Booked independently flight and accommodation throug Alpha rooms. This was VERY cheap indeed £200 between 3! and didnt expect a lot just a bed to sleep in really.

We booked Parque Mourabel/ Oasis Village but were put in Pe do Lago ( all the same hotel but on 3 different sites, they share reception, bar and restaurant). The Pe de Lago is a 3-5 minute walk from the main reception. This was a 2 bed apartment. The apartment was very spacious and very clean. New bathroom and the maids came in every day! Unbelievable value for this amount of money. The 2nd bedroom wasnt particularly nice but only cos the windows were small and high up, also backs onto a busy loud road but I did get used to it.
My mate had the lovely double room at the front with its own balcony. The look of the apartments is not great kinda tower blockish but each site had its own swimming pool. Now..........................we didnt frequent it but..............the bar area in the main reception area wasnt very nice plastic chairs and well just second rate but hey your in the Algarve rock on to the Marina or Parkys at the end of the road. The first day we paid for breakfast in the complex restaurant "DONT PAY FOR HALF BOARD OR INCLUSIVE" dingy dark poor standard of food so pleased we didnt pay for that. So many lovely places to eat around. I would definately go again this was great value and clean/spacious. The apartment by the way was well equipped microwave, cooker, pots pans iron ironing board, hair dryer etc all good standard.

Date 7/10/2008
My wife and i booked the parque maurebel/oasis village/pe do lago hotel in vilamoura,we arrived at about 1pm at the parque maurebel which was the main reception,the receptionist gave us a card with our hotel on which was the pe do lago and room number 111,she said the room would not be ready until 2pm or maybe later, she said we could go to the bar round the corner in the restaurant which we did which seemed nice the hotel had a nice pool to look at,we decided to kill some time by looking around outside we walked about a hundred meters from the hotel and found a supermarket couple of bars a restaurant and a gift shop.
We got back and the room was ready we got took round by the hotel bus,we opened the door and first impressions was not good, first room you see is the bathroom which was not bad the bedroom to the left was ok but the beds was terrible you sank as soon as you layed on them worst sleep i had all week,the living area to the right was big but had a tiny kitchen the fridge freezer was disgusting it was rusty and old and seemed it had not been cleaned for while,the kithchen cupboards were very old.it had a oven and hob which the hob took years to heat up on full, it had a toaster, it desperately needs a microwave, it had plenty of plates glasses and cutlrery but had no corkscrew which i normally take one but not on this occasion so i had to buy one,the television had one english channel which was the news,we opened the curtains to find a disgusting balcony the floor was a mess it needed re surficing badly the rail on the wall was pealing all over it had no outside light and the plastic table and chairs had not been cleaned,and the walls was meant to be white,other balconys did not have this problem.
Maid service was everyday .
The best bit was a pool view which was big and clean and had plenty of beds and room just got attacked by bloody flies all the time which was very annoying.
We decided to walk to the marina the next day which was supposed to be about 20 minutes walk my wife and i are in our 30s and took us about 40minutes so we got a taxi back took 5minutes and cost about 4euros and whatever tip you give.
We decided to get a taxi at night from the reception which sometimes took 5 to 30 minutes to come so be prepared to wait,
Overall if the weather had been bad all week this would have been one of my worst holidays.

16th Oct 2008 - 20th Oct 2008

Good cheap base for chilling out,

We booked a 1 bed appartment in the Parque Mourabel/ Oasis Village but were put in Pe do Lago ( all the same hotel but on 3 different sites, they share reception, bar and restaurant). The Pe de Lago is a 3-5 minute walk from the main reception. We requested a room on the ground floor or near a lift and we were next to the lift.

The appartment was clean, fairly recently decorated , the bathroom suite looked new, the furniture was well worn but in good condition, the beds in the bedroom were creaky so we used the bed settes some nights, very comfortable. The iron, hair dryer etc all worked. Didnt use the cooker. The maid comes in 5 days a week.

We didnt use the swimming pool but there are 2 and they look very good, they are in a secure area where you need your room keys to access them.

There is no view at all, the appartments face another block, there is grass and trees in between.

The hotel is a 4-5 euro taxi ride from the Marina in Vilamoura, 3.50 euro ride from the Victoria golf course. The hotel has a free bus into Vilamoura 3 times a day. Taxis can be arranged through reception, all our taxis came without too long a wait, ( other reviews say different, may be it is because it wasn't high season while we where there).

As we went to chill out we spent most of our time relaxing around the Marina it isn't cheap but there are some excellent restaurants and bars.

I would reccomend the Pe Do Lago for short breaks with or without children , although there is nothing really wrong with it I wouldn't want to spend 2 weeks with children there.

On the whole a very good break.

Hello,

We arrived at Mourabel orignally and long story short we'd been assigned to Pe Do Lago, a 2 star when we'd been told to expect a 3 (Booked w Going Places, Operator was COSMOS ft Monarch ft Jet2.com ft Avro ... many companies, its all blended together!!)
anyway our room wasnt ready at 4pm when we arrived which was annoying but you give them benefit of the doubt but it worked out very nicely. Others there maybe read the same [----] reports of Park Mourabel on here so at checkin they wanted to move to Oasis too.

