Estudios Montinhos Da Luz by Seewest

The apartment is for four, not five. The sofa unfolds, but it isn’t a proper bed, and the mattress is so thin it was impossible to sleep on. The place is cramped and damp, with a musty smell. The pool is okay, but cold.

We had a ground-floor studio with a door straight out to the pool, and there was plenty of room for the two of us. It had the basics we needed for a holiday, plus a heat pump and extractor fan. We drove to the beach each day and usually picked a different one. We also saw the dry kelp forest and went on a pirate ship trip. Praia da Luz, Lagos, and Cape St. Vincent were the places we enjoyed most.

There was nobody on hand to talk to if something went wrong, and the Wi-Fi was useless. For a week’s stay, we got just one set of towels and the sheets were never changed. The terrace table and chairs were dirty, and the cushions were incredibly thin. The kitchen had only very basic utensils, and there was no air conditioning. The apartment offered very little for such a high price.

In December the solar water heater left us with freezing water, so we had to heat some in a pot to wash. The mattress was terrible, and downstairs the Wi-Fi barely existed. The 32" TV looked nice, but none of its channels worked. I imagine the pool is much more appealing in summer.