“Apartments you could live in”

We were a little surprised to find that these apartments weren't a 'traditional' aparthotel, instead they are a newish development of residential apartments overlooking the Marina, many of which are privately owned, others are used for holiday rental. As a consequence of this the 'reception' is a small real estate office. The apartments themselves are spacious and well equipped (dishwasher & washing machine). The two bedroom ground floor apartment we were upgraded to had two bathrooms, two generous bedrooms (one double, one twin), kitchen and living / dining room with patio doors out to the communal pool area. Being on the ground floor there was no balcony and no external seating (unlike the apartments on higher floors). The pool was nice (if cold) but only had 10 sunbeds, serving 30+ apartments but was never very busy during our stay. There were several cafes and bars along the marina but not much in the way of restaurants, Albufeira's lively old town is a 20 minute walk along the hilly coast road. A small commercial center has a supermarket and a number of small shops (real estate, interior design etc) We enjoyed our stay but missed the facilities of an aparthotel (pool bar, reception, entertainment), you really could live here and it felt like staying at a friends house.