Accomodations in the Algarves

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When choosing accommodations in the Algarves Portugal, there are countless options. To make this decision easier, below are reviews of both hotels I stayed at during my week in The Algarves.

When deciding on which accommodation to choose, we first worked out what we wanted to DO in the Algarves, then we worked out what our BUDGET was, making it easier to evaluate hotels on Booking.com.

Map of The Algarves with my recommendations pinned

Locations

With over 80 kilometres in coastline, the Algarves is a large area. Staying in one spot might mean a really long drive to an area you’d like to see the most of, and thus – you’d need to change your accommodation decision.
For instance, If you are staying in Sagres but are curious to see Olhao, Faro or Tavira, then you are staying very far and will be doing a lot of driving. So my tip would be to first work out what you’d like to see in the Algarves, and THEN decide what area/s you can stay within a radius of there.

For us, we wanted to be within an hour of Lagos, but also had hopes to head to Olhao, thus not wanting to be far from either east or west, we opted for the small town of Loule as our main location. As we had a 6:30am flight out of Faro when we were leaving, we decided to spend a couple of nights in Faro so that we were very close to the airport – which is just 10 minutes by car away!

Find out more about The Algarves in this post!

Loule Jardim | Loule

Loule

One of the most authentic places to stay within the Algarve, Loule is a gem of a town to base yourself. As most tourists opt for beach-side towns/cities, we decided to go in-land in hopes we weren’t totally crowded. This worked out and we felt we definitely had a calm place to rest our heads. Loule is a 45 minute drive from Lagos and just a 25 minute drive from Faro – this location ended up being ideal!

Location

The Loule Jardim is a 4 storey hotel on a quiet garden square in Loule. Within the square is a lovely restaurant you should try called Afonso III – we had great service and great food here on our first night in The Algarves! Very nearby to the hotel is the main area of town. As Loule isn’t touristy, it is quiet in the evenings, but don’t worry you can always find somewhere serving an ice cold beer!

Guest Room

Our room was spacious and we had everything we needed, from aircon, a fridge, fluffy towels, a large wardrobe, hair dryer, and even a room heater for the bathroom (which we used to dry our wet bathing suits every night)!

Rooftop Pool

The hotel pool was one of the main reasons we booked and I’m glad we had the pool! Every morning the sun was shining and at 8am it was already upwards of 25 degrees (celcius), and so we spent each morning with a swim.

Breakfast Buffet

After our morning swims, we managed to get down to breakfast by 8:30am every day, where we would take one of the tables in the outdoor atrium and fill up our plates! The breakfast is quite good at the Loule Jardim, with hot items like bacon, sausage, scrambled and fried eggs, as well as a toaster with numerous breads.

Other yummy breakfast items included a choice of 3 cereals, meats, cheeses, fresh fruit, an array of freshly baked rolls and croissants, as well as pastei de nata, yoghurt in a variety of flavours, 3 different fresh juices, a coffee machine for latte’s and a black coffee machine. Basically, every morning I was FULL and satisfied.

Staff

The staff at the Loule Jardim were faultless and never failed to wish us a nice day or ask us how our day was upon our evening return. Parking was a breeze for us each and every day. Whilst the hotel does have limited parking underground, we never even tried parking in the lot as we always got a free space along the street in front of the hotel.

We loved our time in Loule and at the Jardim Hotel! I’d absolutely stay there again as I thoroughly enjoyed myself and feel it is definitely worth the money we spent.

Acoteia Guest House | Faro

Faro

Faro town is only a 10 minute drive from the airport, which is super handy. Being that close, we expected it to be over-run with tourists! However, it was quite the opposite. In fact, Faro was perfect. Faro has the ideal set up with appealing historic buildings and quaint streets built of stone and a laid-back feeling all while keeping a fun and lively vibe with top restaurants and wine bars scattered through the old and new city.

Location

The Acoteia Guest House is located in the centre of Faro, yet it seems to be on the quietest street in the whole city. It is an old family house, with 2 guest rooms per floor, beautiful furnishings, and a fantastic rooftop terrace.

Guest Room

Our guest room was massive, with even our own table and chairs, and 2 balconies. The house itself is beautifully lit by the natural sunlight that streams in from the rooftop glass ceiling, meaning there is basically no need for electric light most of the time. The bathrooms were very big and overall our stay was very comfy.

Rooftop Terrace

For me, the rooftop terrace really was a winner. We spent our last evening in Faro watching the sunset over the distant buildings and beach, with a glass of red wine soaking in Faro turning from day to night. I must add – the bottle of wine was complimentary from the guest house as part of our booking! A lovely touch!

Breakfast

With the guesthouse, breakfast is served at the cafe a few doors down the street. We received a voucher for breakfast when we checked-in to the guest house. Unfortunately, we did not get to try this out as we had a very early morning activity which started before the cafe was open!

On our last morning, we also had an early-rise, with our flight out of Faro Airport at 6:45am! We expected to miss out on breakfast for the 2nd morning in a row. However Sandra prepared for us some bread rolls, croissants, cheeses and meats for our journey – which we enjoyed very much! It really was just what we needed to get us back to the Netherlands.

Staff

The guest house does not have any live-in staff – you are completely left to your own devices, kind of like at an Airbnb. I love this – as it makes me feel like just for a moment I live in Portugal! We met Sandra, who had been very actively in touch prior to our arrival, when we first arrived for check-in. Having used to be the family-home, Sandra was able to not only give us a run-down of the house and how things worked, but also  of the local hotspots, where to park, eat, which beaches to visit as a local, and more. Having her perspective on the city really was great to have!

The Acoteia Guest House was fantastic and I’d absolutely stay at there again! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and feel it is definitely worth the money we spent. 

courtesy of Acoteia Guesthouse

You can find both of these properties on Booking.com, which is what we use to book hotels around the world. I hope these reviews are helpful for booking your best trip to the Algarves!

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When choosing accommodations in the Algarves Portugal, there are countless options. To make this decision easier, here are 2 hotel reviews from hotels I stayed at during my week in The Algarves.

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