Iberostar Selection Lagos Algarve

We stayed for two weeks in July and thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed B&B because we wanted to explore the local restaurants and can highly recommend this approach. We did eat in the hotel one night and it was amazing. Loads of choices of fresh high quality food. The breakfasts were excellent and the staff were always very friendly and professional. The restaurant area overlooks the pool and sea, and with ample space, is a lovely place to eat. My only slight grumble was the bar staff, at the poolside and main lobby bar, didn’t seem to know what gluten-free beer was for a while, let alone stock it. I asked twice at reception before a duty manager assured me it would be stocked in all the bars. The hotel later made a nice gesture of leaving a gluten-free brownie in our room to acknowledge the dietary requirement. However, only 3-4 days later they ran out of beer. I’m sure it wasn’t all me.! I actually found it strange how many bars in Lagos didn’t know what gluten-free beer was, and often didn’t cater for this diet, because in Spain it’s very common. Location wise, the hotel is on the seafront but separated from the beach by a road and rail track. The beaches are very clean and not crowded this far out of town. It’s a short drive or longer walk into Lagos harbour and old town where there are hundreds of great bars and restaurants. We often walked in and taxied back for €5-€9. The hotel itself was spotlessly clean and is modern, calm and comfortable. Our rooms were cleaned every day and beds turned down each night. The rooms have an open bathroom with a cool mirrored toilet/shower door. We liked it but I’m not sure our teenage kids appreciated that.!? The pools were both spotless too, with some entertainment at the main pool area most days. On that, our kids are teenagers and were bored stiff. There is no activities or sports for teens and nowhere for them to gather and meet others. We saw plenty bored teenagers but they’re not great at making friends unless there’s a reason to meet. Not even a pool table. We thought a beach volleyball pitch/tennis court at the lower pool area would be a great addition and probably tempt us back. Without that though we’d probably look for something more suitable for the whole family.

General: Overall I would recommend the hotel and you will have a lovely time there. I’ve given it a 5/5 rating because of the things that matter most to us were very good, although there are elements that could be better. We loved the wristband which had your key (chip) embedded in it. Not had this before but it was so useful. This chip was also what you used to pay for anything. The hotel is very modern, clean and lots of large spaces. Use the app whilst you are there too. You can message reception etc, see the activities for the day, menus and again something I’ve not seen before is you get an automated message when your room has been cleaned!

Location: For me it was perfectly located. 3-4mins by taxi to Lagos town centre. It was in a quiet location. 5-7 minute walk (2 songs on my iPhone!) to a small supermarket (crisps, drinks, snacks, ice cream). We didn’t go to the beach but it’s across the road and sand dunes. Looked lovely though. There are a couple of restaurants/bars between the hotel and the beach.

Getting about: Use Uber or Bolt. Loads of taxis available all the time. Extremely good value. Our taxi fares varied from 4 euros up to 7 euros to get from the hotel to Lagos town centre. Typical wait time was 5 minutes.

Service: All the employees were friendly and pleasant. Service was always there when you needed it (eg drinks whilst at the pool). I get the feeling the staff don’t feel empowered to make decisions that are right thing even if they may not be from the text book. For example - the conference room was used for all the World Cup matches (which was brilliant). I asked if the Wimbledon tennis quarter final could be shown (in the afternoon - no clash with the football) but the reception staff member just said a point blank “no” it’s was for the football only. This definitely fell into the “won’t” not “can’t” territory. There was a couple of other smaller examples too. Be careful when they come to fill your room minibar - half the time they knocked but then walked straight in, not waiting for you to answer.

Staff to call out: Nuno who supported us on arrival was excellent. Katrina - part of the entertainment team.

Rooms: We had a Priority Location Sea View Double. This was on the 6th floor of the main part of the building (above reception and the restaurant/lobby bar). The view was great. The room was a good size, even with our 10 year old on a pull out type bed. In terms of other room types, as you may have seen on other reviews, the private pool suites (6 of them all on the 5th floor) are overlooked by the rooms we were in on the 6th floor, as their balcony/veranda extends out. The pool suites looked nice (very large veranda with tables/chairs and sunbeds with a canopy) if you don’t mind being over looked. I enquired about a Junior Suite when we arrived and had a look at one but there’s no point as it is literally just the same as the normal room but 1 metre longer - everything else is the same.

Pools: There are 3 pools (plus a small kids pool). We spent most of our time in the upper pool (near the restaurants). It had a bit more of a vibe and was closer to our room. If you have kids and want to play with anything like balls etc, you have to go to the lower pool. Sunbeds were great. Very comfortable. There were always beds available. Only one time when we came down at lunch time did we have to go to the lower pool as they were all taken by the top pool.

Restaurants: We stayed on a B&B basis. The buffet restaurant for breakfast was great. It had everything we wanted. Large selection of everything you’d want. It had sparkling wine as part of it if you wanted. We had the dinner buffet one evening. Not price competitive with eating out (buffet was 47 euros per adult and 23.50 euros per child - plus drinks) - although water was included. This was a very good buffet. Lots of choice and very good quality. Good for kids too. We ate out in the local town for all other nights (see below for tips). The snack restaurant was fine. Could do with a better selection.

Entertainment: There was something on pretty much every night. Mainly music. Had a magic show one night. All pretty good. They had various other activities during the week eg wine tasting, liquor tasting, soap making, bingo etc.

Lagos town centre: I would highly recommend going to Lagos for the back streets with lots of small restaurants. There are also lots of shops and bars. We ate there all bar one night trying a different restaurant each night. Our bills for 2 adults and 1 child(10) came to about 80-90 euros each time (including a 10% tip). We ate on the marina side one evening (Quay Restaurant) which was good but you must venture over to the other side of the water for far more choice etc. There’s a foot bridge (also a drawbridge) to get to the other side or just get the taxi to the other side anyway. The best restaurants we ate at were Kisa, Tanninos, Scaruccio, Quay. Don’t go to Bahia - food and value is not as good as the town centre restaurants.

Other: We went to Slide and Splash - a water park about 30 mins way (20 euros by Bolt). It was excellent. Would highly recommend.

A truly wonderful hotel with plenty of staff and amazing facilities. The food was delicious, live cooking stations were really good. The staff were incredibly welcoming and helpful, with no exceptions. The location is brilliant only a short 5-minute stroll to a beautiful, long sandy beach. It is the perfect spot for a peaceful getaway. Will be back.