we went over there in Decemebr 2008 for the new year.

It was a cheap and cheerful holiday.

Location was nice but because of the season it was very quiet.

apartment was clean but first night we had a problem with the toielt and it wasnt flsuhing and the plumber came and fixed it. the second night when were making our dinner in the kkitchen the taps stopped working so it made it very difficult to cook dinner so we went out for an indian rouhly 15 mins walk which was delicious.

The apartment has a mini supermarket where you could buy basic stuff and souvenirs, i managed to buy an unwanted chanel scarf for 5 euros!! what a bargain!!

The staff are lovely but at night time it apartment gets very lively with music being blasted and people getting drunk but we were doing this ourselves as we were getting in the party mood for he new year.

They have some great shops and a lovely beach only 5 mins walk from apartment. the beach has great lanscape and the aprtment complex has an outdoor pool.

The aprtment comes with a mini kitchen and a balcony facing the beach and the main road.

They have lovely bar and pubs only a ten mins drive from aprtment and its very livelyu and its gets packed out.

We went to the continente shopping centre where we did a fair bit of shopping and they had a small sale.

for nye we went to luis figos var in villamoura that part of algrave is beautiful as they have fancy yachts and loadsa bars and clubs you can go to.

luis figos bar is must visit as the place gets so lively and the owner of the plc is extremely friendly he came out to dance with us and we joined the dj at his booth selcting music for him to play. so it was beyonce all night!!!

extremely enjoyable.

airport is roughly 40 mins drive from airport.

The Hotel Presidente at £100 ish per night for a 1 bed appartment and a 3 star rating from the travel company sounded like an August bargain. The room was very clean if basic but was perfectly adequate. The location next to a fantastic beach was also good and Praia da Rocha was a short pleasant walk away for food and bars. On the negative side, we had the back of the appart hotel where there is a link road to the next resort. The locals use this as some kind of race track and the noise all night long was horrendous. When asked to be moved we were told that because we had booked only a week before then we were last in the queue when it came to the good rooms and should have looked on the website before booking. Not great customer service. My advice is to only book if you are guaranteed an appartment at the front of the hotel.

I stayed one night with a group of seven, we used two apartaments, one with two rooms and another with one.Both are nice. This hotel stays between two beaches - "Praia da Rocha" and "Praia do Vau". Some of the rooms have sea view. That said, it has a very good location, about 5/10 minutes walk (but you have to use stairs, that it isn't a problem if you dont have any locomotion issues) from Vau beach. The rooms are alright, clean, and with enough space. The kitchen is good if you plan to do some meals by yourself.
The services varies a lot of the employee in question, from very good to so so.
No wifi available, only a computer with pre paid internet in the lobby .
Bring your on hygiene products, because they only give a small soup per person.
The pool is ok, and the breakfast is also ok, but a little bit more of variety wouldn't hurt ( very few fruits, and there were no toaster, or any other way to heat up yourbread). I guess that if you stay more days ( I only stayed one night), the breakfast will get very repetitive.
In sum, nice location, good option, but dont expect any luxury or a lot of extras. If you keep that in mind, you will have an excelent stay!

We were 4 adults staying in a very spacious 2 bedroom apartment. The kitchen had all the utensils you could need including a butter dish! No oven but who wants to do proper cooking on holiday anyway. We were on floor 6 and had a balcony, huge terrace and fabulous view. The apartments don't have air conditioning and some evenings it did get quite warm.

We stayed self catering but did sample the snack menu which was basic and reasonable. The bar drinks are quite pricy but I can recommend the sangria it was very good.

The pool are was clean with plenty of sunloungers. Reception were very helpful and there is a pc with internet in the foyer.

We did have a problem where our toilet wouldn't flush. I called reception and someone came to sort it out within 5 minutes, after they had gone a cleaner came to clean where the person had been working. Towels and bedding were changed every other day.
Couldn't fault the service at all.

There is a little supermarket outside which has everything at a reasonable price. There are other supermarkets in Praia da Rocha but they are not that much cheaper.

Praia du Vau beach is about 5 min walk and there are no steps just a ramp to get on to it. Its a lovely beach and there are a few little bars and restaurants which are very reasonable. 1euro for a large beer and meals for 4 euros.

Praia da Rocha is about a 10-15 min walk to the centre and there are lots of shops, bars and restaurants. Titanic restaurant is lovely, there are also lots of places that do 3 courses for 7euros if you don't want to spend too much money.

Praia da Rocha beach is stunning, we walked through the town to the marina and back along the beach on a few occassions. Down by the marina there are lots of sports activities and there are paths all along the beach. It is flat to get on the beach down by the marina but further up all the entrances have steps.

We visited the new shopping centre just outside Portimao and it was fab. 3 floors, the top floor is food outlets and the other two have lots of shops. It was 5 euros in a taxi.

We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and I would definately stay here again.

We had a taxi from Faro airport as the resort is about an hour away and I've heard that shuttle transfers can take 2-3 hours. Our taxi transfer cost 140 euros for both journeys.