When we got to our room (BlockA, 10) it was a ground floor (reqtd Balcony @ booking "Well i can put it on there" which really means "You'll get what you're given") and we opened the door to our room which was open plan lounge/kitchen, artwork everywhere (actually decent not just Ikea junk), couch, tv, microwave, BIG frige&freezer, oven, 4hobs, kettle, sink, dish washer and two porches, one leading direct to the pool (hop the 3ft wall). So it might not have been THE most securest/ist room it was very nice. Large double bed with loads of storage via sliding door wardrobe. I reackon they'd only just done it as there was still MDF dust on the light fittings in the bathroom (which had a washing machine in it btw!).

But in brief room-wise we feared the worst but did really very well.

Cosmos bus rep was like "theres the door (of the hotel) best of luck!" and jumped back on the bus, which we didnt like.

Local stuff;

Our local rep was called Trevor, he's to the point and that for us was great as we were not looking forward to the dreaded "welcome meeting" and he appreciated that so he kept it to half an hour as he promised. He highly recommended the Augiergeria, augger, aguadeirea (cant remember, you try prouncing it!) cruise which we did - DO IT TOO! This was a bus to the boat, cruise up the river Aguadeiera which works out to have Spain on the right and Portugal on the left. When you arrive at lunch its an all you can eat/drink provided you like sardines and chicken - both were very nice. Dont use knife and fork on the fish, its a fingers job (when in Rome...) and the chicken is as normal but do try the piri piri - Nando's is NOT the real deal btw so I unwittingly was pretty generous with the stuff, oh dear! Surprised is not the word!!
Theres also a pool there so bring swims if you fancy that, many did as there wont be any swimming on the river.

N.B. Bring your own water/drinks etc for the boat as its expensive (as you'd imagine) and over there they like to dish out 330ml bottles which just is nothing really for €1.50 upward.

Back at the hotel, theres naff all on the 9-channel TV apart from BBC World service which is a 15 minute loop of doom and depression so dont even bother turning it on. Take board games & books. They're good for you and we're sure glad we did! There is a bar with a pool table that does snacks (all this is Pe Do Lago) but whats weird is that the reception here isnt the REAL reception, "just for emergency" apparently so proper queries/complaints etc back where you checked in at Mourabel 3 mins walk off. There is entertainment back at Mourabel but we didnt attend any of it, no reason given, we just did our own thing.
Also we didn't use their restraunt or the one round the corner once, again no reason, self catered.

Other local stuff;
The Marina is only about half hour walk, 25 if you like a decent pace, its pretty, loaded with expensive boats "one day..." and the food is very wide.
Oh, NB, almost EVERY PLACE will bring you a COVERT which is €2 on the bill as you sit down for pre-starter-starters, i.e. Bread, Olives, Sardine Pate - just politely decline this, they're cool with it.
Menu's here vary from €8 p/dish upto maybe €25plus. We did a seafood Cataplana from "Perna de Pan" which was great for €35, its a big stew of Fish, prawns, cockles, veg, yummy.

Up the road-ish is Quateria which everyone we asked reakons was like walking to the Middle East "You'll need a taxi", "You can't walk it", "Its about an hour". No its not. From the Marina its 35 mins, they were just slow or lazy!!
In Quaratirerie theres the fish market and next to that is a fresh fruit/veg market which was very busy but if you've got means to transport it home (coolbag) then give it a try. No idea if you're eating swordfish or cod or bream its all fish in funny names you're phrase book doesnt have listed!! Point and "Por Vavor" it and hope for the best.
On WEDNESDAYS there is the Gypsy market in Quareierear which is like the boot sales here but they're peddling mostly knocked off stuff inc DVDs, "Lacost", "Gucci" bags, "Diesel" watches and the like. If you like a bargain and can deal with your conscience then go for it but its a very very big market. Once you're "in the swim" its hard to get out - put aside an hour for this, really!

What else what else.... Uh yeah, we walked from the Marina to AQUASHOW (1hr 30), we like walking but otherwise its a €7ish taxi each way (or do the arranged option with Rep for €25 all in). Pe Do Lago do tickets in advance (as others do i guess) for €20 p/p entry.
If you're a family doing this then theres something for everyone and the locals deem it suitable to bring Coolboxes loaded with everything from the local "Alisuper" so I'd suggest to do the same. Also they bring loads of towels and parasols.
For those who like AQUA there are loads of rides to do for those who want to keep their hair dry (what?!) there are lots of green areas to tan in as well as shows throughout the day of Parrots, Reptiles and Birds Of Prey. Get there early for the Parrotts though, we missed them about 10ish maybe??

Near Marina theres a Thai called "Thai" near McDonalds (American Quisine I think) and its [-----] brilliant. Do do do do go there, much yummyness to be had. The Salad starter was HUGE and the mains were really very nice, excellent, would've liked desert but lacked room - and no HINT of a "Covert" which was nice!
Thats pretty much a long enough review and I've covered the important bits, thanks for taking the time to read it.

Enjoy your holiday. Hope this helps!