainly not return and discourage anyone who is considering staying.

Bucolic resort with great amenities especially for families

Good location, it’s nice and quiet, beach is right off the property. Very nice.

Relaxing mood, great staff, accessible amenities, amazing views!

Amazing location, friendly staff, delicious food!! Outstanding views!

Very welcoming and in a lovely part of the Algarve that is somewhat protected from overdevelopment. The resort has a small beach, but is a modest walk or an easy drive to many other nearby beautiful beaches. Very relaxing!

While the property was nice and the staff very helpful, it is by no means a five star property. Nor are the ocean view rooms ocean view. This is hype and dishonest. This is a US 3 or 3.5 star hotel. Not bad at all but not a luxury property.

The property is gorgeous. However the quality of the food needs to be improved. Also so of the staff needs more training.

This property is nicely tucked away near the coast. Was only a 45 min drive from Old town. There isn’t much around the resort so I recommend stopping at a grocery store beforehand to grab some snacks and maybe some sandwiches. There is one restaurant on the property but it is extremely over priced and everything we ordered came out wrong. Items were missing from our orders and seemed like they used left overs from breakfast. The front desk staff was excellent and very accommodating, so I was shocked at the lack of oversight in their restaurant. The resort was right next to the cliffs with beautiful views and a small beach. They have a salt water pool and regular pool which I thought was a nice touch. Aside from the restaurant, I enjoyed our stay. Would stay here again.

The room were spacious and clean. The pool, restaurant and facilities in general were very good. The resort is quiet and welcoming. Unfortunately, we had an issue with out air-con turning off after a couple of hours, during the night this resulted in us waking up and having to reset it at least a couple of times. After the first night, we spoke to reception who said that it would be looked at. Unfortunately, this was just ignored resulting in uncomfortable nights. In general, the food on offer was of decent quality and a reasonable price. However, on one occasion we ordered a salad with prawns and received a quarter of an iceberg lettuce with 3 semi recently unfrozen (cooked) prawns. A complaint was made to the server who told us this is how it was - which was severely disappointing. On the positive side, we attended a wedding here and it was excellent - the staff were extremely attentive and couldn't be anymore helpful. Generally of an excellent standard.