3HB Falesia Mar

We stayed in one of the ‘traditional’ apartments. I found the apartment size to be great. The kitchen area was very clean & so were all the plates, cups, glasses etc… However…..the bathroom was awful! It was dark, dated & had no window or extractor fan which meant that it smelt damp all the time. There was also a stale smell of urine as the toilet appeared to have a bit of a slow leak. Housekeeping was not good either! We started the week with female cleaners which were great but then make cleaners started coming & honestly, they were useless!! Just did the bare minimum & left. There was a huge TV in the lounge & it had loads of English channels which was perfect when we had a couple of drizzly mornings.

We stayed half board. The breakfast was fantastic! So much choice. Dinner was also good but it appeared to have a weekly menu & as we stayed for 12 nights we found it quite boring having the same meals second time around…. I have to follow a gluten free diet & found the main dining room very good. Everything was labelled & there was always at least one gluten free dessert. At breakfast there was always a gluten free cake available which was amazing & something I’ve never experienced anywhere that I’ve travelled to. I was so impressed!

The poolside restaurant was a huge disappointment as apart from salad there was nothing gluten free for me. No chips, no rice, no potatoes. Nothing!! I was very disappointed. Because of this my family went out to eat pretty much every afternoon. I was also disappointed with the fact that the hotel sells tiny 330ml bottles of water for €1.50! These bottles are for children under 5 - NOT grown adults! The restaurants on the beach sold 500ml bottles for the same price so we just went there or bought some from the supermarket.

Evening entertainment was horrendous! The worst we’ve seen by far….. We would’ve purchased more drinks from the bar if it had been something worth watching…..but instead we just went back to our room.

I should also add that the furniture on the balcony was old & filthy!! That wouldn’t be acceptable in a hostel - never mind a 3 star hotel.

I’ve scored this review 4/5 but in all honesty a 3.5/5 would’ve been more appropriate. The views of the beach are really what sells this hotel. I did enjoy myself but I definitely wouldn’t return,

One of the best Restaurants good food had a Wellington employee one of the best people who was there antencioso cared about us now the others just playing inattentive without posture to be there and also the hotel itself was great

Me and my partner booked this hotel for an 8 night stay in July and my only regrets are not booking longer and not upgrading to a deluxe room, not because there was any issue with a standard room but because if the standard room was as nice as we experienced, I’d love to see the deluxe! First of all the organisation of the hotel was excellent, plenty of friendly staff on site all doing different jobs who really make you feel like they want to do their upmost best to provide you an amazing service, the rooms very tidy almost felt like we were at home with the kitchen and the comfy sofa bed in the living room! Bed was slightly hard not the best mattress to sleep on but that’s to me being fussy, maids do a fantastic job to keep your room spotless day in day out, even folded our clothes for us which was not expected at all! Our balcony had 3 swallows nests in them which caused them to constantly fly onto the balcony and quite close to you everytime, at first I couldn’t relax with how many were constantly coming to the balcony, I reported to hotel and they offered to swap rooms in the end just got used to the swallows and ignored them but if someone has a phobia of birds this would certainly be a problem as there was a lot of them around the hotel and we spotted other nests on other balconies, the standard balcony was shaded away from the sun so if you want plenty of sunbathing on your balcony again this could be a problem! Book sea view! We booked on a half board basis to avoid the low standard of food all inclusive offers and it was the best decision, we usually find ourselves booking all inclusive and eating out every day after day 1, but not here we didn’t want to miss out on what Falesia restraunt was serving! The breakfast is absolutley amazing, plenty of choice but we couldn’t resist the traditional english breakfast every day! The dinner again plenty of choice, from local portuguese dishes, to english dishes, sushi, vegan food etc etc… A fabulous variety with different options every night and a stunning cliffside view to eat your food if you sit outside. Always sun loungers available any time of the day but half the hotel was being renovated so this did help, I feel like it would be quite hectic if it was fully booked. The beach again beautiful, but not quite clear waters like we were hoping, quite musky and we were hoping to snorkel but couldn’t see a thing, the steps down to the beach could be a slight issue for older people or people with disabilities but for ourselves they weren’t a problem, just needed a breather when we got back up 😅. Obrigado to the best holiday hotel we have stayed in as a couple. We will be back with our little one in years to come that’s for sure. Goodbye for now 3HB Falesia!