4/10 Poor
Anne C.
3 Aug 2017
Property was 'down at heel'. Garden was nice but in parts unsafe for children.
Directions to the property were poor; when we eventually found it, no-one was there. Fortunately we found a neighbour who contacted the owner's representative, and we gained entry about an hour later.
The house had not been prepared, not cleaned etc.
The bed arrangements were unsatisfactory: the 'master' bedroom had two single beds pushed together - I have never slept in such an uncomfortable bed. Three of the single beds were on upstairs landings, and so children did not get to sleep easily.
The kitchen was very poorly equipped - no bread knife, no cereal bowls, no wine glasses, to name but a few.
The downstairs toilet did have a shower (as advertised), but it was full of 'stuff', which wasn't cleared out until several days after our arrival.
The outdoor pool was super, but no cleaning equipment was provided, and it was very difficult to get anyone to do anything about it. A poolside room which was part-built lacked safety fencing, resulting in an unprotected sheer drop of about 4 metres. The grass needed cutting when we arrived and it was not done until halfway through our two-week stay.
I was in frequent contact, by email, with the owner, who lives in Switzerland; none of his his local representatives spoke English, so we had to get by in French, as we don't speak Portuguese.
There was a complete lack of information about the area, or shops, doctors, etc.
Two of the owner's relatives, who did speak English, came by to try and help. They were quite shocked at the state of the property and lack of welcome.
The final straw came on our morning of departure - cleaners arrived shortly after 8am, and by 9am three of their children were using the pool!!
This is a beautiful area of Portugal and despite the disappointments of the property we really enjoyed our holiday. But in several respects it was unsuitable/unsafe for children, and we wouldn't consider staying there again.