Apartamentos Turisticos Alvormar - Alvor, Portugal     

My husband and I stayed at the Alvor Mar appartments for 4 nights last week. We stumbled across it by chance and it suited our needs perfectly. Not too expensive but clean and very well situated. It was near enough the centre of Alvor so that you could walk in for an evening meal in 5 minutes but far enough away that you don't hear any noise...not that there's that much in Alvor anyway. The beach was a 750m walk away across wasteland but we had a hire car so gave in to the temptation to take that each day. The beach is beautiful, 3km long with some nice but expensive places for lunch if you fancy it, we took a picnic each day but the toilet facilities were free to use and were clean. Alvor is a lovely little town with some absolutely fantastic restaurants, I'd recommend Vagabond (their roof terrace is lovely - we actually had to book to get a table there) or any of the fish restaurants near the marina.

The Alvomar Apartments are situated on a slight hill in the town centre. You do hear some noise but no enough to really disturb you. The Apartments themselves are a good size but other facilities very limited. Only a small pool and surrounding area. It is much more personal than some of the large hotels on the outskirts of Alvor. The town itself has some cobbled streets, good restaurants and if you like fish try one by the harbourside. One word of caution Fish is charged by weight and you do not know the cost until the bill is presented. We got stung one evening by what we thought was an excessive cost. Alvor has plenty to do without being completely commercialised.