Our objective was a quiet holiday, walking along the coast in the mornings, lounging around the pool in the afternoons.
Alegre was a great home from home providing a lot of privacy with only the side of another villa (on a lower level) within view.
The estate of 9 villa’s is lovely and quiet. The other Villas are like mansions. Alegre is the smallest, but can easily accommodate 6 adults. It’s bigger than the photographs show. It also has a roof terrace and lovely garden that is well maintained. I enjoyed walking down to the recycle area each evening (glass of wine in hand) admiring the properties and gardens on the way.
A rental car is essential.
We programmed many beach car parks from Albufeira to Lagos into the Sat Nav, which made exploring easy.
It is possible to walk to the nearest beach. However, it is not a nice walk. Equally, the walk to the local shops/bars/restaurants is not great, so we choose to drive. The advantage is that so many nice and convenient places can be reached in a very short time by car including spectacular beaches, Algarve Shopping Centre, Splash Parks and Zoo Marine to name just a few. Apolonia is a good sized supermarket about 5 minutes drive that has everything you could need.
Rui, his team and everyone we met in Portugal were very friendly. Even the car rental people!
The communication with Rui was excellent, very fast responses. I was very comfortable that we had made a good choice after the first contact. Being able to pay through the HomeAway site also adds confidence.
The villa is a mature property. The kitchen in particular is a little tired. However, it is very clean and has everything you could possibly need. The Sat TV has loads of English TV. The WiFi is strong even out by the pool. 2 cute friendly cats come around in the evenings to entertain the guests, or looking for leftover Piri Piri Chicken. Probably the latter.
Top Tip; On the day of arrival, to avoid going out for dinner after a long day travelling, the Tenis Pizzeria delivers great pizza and pasta direct to the villa.
I have scored the villa 5 stars. I would have scored 6 if more information leaflets for the local area and attractions were provided. Perhaps menus for local restaurants, takeaway and delivery services. The provision of charcoal for the BBQ would be a welcome gesture and a makeover for the kitchen would help. I have recommended the villa to my friends/family and hope to return very soon. The only real negative was having to leave.