| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
Karen Willis from Birmingham travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
DIY
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2008 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location |  | | Staff |  | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: We have just returned from 11 days at the Soldoiro. Me, hubby, and four teenagers!!
The rooms themselves were very spacious - we were allocated a 3rd floor apartment, with 2 good sized twin bedrooms, 2 beds in the lounge area (which opened up to a very small kitchen), a good sized bathroom and an extra toilet with washing facilites - which was handy for the lads to shave in while the girlies showered in the bathroom. Our room (no 70) had a lovely view of the sea, looking down cardiac hill.
There are no lifts, so the 3rd floor (after climbing the hill!) was a nightmare - I wouldnt recommend it for those with walking difficulties.
The hotel and rooms were quite dated, and in need of a refurb. The pool area was nice, not many sunbeds, but was always quiet till mid afternoon anyway.
The pool bar was ran by the laziest member of staff I have ever known - I would sack him!!
To avoid cooking bar meals (which were advertised on menus put out by another member of staff) he would say there was no food left, or the kitchen was closed, and would then retreat to the bar area and go to sleep! I don't know how he gets away with it.
Its a good job the Old English Cafe and Fish Shop are 100 metres up the hill!
The hotel seemed to attract groups of stag parties, of all nationalities - probably due to the closeness of the strip. It could get noisy at night while they made their way back. Our teenagers were probably as bad, but this has made us not want to go again. Also, because of the ages of most of the guests (early 20's), the music played around the pool was always very loud and 'clubby'. Not my idea of a relaxing holiday, but at least we were close enough to the beach to escape.
The location was probably the best in the resort - close to the beach and strip.
The apartment doors are opened using a card system - and almost every day we had problems with the cards and had to get them recharged. As reception closes at 2am, I was dreading this happening to us any later and envisaged us all curled up sleeping on the beach!
The maid came every third day - which is not enough when you need clean towels for 6 adults.
We had a fab holiday - and love Albufeira, but will be stopping somewhere a little more modern next time.
Saying that, it was cheap, so I suppose we got what we paid for. I booked with the hotel direct, and actually bartered with them to get the price down.
Click here for more information on this hotel, resort and region
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Liddle family from Washington travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Booked direct
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2007 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just returned from two weeks at these apartments and had a nice time.
The apartment was very spacious and I did receive the seaview I requested. However, the apartment faced out onto the hill which is ok during the day but at night time and early morning the noise is disgraceful. Don't expect much sleep if you go to these apartments.
Reception is not 24 hours. You usually cannot get into your room on arrival until 3pm onwards.
The pool is small, deep and very cold at times. We did manage to get a lounger most days but non-residents use the pool although nothing is said about this.
We had a leak in our bathroom ceiling and although they said they repaired this, this continued to leak at regular intervals during the day and night. We complained to reception and were told there was nothing they could do and supplied us with towels for the floor to mop up the water. When we checked out the lady on reception said they would need to break the ceiling to repair the leak from upstairs apartment but as they are fully booked they could not do anything about it. I hope anyone going to stay in these apartments are not allocated room 82.
Overall, I did have a nice time but won't be returning to these apartments or Albufeira.
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dianne hilton from bolton travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
on the beach
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2007 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location |  | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: We were pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness of this hotel. The staff were friendly and helpful and the room was cleaned every other day. The room we stayed in (studio no. 49) was a little small but adequate with good facilities - kettle, fridge, microwave,crockery, cutlery, tv and wall fan.
We had a brilliant sea view from the balcony. The only down side being the noise from the road below - it was busy but only to be expected as it was the main road down to the beach!
There was a childrens pool as well as medium sized adult pool, which were very clean. There were plenty of sunbeds and a snack bar selling drinks and limited choice of snacks.
The entertainment was a bit limited with only kareoke a couple of times a week so we just went to the strip.
On the whole a great place to stay within walking distance of the beach and the strip. Will be back and will probably stay here again.
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soldoiro apartments from portugal travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
holidays direct
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2007 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Was very worried about arriving at this apartment after reading some very bad reviews,however myself and my daughter was very pleasantly surprised.
Its in afantastic position, right in the middle of the hill, half way to beach and half way to strip.
We stayed in a studio apartment on top floor, few stairs to carry case up, but worth the view that we had of the sea. They were clean, and maids come three four times in the week.
