Albufeira Town & Marina holiday apartment

This was our 8th visit to Portugal and our 4th time renting Charlotte's apartment. We have stayed here every time since our first stay. We found Charlotte very easy to deal with and all the correspondence we receive is very professional.

The apartment is very clean; the furnishings are of a good standard, much better than hotels we have stayed in previously.

This visit was just my husband and myself, previous times my in-laws have come as well. The accommodation is adequate to cater for 4 adults, I would say it would also be great for families with 2-4 children wanting to save a few pennies from having to rent a 2 bedroom, there is plenty of room. The photos do not do it justice it is a very large 1-bedroom apartment.

The apartment is in a peaceful road overlooking private villas, yet the restaurants are only a few minutes walk away.

The pool area is in enclosed and only residents can use it, as you require a key to enter, this is great from a safety aspect. There are about 30 apartments in the block but alot seem to be holiday homes that are not rented out as the pool area does not get busy, even when we visited in August there was only 8 people by the pool.

The old town is a little further to walk possibly 15-20 minutes but there is a tourist train which takes you straight there or the taxi rank is around the corner and only cost around 4 euros.

The bus stop for Zoomarina and Crazy World are also only a few minutes walk away. It is an ideal base for whatever you want from your holiday.

We have already booked for March next year and can’t wait!

Well situated for the 'Strip' (not so close as to be affected by noise) with supermarkets (and excellent bakery) reasonably close at hand. Very clean and well stocked with just about everything you could wish for in terms of equipment (except oven, but that certainly wasn't a problem for us). Plenty of parking space and quite close to several splendid beaches (10 to 15 minute walk from beach quoted might be a bit ambitious, but certainly not that far). I would certainly use this place again.

We have never booked a holiday in this way before and therefore were a bit nervous at first. However we shouldn't have worried as the whole experience from booking to coming home was fantastic. We chose this apartment for two reasons firstly the fact that it was close to the main areas of Albufeira and secondly because of the reviews that the property already had.

We did not hire a car and asked the owners to arrange our transport to and from the airport. This cost €55 return but was money well spent as Ricky gave us some invaluable advice on the way in and pointed out the local supermarket etc to us.

When we got to the apartment it was quite warm already and it was a godsend to be able to put on the air conditioning while we unpacked.

The apartment is very clean and has a balcony with a table and some chairs so you can sit outside with a drink in the early evening before you go out to eat.

Our daughter who was 5 years old at the time enjoyed watching the DVD 'Madagascar' several times while having a 'siesta' and there was a good selection of other films if you wanted to watch them.

We found it very helpful that the apartment had a reasonable sized safe in the main cupbaord as this meant we didn't need to worry about the passports, money, cameras and DS's etc being stolen while we were out.

The apartment is in a great location as it is literally 5 mins walk from the Montechoro Strip. However due to the fact that the apartment is behind the Strip you do not get much noise which is great when you have a young child with you. The nearest supermarket is again about 5 mins walk away (Pingo Doce) but if you don't mind walking a bit further we found that the Modelo had greater choice and better prices.

There are lots of places to eat on and off the Strip and in the Old Town but a few of our favourites included 'Wild & Co' (Strip) which is a great Steakhouse if you are feeling a bit flush, 'Three Crowns' (Old Town) which is a traditional Portugese restaurant built into the old town wall and has a great view of the bay and 'Big Shanghai' a 5 star Chinese restaurant which is always packed but not a 5 star price. When you are there it is worth picking up a copy of 'Freemaps' which show a selection of retaurants and bars which they recommend a visit to. There are separate maps for both the Old Town and The Strip.

Excursion wise you must visit Zoomarine and if you fancy something a bit different a trip to Fiesa (sand sculptures). Enjoy!