large family party including 4 children under the age of 7. we had 3 villas, all next door to each other which was great. We could all be on our own patio but pass the beers across, or one of us cooking on the bbq. Kids could play in the playground on the complex or be supervised in the pool, right outside of our gate. This was a great family holiday. We didnt hire a car and spent abit on taxis to go to zoomarine and albufeira and armacao de pera for a greater choice of restaurants. We walked to the beach once in 30 degrees of heat as quite a way. Ate at jks bar and scoobys which were close to the villas. Alot of restaurants not accepting cards as mentioned on a previous review. I found the villas clean; and pool and gardens were well maintained. would go again.

My husband and I have just returned from a 7 day break , booked with Thomas Cook, at Joinal Villas. We had a lovely time and could not complain regarding the cleanliness or the location of the place, also the villa's kitchen had alll the appliances and equipment we required.
However on the 3rd day of our say we were robbedof our cash, jewelery, camera and cash, leaving us to spend 3 hours in Alburferria Police Station reporting this crime. There was no forced entry leading us to believe that the thieves came through the front door so had access to a key. Since the key is in a key safe on arrival and the alarm code is the same as the key code, this could easily be the case.
We think the secruity aspect shoulkd be locked at since all the shutters, doors, windows were locked but they still managed to break in while we slept. The reps are aware of this problem altough they deny it, as people in the local bars and tourists who were staying there and had stayed there before admitted there was a problem in the area and in the villas. Even the site manager admitted there had been a spate of thefts but usuallybin bigger villas.
Having said that we did enjoy our stay, even though it was low season, as the villas are clean, spacious, good patio garden with BBQ with easy access to the pool and in a good locatuion for bars and restuarants and for the beaches, and a taxi ride away tomAbulferria's night life. The villas are ideal for families or for couples like us just wanting to chill out and relax. It was just a pity this theft blighted our holiday somewhat as I felt quite vulnerable then. We would advise people to set the alarm when going out or to bed, although how safe this is is debatable since if thieves have the key safe code they will have the alarm one too. Perhaps they should be different? And we and our neughbours set them twice, only to find them unset on our return since the cleaners had neglected to reset them, so rather defeated the puropse.

just back from two weeks at the joinal villas was really expecting a fab villa due to thomas cook write up on the property and the cost paid. definately two parts to joinal its situated in a lovely part of the algarve near to beaches shops and bars every thing you could want for a relaxing holiday. externally the villa was great lovely outside space with a big pool area that was very well maintained and lovely gardens.internally however every thing falls apart the kitchen was very dated you could try and overlook this but the filth is another matter dirty rusty battered appliances a very dangerous low lying cooker hood and black mouldy sealant around the sink not a place to prepare food in i can see why style choose to leave a picture of the kitchen out of brochure very misleading. the rest of the villa again was very dated old fashioned and probably the dirtiest place ive ever stayed in .it needs to be updated and given a good clean to bring it up to standard and style holidays need to more honest on brochure descriptions

You'll fall asleep to the sound of barking dogs and awaken to the sound of crowing roosters at the Joinal Villas, but that was the least of my concerns. Having stayed in National Trust properties here in the UK, I was expecting the same standards of quality for my £3000 outlay. As other people have alluded to here already, the main concern concern surrounded the state of the kitchen in terms of safety, cleanliness and levels of equipment. There is a dishwasher provided but you'll be having to do washing up long before you've filled it due to the lack of cups, small plates, and spoons. We had to nip out on our first day to buy mugs and a filter for coffee. There was also no vegetable peeler, which i would have thought was a fairly basic kitchen utensil. The front of the fridge looked filthy, and were the wires hanging down from the ceiling above it live? The electrics were a major concern. All of the sockets had scortch marks on the wall around them, there was a 15 second delay between turning the kitchen light on and being able to see anything, and it was impossible to operate the washing machine and the dishwasher at the same time. Also, if you had all four rings of the hob on the fuse would blow at the box and have to be reset, only working again after a 20 minute delay. It was thanks to a people in a neighbouring villa that we were able to cook the kids tea when that happened. The tiled hood over the hop is also so low that if your over 5ft 5" you'll end up crowning yourself on it at least once during the holiday; in the end I rigged up a sign using paper and elastoplast in an attempt to prevent this from happening. Other gripes included the fact that several of the lights had no bulbs, the telly was tiny and that the master bedroom only had three pillows. Talking of the bedroom, the matress was comfortable enough but the bed squeeked every time you turned over; you wouldn't have wanted to do anything more energetic. We had a great holiday but that was despite the accommodation and not because of it.