Holly

We were 12 people at villa holly in early April, and I hope this helps anyone thinking of booking through one of the accommodation sites. There were no reviews when I booked. The villa is huge, much bigger than the official photos suggest. We never felt cramped, and there’s plenty of space in the bedrooms, lounge and kitchen. It’s modern enough without being flashy, and the grounds are great for ball games or frisbee. One thing to know: the lower ground rooms can also be reached by an indoor staircase, although the advert says they’re only accessible from an outside door or stairs. We had serious damp or condensation issues in the lower rooms. Clothes and passports left on the floor or a surface became damp during the holiday. The bedding and mattresses also seemed affected, and we’d wake up feeling sticky and damp. The smell from the bedding and pillows made it clear. That was our second biggest disappointment. The main one was the pool. We booked because it was advertised as heated, hoping to use it on colder or less sunny days. In practice, the heating seemed very limited and only ran for a short time. Everyone in the pool looked visibly cold, so it didn’t feel heated. I wasn’t expecting hot tub temperatures, but this still fell far short. For three days we also had very little hot water and couldn’t take more than three showers. We found out one of the heating pumps was broken. I don’t know whether that had anything to do with the cold pool. Vilamoura itself is lovely, quiet and good for golfers. With five kids, though, we found the location limiting for trips and activities away from the villa. The walk to the marina is pleasant and takes around 30 minutes.