I will definitely go back to these apartments,and would recommend others.
As we went in may there was no entertainment on but thats because its too early into the season,as was the food but staff were friendly enough.
Must recommend Farnels cafe for food you get loads for your money and food was excellent, first croosroads on the left in midle of the strip.
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Angela Dearnley from Bournemouth travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Alpha Rooms
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2006 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The Soldoiro is perfectly located.
Clean with a little need of some decoration.
Staff were friendly and we did not use the bar as we were so close to the strip.
I must stress the only complaint is there is no oven and the kitchen is a little basic with only 2 rings and a fridge and sink but we did not cook that much. You will need to take a hairdryer and iron although I believe you can get these from reception. We were in room 82 which over looks the sea and pool. It is up a lot of stairs so if you are older or disabled you will need help. Balconies were wide and fantastic views just right for breakfast and sunbathing.
All in all good value. If you want luxury then pay more and go elsewhere.
Pool was great if a little small. May get crowded further into season.
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Danielle and Bev from Doncaster travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Booked everything ourselves
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 03 2006 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: When we first arrived at Soldoiro we were a little wary due to all the negative reviews we've read. Ignore them all!!!!!!
Absolutely fantastic, yes it's basic and yes it could do with a face lift, however, the apartments are very clean, spacious and have fantastic views.
The location is second to none, being half way between the strip and the beach. Cardiac hill isn't as bad as people make it out to be!
The staff are excellent, friendly and all speak English.
The bar is always open! and the Sauna is excellent after a night on the beer!
The apartment is well equipped and the beds are comfortable. We will definitely be returning! And the Karaoke was made better by the staff always staying behind and joining in!
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Chris Fulton from Coleraine, N.Ireland travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Travelled Independently
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 01 2006 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Me and my fiancé went to these apartments in January 2006 and we were on the whole very impressed and pleased with them.
We found them more than adequate size wise for the 2 of us despite reading other reviews from people saying they were tiny. We paid a little extra and booked an apartment rather than a studio and I would recommend doing this to anyone staying here. The apartments are well equipped with kitchen accessories, heaters for the colder months, bathroom with bath and shower and a safety deposit box in the bedroom. We asked for a sea view when booking and got it.
The location is fantastic, its a very short stroll to the beach / restaurants / supermarkets / public phones etc. The reception opens early in the morning and closes around 9pm and also between 12 and 2pm for lunch.
At the reception you can use the internet, book airport transfers, exchange money (they take 5% commission of travellers cheques), hire a car or bicycle, go on an excursion, book the sauna/Turkish bath, hire a safety deposit box (costs 10 euros per week plus a deposit of 15 euros which you get back when you check out and return your key) etc.
Maid service was excellent as we got our apartments cleaned 6 out of the 7 days and 2 towel changes during the week. The cleanliness in the apartments was excellent and all the kitchen equipment looked almost brand new. There was a TV in our room which have a few English TV channels such as Sky News, BBC World, CNN and sometimes the Portuguese channels will show a movie or TV show in English with Portuguese subtitles.
We really enjoyed our week at these apartments and will definitely go back in the future.
One piece of advice I would also offer is this. If you expect to arrive at your apartments after 7pm, bring water and other necessities with you as the shops close around 7pm and won't open again until the morning.
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Sonny from London travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Alpha rooms
on a family holiday.
There were 1 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2005 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Our room must be the smallest room I've ever stayed in. Also there was a nasty damp smell and a lot of ants crawling around. We didn't even have proper beds they were camp beds. However apart from that the staff were ever so freindly and helpful, and speaking to other people in hotel not all rooms were as bad as ours. The bar in hotel was good fun had lots of T.V screens for football also pool was okay too.
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willie from castleford travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
sunset
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2005 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The apartments are situated on a 1:4 hill about 150M from the beach and about 150M from the Montechoro Strip, ideal location in our opinion.
The room was very cramped and not cleaned often (the maids always seemed to turn up at our room about 5pm which wasn't ideal as we had usually just returned from the day out and asked them to come back tomorrow, they did about 5pm.
Found the Rep. And staff very helpful(apart from the maids).
Entertainment was quiz or karoke which was ok depending on who was there.
