Holiday Village Algarve

no depth of water. There's also an indoor pool that I did not use because it was just too nice, not to be outside in the Sun.

There's an excellent football academy for kids of all abilities, run by Craig and Natalie. The course is run in the mornings from 10 to 12pm and works out at around 15 euro per day. The course is great fun and the training is varied every day which helps the kids developed skills that they didn't even know that they had.

The high ropes is a must for all ages. It's an obstacle course that's raised about 8th foot off of the ground and is attended by the most professional and patient, hardworking club representatives that I've come across. They are so good with everyone and especially those with any fear of heights at all. First choice, First class.

There are stage classes run by Razzamataz for the aspiring actors/singers and great fun was had by all, with a stage presentation on the final night. Excellent value and great for confidence building.

The food in the hotel varied every day and I must say that it was top class. Freshly baked pizza is a must. There was something for everyone, even the faddy eaters. With all inclusive, you get one visit each week to the Italian and Portuguese restaurant on-site. Both of these are just scrumptious.

The staff in the hotel are fantastic and always have a smile for the guests. Service is prompt and nothing is a problem.

Location is ideal for families as the older teenagers of clubbing age tend to want hotels nearer to town. Taxi ride to centre is about five minutes and costs only 4 euro.

past 9 anyway so never saw any of the \"adult\" entertainment. Didn;t hear anyone else moan about it though.

We stayed mostly by the water slide pool as older child loved it, the orange slide was a slow one and ok for even youn kids, the blue slide is very quick and someone broke their collar bone whilst we were there. Lots of shocked people flung about. Needs a prominent sign. The pool has a couple of large holes in the base which, in my opinion, will result in a broken ankle at some point, the holes are pudding bowl sized. Base of pool also ripping away in multiple places. pool is not cleaned like others. Lifeguards spend more time texting and chatting to marta at the bar than concentrating on children running backwards up the slide etc. oh well.

food was good although quite repetetive, italian night had meatballs with olives, oriental nigth would have meatballs with onions and sultanas and then mexican night would have meatballs with spicy sauce, you get the gist. the first 3 nights you are surprised, then its same old same old. apple crumble was good though. Older chef was quite grumpy. I found all of the other staff very friendly and happy.

overall was great, we\'d go back, i can\'t wait for more chocco chocco and cartoon heroes ;o)

hour sessions)fully supervised and something different on in each session! at night they also ran a 2 hour session so we could enjoy the entertainment in peace!Which brings me to the entertainers Dotty spotty socks,Sean,Jenna,Sarah,Micheal,DJ Smify,and Kayleigh, they deserve a medal for their energy and enthusiasm considering they are there every night from april till end of oct.!they were great!Also the children learnt to swim thanks to Gemma their coach she was the best and she had loads of patience!!thanks! Hope To Go Back Again!!!!!!!!!

end furthest from the bar and thank god \'cause it stayed opent until 1am and was very noisy. Luckily we couldn;t hear it at our end but I pity the people staying in the romms next to it.

Kids evening entertainment was absolutley dire yet my 4 years old loved it beyobnd reason and cried when it finished. It\'s pretty hard to sit through it 7 times but it is aimed at the kids and makes them happy (especially the irritating Dotty Spotty Socks). Didn\'t bother seeing the adult entertainment.

Only complaint would be that the FC reps totally fibbed to me about the suitability of taking a 4 year old to the Slide & Splash water park. Minimum age for flumes was 5 plus a height restriction of 120cm for others. Bigger rides had an age limit of 8 so we wasted the money on that trip.

No problems with the food but then we ate early at every sitting so it was hot still. AI ends at 11 on the day you leave but you get a voucher for lunch. Overall I would visit again (first holiday I\'ve ever said that about) as the kids loved it. Don\'t go there if you don\'t have kids though!

world especially darryl,lyndsy,danni,ruth,billy and phil were brill the kids loved going down on a night and dancing and singing, these guys worked hard (Big Thumbs Up To Them)i would definatley go back, we went for a week but next time will do 10 days

noise of cars passing is constant. If you are a light sleeper (like me) you will need ear plugs at night, also the hotel is on the flight path which is not a problem during the day but, again, ear plugs came in handy at night after being woken up 3 times the first night by planes passing overhead.

