NH Marina Portimao Resort

The balcony rooms are pleasant, and otherwise the hotel has been good so far. The coffee makers don’t work very well, though. We were told at the front desk to take the shuttle to the beach and get a discount on chairs and an umbrella, but that wasn’t the case. The hotel drop-off has a pool, not beach rentals, which was frustrating since we’d have planned our route differently. You can go left to the glass-fronted building with tiki huts and rent two chairs and an umbrella for $20 a day.

Our room was huge, and the hotel is near Praia da Rocha beach and the marina. The breakfast buffet had loads of choices, healthy and less healthy, though it didn’t open until 7:30. The pool was a good size for swimming, but shallow, ice cold, and so salty or chlorinated that it stung my eyes. The TV had English options, but the screen was small. Staff were friendly, but arriving by car was frustrating: they said there was free parking but wouldn’t explain how to reach it, even though it was beside the hotel with an entrance farther away. They wanted us to pay 10 euros a day for their parking. We got a card to collect towels from reception instead of being given them at check-in. There weren’t shops nearby for snacks, and our room had no trash bin, so we had to put the trash bag in it ourselves.

The views from the room, bar, and restaurant were fabulous, and the resort’s open, airy layout suited me well with my allergies. I was with a group and upgraded to an apartment for ♿️ accessibility. The room was large and in great condition, with a big TV and lots of premium channels. The car park has just one ♿️ spot, though there’s a metal pole right where you open the door, so be careful when parking. The beds were very hard and made me numb, which seems common in hotels in the Algarve, so I assume it’s normal for the area. Breakfast was possibly the most comprehensive spread I’ve seen, well beyond ten out of ten. But the restaurant made potentially life-threatening mistakes with my severe allergies. I couldn’t eat the meal or the side dishes, and the kitchen had no protocol for severe allergies. After 15 minutes, they served my main with one of my worst allergens proudly on top, despite assuring me that this couldn’t and wouldn’t happen. I ended up driving to Lidl for food. The apartment kitchenette had a hob but very few accessories, with no saucepans or pots. The kitchen’s lack of care left a bad taste, for want of a better term. If you’re a normal, non-faulty human, it’s a great place for the price. If you need extra care to stay alive, probably not the place for you.

The restaurant was the highlight for me, the food was exemplary. I spent most of my time here painting around the resort, and the food, wonderful staff, and marina-side location made the price feel worthwhile. The staff were top-notch and very accommodating. The room was less impressive: the lights flickered, closet doors were broken, and the extractor fans didn’t work, with some mould built up on the grout. Coffee was extra from the minibar and very expensive for a few Nespresso pods. The bed and linens were good, the soundproofing worked well, and the views were excellent.