Cannot fault Thomson's organisation, everything went smoothly from the airport to the car rental - Excellent. The Villa was very large and clean with all the facilities you would need, although the outside furniture could of been better being as you spend so much time outside, it was cheap and flimsy. Beds very hard. Pool a bit dirty, green algae on tiles. BBQ needs to be repositioned as it is right in front of the hedge and has no chimney, a definate fire risk, the hedge had been scorched. The owners live next door and told us to let them know if we needed anything, unfortunatly they left their 2 dogs outside and they howled and barked, also the Villa is on a main road so really not very tranquil. The area is quite run down a lot of grafitti, Vilamoura is lovely, nice restaruants and atmosphere. Weather was fantastic. The supermarket just down the road was better value than the large hypermarket.Could of done with an information folder at the Villa. Would we return? unfortunatly no.

Villa Isabel at Vale de Parra, Villa Isabel in the Algarve, Portugal is a 4 bedroomed villa that sleeps 8 comfortably and is situated in a small town about 1 mile from the nearest beach. There were only two of us and we stayed for 2 weeks.

Bad things first:
We arrived Sunday afternoon to no Welcome Book, stained cups, curtains that wouldn't open, a broken blind, a broken satellite remote, 3 broken loungers and only one parasol - in a villa for 8!

On Monday the rep came & called the owner who remedied most probs quickly, but the blind remained broken, the broken loungers were taken away but not replaced, only 1 extra parasol was supplied and the remote was not replaced until 2 days before we left. The rep suggested this was the general std for villas and should be expected!
Later we discovered our bedroom curtain hem was held by a safety pin, as was the seam on a bedspread, the air conditioning pipes flood the bedroom balcony - which was dirty as was the roof terrace and the ring that the glass dish turns on was missing from the microwave and several light bulbs didn't work.

The directions were unclear and there are no street names. There is lots of graffiti and the villa is on a busy road. Traffic noise was a nuisance inside and out - no double-glazing. Worse is incessant barking from nearby dogs - day & night. All nearby properties have guard dogs left out 24-7 barking ferociously at every passer by, howling- and setting each other off. 3 times barking went on throughout the night and we were woken at least twice by them every night. Mattresses are VERY hard. 2 gardeners come Tuesdays, 2 maids (a girl and an older man) come Wednesdays, Fridays & Sundays, 2 pool boys come Thursdays, so privacy is rare. Dishwasher useless. While we were there, the oven plug burnt without tripping the fuse - owner supplied brand new oven next day. Picky but I hated all the ornaments & plastic flowers!

Good points: Large Pool & full size enclosed tennis court, attractive garden areas, excellent views, included hire car a boon, air conditioning upstairs and downstairs, all rooms spacious, wardrobes roomy, large ensuites, utility and storage rooms, useful safe, large fridge with small freezer compartment. Owner friendly and sorted most of the initial problems we raised quickly. Local supermarkets are very good and very reasonable with excellent selections of international foods. Local beaches are distant and small but sandy and pretty.