As soon as we got to our villa, we were met by a local lady who gave us the keys and a quick tour, even though we didn't arrive until 11pm. This was really appreciated. As soon as she let us through the front door, we knew we were in for an amazing week ahead. The villa was bigger than we expected. It had everything we needed to enjoy our stay and the location was amazing, really quiet with some lovely views. The owner himself was always reachable, before and during our holiday, and always responded quickly to questions or queries. When something was accidentally broken (nothing urgent), a replacement arrived the next day. He was such a lovely man and did everything he could to make sure we had a lovely holiday. This is the first time I have used a service like HomeAway to book a villa (previously booked directly through someone we knew), and this man has given me the confidence to book again. He was so nice.
Portugal itself is a gorgeous country and the locals were very welcoming. There are so many beaches within a 20min drive, probably something like 20, some as close as 5mins away. Highly recommend doing the cave tour by boat down at Benagil Beach, was a highlight for us.
I cannot recommend this villa highly enough. Everything about it was amazing. The bedrooms were all a great size, plenty of bathrooms etc, the front room was large with double sliding doors opening out on to the patio and down to the pool which was excellent and the kids spent hours in. The owner was excellent and couldn't have been more helpful. The location was quiet but only 5mins drive to Armacao de Pera and about 20mins to Albufeira. A handful of supermarkets are within 5-10mins drive or so and a couple of waterparks also only 10mins drive away.
We will have to visit Portugal again one day due to the country having so much to offer and a week just wasn't enough. And if we do, we would not hesitate in staying in this villa again. Just amazing....