If you want a big hotel with bars ,restaurants , 2-3 swimming pools and lots of people then this hotel is not for you.
However if you want a small quiet hotel with a very nice swimming pool , pleasant secluded surroundings , able to relax in peace and a slightly idiosyncratic approach to service then you will enjoy yourself.
Room was OK , bed a bit hard but the bathroom was excellent . Modern TV . Nice balcony to sit out on.
Comfortable lounge , plenty of books lying around to read ,
Breakfast served in dining room which opens onto the swimming pool area ( you can sit outside to enjoy if you want ) Same selection of cold and warm buffet every day but enough choice to give some variety.
Tea,cake and biscuits available at 4 p.m.
Dinner has to be booked in the morning from a choice of 2 starters and 2 main courses. Cheerful waiter serves the meal and drinks if required. We ate in once ( sitting outside ) food reasonable standard.
During day there is a bar and you take your own drinks and snacks and then fill in the honesty book in the bar area with the cost of whatever you have taken ( price list in the bar).
Swimming pool small , maximum depth about 4 1/2 ft with plenty of pool side lounges . Also jacuzzi operated on solar power.
One important thing is to think ahead e.g booking dinner, arranging taxis , paying the bill as the receptionist operates a very interesting timetable. In theory she is there in the morning till about noon and then back in the evening for a couple of hours but during the time we were there this schedule was very flexibly observed .However it is fair to say that as long as you knew what you wanted and when then she was very efficent and well organised On a couple of days there was a stand in who was equally as helpful. One niggle we arrived just after noon and had thought we would be in time to book dinner for that evening as we had been up since the early hours and didnt want to go out. Unfortunately this didnt appear to be possible . we were too late !!! As a result in the evening we went 250 yds to their sister hotel which is much bigger. The only problem was that dinner there was a bog standard buffet in a very crowded dinning room.
Location is a bit of a problem it is on the top of a hill and it takes 15- 20 minutes to walk down to the square in the old town , this means lots of steps and an incline of 1 in 4 at times. Walking back is only for the very fit and we always took a taxi 5-6 euros incl tip. TO get there from the hotel turn left at the end of the drive walk upto the T junction turn right , follow road round turn right at the next T junction go under the bridge joining the 2 parts of the sister hotel then turn left go past entrance of sister hotel , turn left and cross road at T junction to viewing platform and then walk about 15 yards to the left hand side of the viewing platform where the start of the walk down to town begins ,very steep to start with but then just keep going straight down till you come to the cliff top turn left to walk into town and just as the road starts to go up again turm left into town.
One warning unless you like boats dont bother walking to the Marina , the walk is very depressing on all sides there are unfinished buildings, the houses and shops around the Marina are some architect's idea of fun i.e odd colours and shapes but not many of the shops are occupied and the whole looks past its sell by date.

No different words to use I'm afraid. Excellent all round hotel. Great breakfasts, nice pool, clean & spacious rooms blah blah blah. I have graded it as excellent for the type of hotel it is, but of course it is not competing with the Rui's etc. Book with confidence.
A couple of suggestions to the hotel which in now way detract from the all round quality;
Disappointed no reception open on our (and others) arrival. Rep had to ring quite a few times to get a maid, who didn't speak a word of English, to open the door. If I'm gonna spend best part of £1000, I thought it would be polite for our host to be there to greet us.
Great Plasma tv with satellite, but can we not have an English radio station? Nice to have the radio on when you're getting ready to go out.
If the management read these reviews, would be nice if they replied to our comments.
A previous review said the lift wasn't working. It still isn't!! Why?
Albufeira on the other hand, is NOT the quaint, charming little town the holiday companies would lead you to believe. See my post on Albufeira forum.

From the minute we arrived we loved this hotel. We were greeted by the lovely receptionist Carol who was incredibly helpful throughout our entire stay. The hotel is lovely, very peaceful and close to great beach. The hotel has an outside area which has different parts to relax in and has really nice touches like the jacuzzi and shaded seating areas. The breakfast was fantastic- everything you good imagine was available and all the staff, including the hotel owner, were very friendly and went out of their way to make sure we had a great holiday. Can't speak highly enough about this hotel and would definitely recommend it.

Me and my partner have just returned from a 2 week stay in this hotel. The hotel and room were lovely and cleaned on a daily basis and the beds were made every day. The room had all facilities including mini bar, bath, balcony and hair dryer. The only down side was that no kettle was provided in the room. For someone who loves tea this was a little disappointing but we did prepare for this and take a travel kettle with us. On arrival we had complementary drinks in our room.

As the reception times are limited, on arrival we were greeted by a portugese lady who did not understand English. We were showed to our room but were informed we needed to return to reception to check in at 17.00 when Carol arrives. Our arrival time was 14.00 which was not an unsociable time and as we were a young couple we felt a but unsettled as we wanted to ask questions regarding the breakfast times etc. However, we had to remain in close proximity to return to check in at 17.00.

The honesty bar was fantastic and was stocked regulary and contained a varierty of drinks, ice, straws and snacks such as toasties and crisps. We used this daily and billed and the end of our stay problem free. There were plenty of sun loungers on the garden and around the pool, although many guests placed towels on these early in the morning.

The breakfast was great and there was a wide selection of food to choose from including cheese, meats, fruits, yoghurts, cooked breakfasts, breads and cereals. There were tea and coffee facilities at this set time and a wide selection of fruit juices available. Although, the breakfasts were buffet style the food was always warm and topped up even if you decided to go for breakfast last minute.

The hotel is situated at the top of a hill which was problematic in the hot weather and when carrying shopping back to the hotel. However, it was quiet and contained adults only which is just what we wanted. I would certainly recommend this hotel as we had a fantastic holiday there. Thank you Cerro Da Marina.