The hotel is spotlessly clean, the apartments are lovely and have a huge balcony that runs the length of the apartment with double patio doors. The sitting room area and the bedroom have separate air conditioning units that work independently of each other. They also work when the patio doors were open. Bed linen was changed 3 times during our stay and towels changed daily although you are told they are changed every second day we found that if you put your towels in the bath they were changed for you. Check in at the hotel was quick and as we arrived at about 10pm we were given sandwiches, water, fruit and yoghurts to take to our room. We were only given one door key card which was abit of an inconvenience at times. We had a late checkout room but the cleaners came in on mass at 4pm on our departure day so we ended up leaving the room early but our All Inc carried on until 5pm.

The hotel is about 30 minute walk from the Strip but the taxis are cheap (less than 4 euros). There is a small beach about 20 minutes walk from the hotel. If you turn left coming out of block 2 and keep walking for about 10 minutes you come to Ohouso d\'Agua (not sure of the spelling). This was a lovely little place that had cafes, bars and shops there is also a large supermarket here. The hotel itself is in a residential area with hotels round about and more are getting built just across the road. There are no cafes, shops or bars in the close vacinity.

The food during the first week of our stay was ok. Having stayed at the Holiday Village in Majorca we knew what to expect but we were surprised that the choice of food was very very limited compared to the HV Majorca. During the second week of our stay, which was going into the final week of the hotel\'s season the food was awful and you really struggled to find something appetising to eat. Alot of people were complaining about it. We didn\'t eat there at lunchtime and chose to eat at the poolside bars instead just to get a bit of a change. At least the food at the bars was fresh cooked and hot which it was not in the restaurant and you could get some nice sandwiches freshly made. We tried the Portuguese restaurant which was ok. The Italian was awful unless you took pizza. The pasta was overcooked and bland and my husband\'s spag bol was sitting in about an inch of water, it hadn\'t been drained properly. You can only book these restaurants at the main reception in Block 1 from 2.30pm to 4pm daily.

The entertainment on a nightime was awful. The entertainment team worked really hard but it was dismal. I think part of the reason for this is that the hall where the entertainment was held was just that - a hall. It was like walking into your local village hall. There was no atmosphere at all, the bar looked as if it was makeshift and was stuck in the corner, the toilets are up the stairs and the music was far to loud to be able to hold a conversation with anyone. We gave up on the entertainment after a couple of nights, we did try it periodically throughout the holiday but it never improved.

My daughter used the wave length clubs extensively but this usually ended up costing us money. Every other night they would hold themed nights for example pizza night 5 euros, chocolate party 7 euros, Halloween party 5 euros, Indiana Adventure 17 euros, Highropes 10 euros. All the First Choice employees and the Hotel\'s own staff were lovely. They worked hard and always had a smile on their faces.

The pools are lovely but very cold and there are no lifeguards even at the waterslides. There were plenty of sunbeds and the daytime activities round the main pool were very entertaining and very amusing at times.

Summing up this is a great hotel but it could be better and was abit of the beaten track. The food was very hit or miss and the entertainment could have been alot better than it was. I sound as if I am moaning but we had a brilliant holiday, the weather was fantastic, but we probably would not return to this hotel. Portugal is a beautiful country and we would return to the Algarve sometime in the future.

schools had returned in Sept), the hotel was clean and the staff very polite. The First choice reps were excellent, always on hand and the Entertainment Team need a massive pat on the back - they were fantastic whatever time of day you saw them they were great. (Ruth, Lyndsey, Billy, Phil, Danni, Olly - sorry I can\'t remember anymore names), but they were great, the kids bonded with them and they never stopped entertaining! Made the holiday.

The food isn\'t fantastic, but you must remember you are going to a hotel that is catering for hundreds of people and it is buffet style (you have one night a week at the Portugese and Italian - we only used the Italian - this was lovely, although the service a little slow). There were different dishes on the buffet each day, and they were forever re-freshing the displays. Always hot and plenty to choose from so not has bad as the other reports are saying.

The location isn\'t the best in the world, but often due to the size of the complex they are often on the outskirts! We only went for 1 week, and didn\'t feel the need to leave the complex, so much to do all day. There are lots of trips laid on, and other guests were impressed with those. There is a good taxi service into the town for about 4