“very enjoyable”

A beautiful, good quality four-star, although some facilities are an extra charge (eg Gym & Indoor Pool)

“Great Hotel, Skip Dinner”

Hotel: Hotel was clean and in pleasant surroundings. Beautiful pools and grounds and close to the ocean and beach - 5 minute walk over strret and railway track. The rooms and hotel were very neat and clean. Had free internet when it was working. Staff were helpful and pleasant. Not much in terms of entainment . Food: The dining room served breakfast and dinner while a cafe at the pool served lunch. The breakfast was a buffett and served the usual fare with fresh cooked eggs, variety of foods with fruit ( sometimes not ripe ). Adequate meal with juices but very hard to get hot water for tea ( water was tap warm ). Dinner was also buffett but again the food was barely warm and not fully appetitizing.. The hotel gave me a coupon for a bottle of their house wine (only choice of wine in the hotel ) to entice us to eat there. The fee was 40 euros for a couple at their dining room. Water was not free . After eating on our first night at the dining room, we ate the rest of our dinners in the town of Lagos. The restaurants in Lagos were all pleasant and the food was good, at times great, and reasonablly priced. Water had to be paid for. Usually paid between 25-30 euros for a dinner with a small bottle of house wine. The atomsphere in town was romantic and very appealing. I would strongly recommend skipping the dining room and going to the town centre for your dinner meal. You will be entained in the side walk tables and the people walking along the streets.

“Nice hotel. Very modern. Beautiful pool. Great breakfast buffet.”

My daughter and I stayed at this hotel for 2 nights. The desk staff was very friendly and helpful. The hotel is very modern and sleek looking. The pool and surrounding area was beautiful. The hotel was fairly close to the marina and town area where there were many restaurants and shops. The bus, however, cost almost as much as a taxi. The breakfast buffet was huge with a wide variety of foods that would please almost anyone. Very pleasant experience.

“Spring at the Vila Gale.”

We were very impressed with this hotel. It was clean, the rooms were comfortable and the staff were very attentive. It is also close to the beach. There was a good choice at the buffet breakfast each morning. We are planning on visiting again in the near future

“Has potential but doesn't deliver”

Best features: - a very large pool - clean, well maintained hotel - very near to a great beach Worst features: - Food: no variety at all over 9 nine days in breakfast buffet and the 1 dinner we had in the hotel was pretty poor. - Staff really look like they are not enjoying their jobs. - Lack of facilities - despite large grounds very little has been provided, e.g. no table tennis or similar and what is provided is all chargeable, e.g. £7/hour for use of pool table. - Hotel design - I like contemporary and yet this was way of the mark as it lacked any sense of comfort and luxury. Some of this could be addressed simply by upgrading towels and bedding and removing some of the misguided decoration (e.g. mannequins). Others are more difficult to address e.g. the way that sound travels in the hotel meaning your room is rarely quiet.

“Good choice but no charm”

We stayed in Vila Gale in July 2010. This is a new hotel located not far from Lagos (half hour walk). Since the hotel is new everything still works. All rooms face swimming pool (no rooms face the parking lot). The swimming pool is large, and has nice facilities (showers, changing rooms, bar). Yet, clear efforts to be modern and original have not been quite successful. The building looks heavy, color schemes are odd and all design lines are too simple. Every room has a balcony, but they lack privacy. The staff tries to be very helpful, but behaves a bit like good students following the textbook. Maybe they will pick up some flare with time. Buffet breakfast is OK, but nothing to write home about. The surroundings are ugly. Fortunately, once one crosses the road and the railroad track, one gets to a beautiful beach. One can walk east for about an hour one way on fine yellow sand. Forget the swimming pool, swimming in the ocean is great. Also, the old part of Lagos is nice, with many open-air restaurants and bars. Worth making a trip. In general, Vila Gale and Lagos in general is an OK choice (seems better that most other modern hotels and towns in the area) unless you look for old European charm and flair.

“Not impressed”

We spent the majority of our trip to Portugal staying in bed & breakfasts. Vila Gale was our one "luxury" hotel, and we chose it for a relaxing 3 nights at the beach. We've stayed in luxury hotels before, and this hotel did not compare. Here are the few salient points: room service does NOT exist; WiFi is spotty at best; food selection and quality are mediocre; the live entertainment in the bar area that they say they have every night; does NOT exist (not even on the weekends when we were there); the pool towels are as thin as paper; the staff is friendly, but clueless (they constantly gave us misinformation; could have been a language issue - they were the least-english-speaking staff we encountered in all of Portugal, and our Portugese is minimal). The room was clean and semi-comfortable. The pool was nice, though you had to get there by 11am to get a spot. The beach is not too far a walk. For anything other than the beach, you have to drive into town. Lagos itself is a great town, and I highly recommend visiting this area of Portugal - just don't stay at Vila Gale!

“Lagos May 2010”

Very nice modern and clean hotel, only let down was gate being shut at back of the hotel meaning the walk to the beach was twice as long and a long wait to get served at the bar.

“Lovely winter break”

Went to stay at the Vila Gale hotel at the end of January and couldn't have wished for a nicer hotel to enjoy some winter sun. The hotel is very new so everything is in excellent condition. The buffet breakfast that is included in the price was excellent with a choice of cooked or continental. The rooms are spacious with very comfortable beds and a large balcony if it is warm enough to sit outside. The hotel has a very nice spa with a lovely pool, sauna and steam room though there is a small charge to use this. Outside there is a very large pool overlooking the ocean. The hotel is about a 20 minute walk into Lagos old town but we used taxi's in the evenings. I would definetly recommend this hotel and would stay again if i was in Lagos.