Bela Vista Hotel & Spa

Disappointing Experience. Not a Relais and Chateaus experience. Design/Style/Quality-5 -ish star yes, but otherwise sorry to say, NO. Beautiful place for novices, but for experienced seasoned travelers, things are in need of obvious improvement. Blatant Note: I had previously written a rather nasty scathing trip advisor review when we returned, mainly due to the fact that the management did adequately not resolve my numerous issues, ( or bother) nor did they even remotely attempt to apologize- (which is really the worst part of it, ) basically just defending their position, unyielding in any way, and offering zero in terms of compensation/consideration for us for all that we suffered- of which resulted in my being very angry. In retrospect, I deleted my review and will instead, despite my still being upset due to their total apathy, I shall now offer a more candid review. Hote: You could have solved much of my issues with sincerity and small gestures of kindness, but you did not. And so, you failed 1. Arrival was very pleasant and professional and welcoming. Stiff, but welcoming never-the-less from (Vera) 2. The location of the Hotel, as everyone has pointed out is simply undesirable. It is very strange to have this beautiful place on this pedestrian busy street w/thousands walking by reveling. Loud, noisy and cheap stores. You are buzzed into the gate by friendly Bela Vista staff members who greet you upon arrival. 3. The Hotel is very beautiful and cheerful. It is true. The staff for the most part is very good and upbeat. It is exceptionally well designed and thoughtfully appointed. The service is good; staff members are for the most part very attentive. Especially in Portugal where everything is a slow paced. Much of this is likely due to the fact that there are primarily Americans at this hotel from NY and NJ so the staff is accustomed to this. The PROBLEM is the Management. 4. Rooms are lovely, but quite small. There are no dressers, just armoires. It is tight, especially for what you are paying (top dollar) AND, especially more-so when the rest of Portugal is quite reasonable. You expect more when paying $1100 for tiny room. $1100 per night is an exorbitant rate for Portugal ( esp for a standard level room) and therefore one expects top service. We were initially very excited to visit this spectacular "looking" place set up on a cliff. By the looks of it where their website makes it appears as if it is a secluded private location built on a cliff. IT IS NOT. Plain and simple, it is a lovely place, but it is located on an incredibly busy pedestrian blocks with cheap shops and locals who literally spend their entire day on the beach. You will not believe. PS: your driver also cannot park near the hotel, so you must walk to find them and make your way through the mobs of people. It is far from elegant. May we suggest staying in Faro. Lovely historic old town and great restaurants and shopping. One would expect Bela Vista to be in a chic area. In any event, you are not. And it is also not near the beach. IT IS A HIKE to get there, so much so that you feel like saying "forget it as it is too far. It is also SO immensely crowded by locals, and so un-chic -it's just not worth it. Miles and miles of public beach. No chaises to rent, no umbrellas, -no uniformity. Bela Vista pool is quite nice, and quiet--so that is the place to go. In any event, we spent three nights, and ate well and enjoyed, (breakfast excellent) on the lovely terrace overlooking the water) but our room we had so many problems with smells, and TV and phones not working (despite what THEY say!) that it took away from things and pre-occupied me dealing with it on vacation. For example: we had terrible odors in the room, and we were given perfume diffusers (4) to ameliorate the odor. They claim to have spent $ millions on the plumbing...I don't know. In any event, we had so many problems I do not care to get into it,,they know the truth. We entered n an exceptionally high note & sadly left on a sour note and that was solely and only due to the management which is just inept and poor and uncaring- The fact is that sadly, they do not care whether you are happy or unhappy. because their occupancy is 1001% -SAD. They could have done so much but chose to do so little-and so they end up with my negative review, and us not returning. I did not cause this, you did.

Beautiful place and top notch service. Even though the area got touristy the hotel has maintained its reputation and charm. The service is incredible and even when I was a little sick they brought me crackers and tea.

We really wanted to like this place! 1st the good: Breakfast was the highlight of our stay. Served on a beautiful terrace overlooking the ocean, it had a great hot and cold selection. It was a pleasure to linger every morning. The pool area is very pleasant and relaxing, although the deck is in desperate need of restraining. The bar serves good snacks and we enjoyed our time by the pool. The main house is colorful and well restored, and is what you see on the website pictures. Now the bad: We had a junior suite with an ocean view in the garden house with an extra bed set up for our daughter in the living room (sliding doors). We were charged an extra 200 E per night for it. We wrote ahead to ask for a balcony. When we arrived we were told that a room with a balcony was not available. The room was pleasant looking, but uncomfortable in almost every respect. Not a single dresser to unpack. Narrow sliding door closet. Room door was broken twice, and we had to call reception. Little ants were crawling all over including my daughter’s bed; we did not call for fear they would spray with harsh chemicals while we were there. The bathroom was so very dated. Imagine plastic counter and walls; no tile or stone anywhere. No place to plug in your phone by the bed; one outlet on each side, and one of the 2 was occupied by the hotel phone. So you had unplug theirs to plug in yours. WiFi did not work 2 out 4 nights we were there. We called, and nothing was done. The room had a view of the ocean, but the building itself is over the parking lot which ruins the setting and the view. Finally, the hotel location itself (and this is not their fault), is very unpleasant. Its on a seedy commercial street that lacks any European charm. Think Myrtle beach. Its extremely crowded and full of greasy eateries, tattoo parlors and 1 dollar souvenir shops. Overall, if you are looking for an elegant European seaside experience, this is not it.

Spent an incredible 2 days at this gem of a hotel in Portimao. Algarve. The pool is gorgeous, the service and breakfasts were exceptional. Big shout out to Edwardo at the front desk. He gave us a tour of the hotel and history at 1am..he’s amazing! The only bad thing..and not a knock on the hotel but it is hard to get to by car if you are going by Uber.

The building of the Bela Vista Hotel is stunning, the staff is extremely friendly and helpful and the food is delicious! Having breakfast outside with a beautiful view on the sea is priceless. The downside of this beautiful story is the location of the hotel in a busy street with lots of loud bars and consequently a lot of excessive noise at night until early in the morning... Therefore, we didn't sleep well at all. We stayed in a room on the top floor in the side building and the room/bathroom definitely need a bit of renovation. The comfortable beds were made daily, but a thorough daily cleaning would be recommended, certainly in this price range. Unfortunately, we had a serious ant problem in the room. The staff did their utmost best to fix it, but the insects could not be exterminated completely. The food and the staff were the two aspects that made our stay worthwhile!