Travel Review – Auramar Beach Resort, Albufeira, Portugal

• By: admin on Apr 29th, 2010
• Lifestyle

I know, this is supposed to be a blog about Internet marketing so what am I doing writing travel reviews?  Well firstly the Internet provides me with 100% of my income each month so Internet marketing effectively pays for my holidays and secondly I still need to keep on top of emails etc while I am away so even if I am on holiday, I am still working.  Finally (and to be honest, this is the real reason), I know that this article will get picked up by the search engines and will eventually provide me with a few free visitors each day  

Last week I travelled to Albufeira which is on the Algarve in Portugal.  To be honest, I was lucky to have made it given the week-long closure of UK airspace due to the volcanic ash cloud hanging in the skies from Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland.  Fortunately flights resumed the day before we were due to fly out and despite a slight concern that we would be entering absolute chaos by going to an airport after such an unprecedented event, we decided to risk it (as it happens, there were no delays or problems as a result of the ash cloud whatsoever – amazing how some areas of operation got back to normal so quickly really).

Anway back to the Auramar Beach Resort…

Let me be perfectly honest and say that this was a cheap holiday and expectations were not particularly high.   The main reason for booking the Auramar were that it was advertised as being located on the beach (I live on the beach in the UK and it is kind of a prerequisite to be close to the sea when on my hols).   Other than that, the hotel looked ok in the pictures although reviews were a bit mixed.  I would say that 70% of the reviews I read were positive with the remaining 30% ranging from slightly negative to awful!  That said, in my experience, people tend to be quicker to complain than they are to compliment and therefore with a ratio of 70/30 I figured that the Auramar would probably be ok.

Several of the reviews made mention of a ‘terrible smell’ in reception and this was probably our greatest concern as my partner and I approached the hotel.  The fuss that some people appear to have made about this supposed smell seems to have been considerable if you read the reviews and quite frankly I can only describe this fuss as ridiculous.  Ok, I will admit that there was a very slight smell as you entered the front doors of the hotel, sort of a mix of bleach and musty damp BUT if we hadn’t already been ‘warned’ of a smell by the reviews, I doubt we would even have noticed it.  I guess it is possible that in the summer months the smell gets worse as it gets hotter but it wasn’t exactly cold when we were there (25deg) so I can’t really see this being the case.  My opinion is that you can safely ignore all of the negative comments in the reviews regarding a smell in reception.

[pullquote]…ignore all of the negative comments in the reviews regarding a smell in reception.[/pullquote]

The bedroom/bathroom were extremely clean and kept so throughout our stay.  I admit that they could do with a bit of tidying up decoration wise and they do look a bit tired but I have seen worse and at the prices charged, they are a bargain. 

We booked through Expedia and opted for B&B although All Inclusive is available.  There was a reasonable choice at breakfast – cereal, fruit, yoghurt and a cooked option which tended to be chips, eggs and a meat product such as bacon or sausage.  We did have lunch in the hotel a couple of times and again there was a reasonable choice of meats/rice/chips etc.  I think if we were on all inclusive though the lunch/dinners would have become a bit boring after a day or two and whilst the quality was ok, it wasn’t anything special.  We did consider that it might have been worth paying the extra for all inclusive purely to cover the cost of drinks during the day – €1.50 for a small Pepsi or beer soon adds up.  If you pay for lunch it is €6 for all you can pile on your plate!

The hotel grounds and pool area are superb – very well maintained and clean.  Plenty of sun loungers and umbrellas.  My only complaint in this area was due to a couple of individuals who didn’t seem to be able to control the volume of the non-stop nonsense which was coming out of their mouths.  I would have said something but they didn’t look like the type of people who would have taken criticism well and I suspect that such an approach would have ended up with me wearing one of the aforementioned sun loungers.  Still, all being well, these two super-gobs won’t be there when you go!

Auramar is superbly located at the top of a small cliff overlooking the sea and beach which stretches to the old town.  A couple of minutes walk down the cliff path and you are on the sandy beach and it is a 15/20 minute stroll to the old town where you will find plenty of restaurants, bars and shops selling the normal tourist items.  Watch the tides when walking along the beach as if you time it wrong, you will find that you can only get so far along the beach.  Fortunately you can see all the way to the old town and back from the hotel so you can see if the way is clear before you set out.

If you are looking for a bit more life, head up to the road known locally as ‘The Strip’.  This is about 10 minutes walk from the Auramar and again has plenty of restuarants, bars and nightclubs if this is your scene.  We ate in several restaurants and to be honest, we didn’t have a bad meal in any but one Australian restaurant stood out from the rest and is definitely worth a visit.  Located about 5 minutes off The Strip is the Restaurante Koala Garden – fantastic food, friendly staff and a very comfortable atmosphere.  The kangaroo is yum – sorry Skippy!

All in all, for a cheap (and it really was) short break, I would happily recommend the Auramar Beach Resort.  It isn’t a 5 star hotel but it is very good value for money and a perfectly clean and comfortable hotel in very pleasant surroundings.

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