My wife and I stayed for 18 nights over Christmas 2011 and the New Year. The apartment is very basic but spacious enough and from the upper floors there are stunning views across the sea to Lagos. The sun arrived on our terrace about 10.00am and we had wall to wall sunshine throughout our stay. Magnificent sunsets every night.
Six minutes walk to the beach and then there must be 6 kms or more of shore and harbour to walk around. The new boardwalk through the nature reserve is great and lots of different birds to see. A range of good beach restaurants provide good places to have a coffee and/or lunch on the way round.
I booked direct with the hotel first by email and then phoned to pay the deposit and Senor Carlos Santos was very helpful. and couldn't do more to be helpful when we arrived. All the staff were very pleasant and helpful.
To be absolutely honest the beds were extremely firm which I got used to before my wife but the linen was scrupulously clean and the room cleaning was to a good standard and the arrangements for changing of linen and towels were fine.
As with most apartments with tiled floors there was some noise from tables or beds being dragged around and the ladies do insist on wearing their high heels and pacing up and down so at times there is a constant click clack. But we only really suffered that over the New Year weekend. For the most part it seemed all to go quiet around 11.00 at night in any event.
Use of the indoor pool was a bonus. Great looking outdoor pools but not for me in December/January!

Stayed in Prainha Village for 2 weeks at beginning of July 2011. Family of 4 - kids were 5 1/2 and 2.

Overall, excellent and very highly recommend. Staff very friendly, apartment (self catering) spacious, basic but that was our expectation and everything worked, atmosphere relaxed and the place was not packed which was great.

Loved the choice of 2 pools (plenty of sun beds, not that busy) and quiet almost private beach. Restaurants on site very good (pizzeria, bar/restaurant on beach with excellent fresh seafood in evening and a swanky restaurant as well).

2 km to town which had plenty of bars/restaurants - easy taxi ride or pleasant walk.

For the kids, great water park about 1 hr away. Did a day trip through Thompson which is definitely worth it.

Transfers about 1 hr 15min.

Definitely will go back.

Had very high expectations of this place and largely our expectations were met, apart from the horrible weather (we actually went in June 2010- couldn't select that far back for this review). But hey the weather can't be helped! Also our booking was seriously messed up which proved to be quite traumatic. We booked with Thomas Cook through a local travel agent. They later sent us on our flight tickets which was all they sent apart from a few complimentary brochures. I had all my booking information from when we were with the travel agent, booking forms, signed by us on their headed paper, visa receipts proving payment. These were thrown into my bag at the last minute, and boy was I glad I brought them!
We were ticked off the list at the airport, went to our assigned bus, were given the welcome pack on board, with our name on it and dropped off at Praihna. We were staying in the village, but we had to book in at the hotel. We promptly gave our names, but they had absolutely no record of us. We had our names on every list prior to this, but at the hotel - nothing! They searched everywhere. They didn't believe us. Just when I was expecting to be turfed out at the side of the road with nowhere to stay, I remembered the documentation that I had kept and brought with me from the travel agents. Ahhhhhaaa proof!!!!! We got our appartment sorted eventually and to be fair they gave us a complimentary round of drinks! The whole ordeal was very upsetting (had been travelling all day and sheer exhaustion didn't help). We had our rep meeting the next day but that turned out to be a bit of a mystery and quite disappointing. She said that she got her list of new visitors from the hotel the previous day for the pickup and we were on that list. Strange. Anyway she said she would look into it. No answer and it is still a mystery today what happened. I noted the incident on the feedback form but to no avail. Honestly I dont know why we fill these things out if they are not going to act on them.

Moral of the story - bring every scrap of paper, every email correspondance, every booking form with you. You will need it!

Aside from this and the disappointing weather, our stay was very pleasant. A bit far from Alvor itself but I always enjoyed the walk. The beach on the Praihna complex (at base of cliff) won over the other half. I was equally impressed. Restaurants in Alvor are of the highest order. Highly recommend the fish (of any kind) - cooked fresh straight out of the sea.

Hopefully the weather will pick up next time

Stayed for four nights from the 27th September and what a lovely break we had! Check in was pleasant and quick and we were soon in our apartment which was spacious,clean and very modern..like Ikea! All the apartments face the pool and gardens which are beautifully kept.
The hotel has a very modern finger printing system which allows you to pass through the gates in the gardens and down to the stunning cliff top pool and restaraunt on the sea front..very impressive! In all there are five restaraunts on site so no need to go far if you dont want to,but Alvor vilage is about a twenty minute walk away and has a real traditional rustic feel about it.If you are self catering the apartments are fully equipped with fridge/freezer,2 ring hob,microwave,kettle,toaster etc.There is a flat screen tv and air conditioning unit in the living area and bedroom.Prices were similar to home prices we thought and to be fair we only had snacks and beers on site averaging 25euros for 2 sandwiches with fries and a jug of sangria.All in all couldnt fault the resort,very beautiful, very clean,nice service and lots of choice in one place : )