Alvor Baia Resort Hotel

A terrible experience at this hotel and, having travelled fairly extensively, this is hands down the worst place I have stayed at. I found the hotel to be very intolerant of children, and in particular, one member of the animation team who was close to abusive. Location wise it’s an unpleasant walk to the old town. Would 100% not recommend. There’s so much choice in this area - please choose better than Alvor Baia.

Great family holiday at the Alvor Baia. We had visited beautiful Alvor in 2023, so were familiar with the surroundings. Hotel room was clean, modern and spacious with a huge balcony overlooking the sports courts which my sons made heavy use of! Plenty to do activity wise within the hotel and it is within easy reach of the beach and bustling village on foot or by cheap Uber if you prefer. Weather fabulous for October, we were very lucky. Would recommend for families or single adults travelling with or without children.

Just on the last few days of our 11night holiday. We have had a fab time but have been pretty unlucky with the weather. Positives - Food- always found something to eat lots of choices and the kebabs at lunch were lovely. Would just like to have seen cold meats at lunch time. Rooms- the rooms are lovely easily slept our family 4 with lots of space and were cleaned daily to a really high standard. The hotel grounds are kept immaculate. Staff - all staff were lovely and helpful. Beach Bus - quick and reliable Negatives - Entertainment - absolutely nothing to do for older children when the weather is cooler. We are used to archery, football, waterpolo etc and didnt see anything and my kids are 10/12 and ready to climb the wall. They can play paddle with an additional cost of 24€ an hour. Rooms - the beds and pillows are the worst I’ve ever had in a hotel like lying on a board waking up with a stiff neck daily. The hotel has the potential to shine but for 4* they need to review the whole entertainment side of things. Lovely stay Thank you

This is a large hotel with many positives and negatives. The weather and large groups of junior sports teams from Spain played a part in the mixed experience. The positives: very clean throughout; excellent staff particularly the bar, restaurant and room cleaning staff. They were very welcoming and positive. The central location of the hotel to other areas we wanted to see (Lagos, Portimao, Praia da Rocha and the beach at Praia do Tres Irmaos) made Uber very cheap. The free and regular bus to Alvor beach was handy, as you could also then walk up the boardwalk along the river front to old Alvor and it’s bars and cafes. The size of the hotels pool area meant it never seemed crowded, even when the sun did eventually appear! With better, warmer weather the pool area would have been used far far more. The food in the restaurant, although pretty similar each day, was good - especially seafood choices. The negatives: it is not ideal if you want to walk to the beach or down into old Alvor with a young family. The hotel, for some reason, allows smoking and vaping in any outdoor space. This made the pool and outside bar area particularly unpleasant for the rest of us. Every other hotel we have stayed in, including the Algarve, does not allow this. The hotel should designate a smoking/ vaping area well away from communal areas such as the poolside bar. The excessive noise until past midnight around the pool bar area echoes right round the rooms facing the pool. The soundproofing is non-existent. Large groups of Spanish sports teams (and in particular their adult staff chaperones) made our first two nights close to intolerable. We requested a room change to the further end of the hotel, upwind from the noise from the pool area, and to be fair the staff (with the help of our rep) got us moved on Sunday. Our advice is don’t ask for a pool view as this will inevitably mean a lot of noise until after 2300 or even midnight. The pool bar does not shut until midnight! In a family resort this is going to be too late for some. A mountain/ inland view room will be far quieter. You would also get the sun first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. The charge for the indoor pool is very excessive, considering it is quite small. The sports facilities (unless you join the animation / kids club activities) are expensive, although the facilities are good. There is limited indoor space, which in April was needed in the evening. In the summer peak season it may not be such an issue as the evening temperatures will be warm and most activities will be outside. Finally, although the rooms are spacious, modern and (as stated earlier) very clean, the beds leave a lot to be desired. It was by some distance, the most uncomfortable bed we have ever slept on in a hotel in Europe. Our son’s bed was less of an issue for him, but still wasn’t of the standard we would expect from a big, modern hotel. One further practical observation; We also needed far more coat hangers than were provided. An average family of 3 or 4 will certainly need extra. Storage space for clothes also needs to improve, as there is lots of wasted space in the rooms that a family would ideally need for drawers or proper shelving. Despite the above, and certainly after things quietened down after the Sunday, we had a nice week in the hotel and got out to see some of our favourite places.

The good: very clean, very spacious rooms, food and drink both decent (if a little repetitive), massive pool with no bed wars, very pleasant and helpful staff. The bad: location is a taxi ride from Alvor town and a bus ride to the beach, all three bars have ZERO atmosphere, the single on site shop sells little more than pool inflatables and fag's, entertainment is meagre for kids and non existant for adults. The ugly: can be noisy at night, be it rampaging football kids, drunken guests or (bizarrely) barking dogs! There is also a plucky rooster who helpfully starts cock-o-doodling at the first glint of light on the horizon every morning.