We knew that something was wrong the minute we arrived at this awful complex. Whilst we were dragging our luaggage through the extremely noisy and busy pool area, a man turned round to us and said 'Oh God you've just arrived, Good Luck!' On our way to our appartment we noticed graffi sprayed across all the buildings. There was a small very run down playground with barbed wire surrounding it, and the plastic slide had a large hole in it which could cut a small child to ribbons. Our appartment itself wasnt to bad, but the view was a different matter altogether. There are two pools on site, one is extremely cramped and busy, the other is tiny. We unpacked and decided to explore the area, although by this time our 13year old daughter was so disappointed with the place that she was in floods of tears and refused to go out. We finally managed to coax her out of the complex and decided to walk into Vilamoura. The walk took 30 minutes alongside a very busy road, we were exhausted when we finally arrived. Vilamoura itself isnt to bad, but very pretenius. When I awoke the following morning i went out onto the balcony and was greeted by the man next door who said that they had been burgled in the night. Someone had literally scalled the walls up to the 2nd floor appartments and walked in through his patio doors whilst his family were asleep and stolen his cam corder and his wifes watch. When he reported this to the Panarama rep, she didnt seem at all surprised and actually said that this was not the first time it had happened. She put it down to the fact that the complex is built in the middle of a residential area and that this has caused problems in the past. By this time i wanted to go home as i didnt feel safe, but my husband said that we should just go down to the small pool area and try to relax. We hadnt been down there more than 10 minutes when this man came in with some powder and poured it down a drain into the swimming pool. Within seconds dozens of cockroaches came streaming out, running around the pool area and under the sunbeds. As you can imagine this caused panic and the area was deserted for the remainer of the day. This was the worst holiday we have ever had. in fact it has made us extremely nervous about where we booked to stay in future. Please Please Please think twice before you book to stay at this complex, i would hate you to have to suffer like we did. The place should be pulled down and flattened!!!!

Where could I begin?? maybe by mentioning the fact that the apartments are not actually in villamoura but closer to a residential town called Quateria (not very nice - very run down). Or maybe I should begin by saying that when we awoke on the first morning of our holiday, we were faced with builders in the adjoining apartment (privately owned). they were completely renovating the place - using kango hammers and other heavy equipment. We were eventually moved (after 4 days of hell and noise) to an apartment which was up 25 steps as soon as you went in the door, had no balcony or terrace and wasn't very clean. The extractor fan for the restaurant below was outside our window so we couldn't open the window to allow any air in - it was sickening. The pool was very small with limited loungers - however the management allowed local residents to use the facilities and there were regualarly no loungers for guests. On our last day, we had requested extra time to check out as I had had a fall on holiday and was on crutches as well as being 8 weeks pregnant. the receptionist agreed to allow us to have an extra hour. Howver on that day I was suffering from morning sickness and was running a little behind. The receptionist arrived and walked straight into the bedroom with 3 cleaners. I was just fininshed drying my hair and was in my underwear. We were fully packed and ready to go - it was just a matter of me putting my clothes on. She started screaming at me and wouldn't get out of my way so I could get my crutches. I was very upset and felt sick - she wouldn't get out of my way so I could get to the bathroom to be sick. My husband pleaded with her just to get out of my way and our 4 year old daughter was hysterical at her screaming at me. She eventually let me into the bathroom to be sick but stood there watching me and wouldn't let me close the door. When Iwas leaving the bathroom she sort of pushed me and I fell on the floor. She phoned the owner on her mobile. When we eventually were organised, we went to reception to check out. The owner arrived and confronted me with a completely different version of events that he had heard from her. He accused me of feigning an accident in order to get compensation from him. My husband showed him the x-rays that had been taken of my ankle in a private hospital in Faro which had been given to me to bring home to my doctor. Some new guests had arrived and one of them was waiting in reception as she was not happy with her apartment as she had requested a ground floor for health reasons and had been put on the highest floor. She explained to the owner that she had heard the receptionist abusing me and then he started shouting at this guest and told her that she was not staying in HIS apartments. The poor woman was distracted. I have NEVER had such an experience. I notice that Panorama (in ireland) no longer have this accommodation in their brochure. I forgot to mention that there is a ROAD running THROUGH the complex, the public areas are not very clean, DONT for God's sake eat in the restaurant (if you're unlucky enough to be going there - and if you are, PLEASE do yourself a favour and try and change your holiday. Sorry for going on but if I had the above information before we went I think I'd have changed it. That said, we love Portugal and have stayed at the Quinta das Figuerinhas in Amercao de Pera three times - now there's a different kettle of fish!!! As Ireland haven't qualifed for Euro 2004 (Mick McCarthy's / Roy Keane's fault) we are giving Portual a miss this year but we will be back - but not to the Tulipa Ferias........!!! Bon Voyage.