Vila Gale Atlantico - Albufeira, Portugal     

The hotel room was very clean and had good kitchen facilities. Only problems I had were the hotel food being very average especially if you go all inclusive you very quickly get bored of the food. Snacks during the day comprised only of only ham/cheese sandwiches and icecream. The good thing was the beach (which was beautiful) was 3 minutes walk but very remote and no shops to browse or take a walk along.

We have just returned from the Vila Gale Atlantico and I have to say the experience was pretty average. The hotel is in a quiet area close to a great beach with plenty of restaurants within walking distance or a short cab ride away. It is clean and well maintained and most rooms are large with good sea views. Most of the clientele are German or Scandinavian with quite a few Portuguese also staying. Whilst the majority are elderly a lot of families with pre school age children and babies choose to stay in the appartments within the hotel. The pool is a fair size but I would suggest probably not big enough for the number of guests, that being said there wasn't a problem getting a sun bed as there are sufficient and most people were sensible with very few early morning towel leavers. We stayed on a B & B basis and were glad we did as the food was tasteless. Breakast was usually a scrum down and whilst the food was bland it was plentiful but there wasn't enough room for people to move around without bumping into others. One poor evening meal was sufficient to encourage us not to return and there was the added bonus of young children running around making as much noise as possible whilst the parents looked on adoringly. (Likewise at the pool on occasions) As stated previously the rooms are more than adequate but there are a couple of gripes. The beds are very hard and have a rubber sheet inserted between the mattress and bottom sheet presumably for hygiene reasons but it makes it very noisy just turning over in bed. The floors are all tiled and you can hear your neighbours clumping about in the late night or early morning, this can also make the rooms very echoey and you can hear doors, cupboards opening and shutting etc. There is the usual evening entertainment every night in the hotel lobby which again is too small for the purpose but the europeans seem to love it, and whilst extremely loud it does not impact too much on the rest of the hotel and finishes at midnight. The hotel staff are mostly friendly (apart from the two grumps at the pool bar) and willing to assist but the often understaffed reception can get very busy so anticipate delays. The indoor pool and spa is fairly nice but not properly supervised, On one occasion we were there a couple of teenagers were playing with a beach ball and interfering with the swimming of other users. The gym costs 7.50 euros to use and is the first hotel I've stayed in where they charge you. Bearing in mind this is a 4 star hotel compare it with the reviews of it's sister hotel, Vila Gale Praia (also 4 star) and see the difference. Overall I think I've been fair in my assessment and would suggest this is a family orientated hotel and unsuitable for couples or groups who have been there and done that.