Monchique Biopark Vacations from $913

Stayed here in August with my husband and 6 year old for 12 nights. The rooms are modern, clean and beds very comfortable. The pool was the highlight, it's huge, with 2 smaller kids pools. Plenty of sun loungers and nice fresh towels every day - so no need to bring any. The breakfast was fantastic! We paid for the buffet one evening which was very expensive and I wasn't impressed with the food at all. The Italian restaurant was nice but overpriced. The hotel is located next to the beach which is great but we discovered all of the sun loungers had reserved signs on them so we couldn't stay long with no shade. There really isn't much around the hotel at all, we ended up paying quite a bit to go into albuferia in the evenings. Overall we loved the hotel itself but wouldn't go back due to the location and very overpriced food and drinks.

The property was beautiful, beautiful scenery. Majority of staff interactions was positive but it was obvious they were short staffed. We made a few requests and we had to ask a few times to get these. We don’t think it’s the staffs fault that there were these issues, these were due to insufficient staffing by the proprietors. Restaurants were overpriced for the food available. We didn’t feel it was of British 5 star standards.

A beautifully situated and well appointed boutique hotel graced with courteous, efficient, multilingual staff. The pool and decking is framed with magnificent Mediterranean pines and rosemary. Gym is well equipped and the breakfast buffet abundant. Bedlinen is the finest, softest most silken cotton and the pillows provide a sweet slumber. Clientele in July was a mix of Portuguese ( a good sign when you stay in a country that its own people choose it) and some English, Irish and Italians. Guests were mostly well behaved.

Pros: Beautiful villas - gorgeous ocean views, great food options, wonderful staff. Cons: So, MANY, damn kids, strollers, smokers, and a plethora of Brits everywhere you go. Felt like UK 2.0 had taken over Portuguese culture. No exclusive adults / over 21 areas available. Kids/strollers + smokers in champagne bars, restaurants.

We stayed at Palmares Signature apartments a week with our 2 boys. The property is beautiful, modern, unique concept, great furniture, partial sea views from the terrace, fully stocked kitchen ( cuttlery, glasses, cups, pots and pans although we have not eaten in the apartment). The two rooms are connected thru a short outdoor hallway which offers privacy between the master/living room and the second room. The restaurant views are stunning. Cleaning staff were wonderful, always on time and did a great job. You need a car as Lagos is 12 min away. Unfortunately some things didn’t go smoothly hence the rating. The A/C in the main living area hasn’t worked. The room temp hovered around 25 until it fully died, leaking on the floor. Staff have offered to move us to a new room ( lower floor though) that had the same broken A/C. As the A/C was still working in the bedrooms we decided to not move.They brought a noisy portable A/C for living room with towels spread on the floor to contain the leak. The water was lukewarm until the last day when it was raised to a comfortable temperature. The breakfast was good quality, decent assortment but every day the same. After 7 days it got repetitive. The beds were not as comfortable as we were expecting from a resort of such caliber. There is construction at the property although they try to contain it. The windows are great at protecting the units from the construction noise. All in all was not the experience we were hoping for.