We hired a car and drove from Faro Airport which is 25 minutes away down the N125. Our villa was ready at 11am so we were lucky and got to check in early.

The complex has 18 or so individual villas. Our Villa was number 7, Villa violetta which has it's sun terrace / patio directly opposite the pool.

The centre point and main feature of Prado Villas is the pool area. Surrounded by a wide and paved sun terrace, with both flat and sit up style moulded sun loungers.

A medium sized non heated pool is perfect for taking the edge off that very hot Portugeuse sun. We went in every day either at the beginning or end of the day. The kids loved the pool!

There is great news here, there is no 7am scramble to get towels out! Everyone uses the pool and the beds sensibly so there was no need.

There is a maid service twice a week and you can hire a safe deposit box from reception which is open every day until 6pm.

The Bar / bistro was not open for the two weeks we were there. This did not really cause a problem as each villa has a fridge to keep your drinks and ice creams to sustain pool activity when you are there.

We ate in at our villa a couple of times in the evening, there are good facilities in the villa for preparing and serving your own meals.

The centre of Vilamoura is just a 5 minute drive away (a good 25 minute walk). There are numerous restaurants of all denominations but be warned, you will have to hunt around for bargains as most of them are expensive when compared with Spain or Cyprus for example.

Prado Villas is nice and peaceful, we would go back and would recommend it to anyone with pre teenage kids.

Returned from a wk in Villamoura. We had a fantastic holiday! Stayed at the Prado Villas which was a perfect base. Yes the villas were dated but extremely clean, although our bed linen wasn't changed. Would recommend hiring a car as we drove to the Marina most nights and did not pay a penny for parking! We also drove to Vale Do Lobo and Quinta de Lago which were very easy to find from Villamoura. The grounds and pool at Prado Villas are immaculate and perfect to relax in if you don't fancy the beach! It would have been perfect had the bar have been open, and there were not really any great restaurants nearby, you have to go down to the Marina for those! The Hilton has just opened, dinner was delicious! Fairly difficult to find as signs to Prado Villas in Villamoura are fairly limited! Perfect for those who are not bothered about the dated look of the bathrooms or the fact that the TV only has four channels!!

Just arrived back from a relaxing break at the Prado Villas. The accomodation was a spacious 2 bed villa that was very clean and well equipped, although a little dated. The surrounding gardens and the pool area was lovely. The location of the villas is a tranquil getaway that backs onto a golf course and woodland.
I would recommend a car if staying at these villas as the centre of Vilamoura is about a 40 min walk. The marina at Vilamoura is lovely with some good restaurants that are not too pricey. The only negative part about the holiday is that we found the Villas a little difficult to find as they are not clearly sign posted. Otherwise we had a great holiday, that was excellent value for money. We will be returning soon.

I stayed here with my husband for the first two weeks of June 2007. We had read all the reviews on Trip Advisor and I'm happy to admit they are all true! We rented a car from Faro airport and drove to the Villas - they're about a 20 minute drive from the airport. The directions are quite good, however when you reach the last round-a-bout (near new Hilton Hotel) and they tell you to go up the road and take a right, you actually take the first left!

On arrival the receptionist was very pleasant and polite. She gave us an information booklet of the area and showed us to our villas straight away even though we were a couple of hours early. There's parking up beside each of the villas. From the outside the villas look a little bit grotty (but they just need a fresh coat of paint), once you open the patio door from the living room you don't mind though! Our villa was looking straight out onto well maintained gardens and a gorgeous pool that was kept spotless. There are only about 18 bungalows in the complex and they all look out onto either the gardens or the pool. They all have two large bedrooms (one with ensuite), a patio, a large living/dining area a decent size bathroom, a fully equipped kitchen and a utility room!
The decor of the villas is very oldfashioned and the tiles in the bathroom were horrible!! However, once it's clean (and it was) i didn't mind too much.

Again, the staff were very helpful. At one stage the bulb in our patio light blew and we went down to reception to ask for a replacement. By the time we walked back to the villa (2-3 mins) the bulb had been replaced!

The villas are about a 25 minute walk to the marina. We rented a car which I found very handy but it's not a bad walk if you don't have one. You'd really need to walk to the marina to get nice restaurants (although once the Hilton opens - which is very close - there'll be restaurants there), but there are little snack bars around the area.

The reception was only open from 9am -1pm and 2pm - 6pm, however i didn't really find this a problem as I didn't have much need to contact reception.

I felt the only drawback to these villas was the lack of a bar or restaurant on the premises. There sister villas (Prado golf) are about a 5 minute drive away and they give you a voucher for a free bottle of wine if you have dinner there....however I wouldn't reccommend it!

Overall, had a great time in these villas and will definitely go back.