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Jackie C from Leeds travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Thomas Cook
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 01 2005 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We stayed in a one-bedroomed apartment, which was basic but had character. The only problem was we had two single bed's which were literally impossible to put together!!
Check-in was 4pm (which the rep declined to tell us until we were virtually there), and we arrived at 11am, but luckily our room was available, but this was January! If our room hadn't been available, I would have been extremley annoyed as it was a Sunday and virtually everywhere was closed.
We had a beautiful sea view from the balcony which was a sun trap as it caught the sun most of the day. Most of the apartments seemed to have nice views. We had no trouble with noise (although I have read several independent reviews about the problems with noise), but our bedroom was around the back and we were in low season. We were two minutes from the beach and the night life.
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Adrian from Chesterfield travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Thomas Cook
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The location of this hotel is great. A 2 minute stroll to the beach and 2 minutes to the night life. The Rooms are basic but we paid extra to get an apartment rather than a studio which had ample room. There is no problem with noise at night, only people coming back in.
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john from scotland travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
thomas cook
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: the apartments were very small and basic although
clean.staff were not over-freindly unless you were female nothing much in the way of food but excellent
places locally re food and drinks.but most important
if you want a sleep no chance.the locals gather at
beach every night from 2am till7am talking non stop
which was outside apartments and everyone was
complaining about noise.area great but would not recomend these apartments
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Paton from Meseyside travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
First Choice Airlines
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We were a litle apprehensive, as we had read some reviews previous to staying in these apartments that weren't particularly complimentary with regards to the staff, the accommodation and the pool. However, we were pleasantly surprised. The room was fairly basic, but this was fine as we spent little time there. It was clean and the beds were comfortable. We arrived in the resort at around midday, and were allowed straight into the room, and, when we left, as our flight did not leave until 6.15 p.m. we were allowed to stay in the room until 2.00 p.m. at no extra cost. The staff, although not over friendly, were polite and helpful and there were no problems with the pool.
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Ste from Bolton travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
First choice/Sunset
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The equipment there for self catering was basic but sufficient. The apartments were very clean and quite spacious with towels being replaced twice a week, not much really but we took our own anyway.
The food at the snack bar was good, and the staff quite friendly. The location of the apartments were brilliant as they are only a ten minute walk away from all the restaraunts, pubs and clubs on the main strip of Puerto del Carmen.
Didnt really bother with the entertainment in the on site bar as there are so many places to go on the strip. We would definately go to these apartments again in about 10 years time when Lanzarote has been developed much more!
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helen from norwich travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
sunset
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel is basic, but has character. Very convenient, close to the beach, shops nearby but far enough away from the bars to be quiet. We have been three times now, at low, medium and high season, all three visits better than the previous.
Lots of fun at karaoke in the bar with Eskimo Al...Seems to be a place people return to as each time we've been we've seen at least one couple from the time before!!
And for some reason they remember us too...
Pool area is ok, food and drink was overpriced this year and we were a bit disappointed.
Soldoiro accommodation gets better the further down the hill you go, apartments around the back of the main block don't get the sun and are very damp.
The walk up into the strip is a steep one, good job you're coming back down the hill on the way home after a night out!!
The timeshare touts do congregate outside the hotel and are really annoying!! Avoid the scratch cards if you can.
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walters from huddersfield travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
thomas cook
on a 18-30s holiday.
There were 4 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: no lifts, rooms too small and very basic
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joanne williams from leeds travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
sunset
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 02 2004 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: If you arrive before 2pm do not expect to gain access to your rooms. We arrived about 11 am and were told rooms would not be ready until the afternoon. Reps don't tell you this until you are almost at your hotel.
The apartments were basic but reasonably clean though the bedroom smelt a little damp.
Staff were friendly.
Entertainment within the hotel was average.
The Soldoira apartments offer basic no frills accomodation. Situated on a steep hill people with walking difficulties may find this a problem though you are only minutes away from the beach.
If you go up the hill you have The Strip which has an excellent range of shops, bars and restaurants within minutes from the apartments.
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Rhona Deehan from Crawley travelled to Soldoiro Apartments with
Sky Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2002 |
rated the Soldoiro Apartments as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The Soldoiro is a no-frills hotel in a brilliant location (1 min from the beach and only 2 or 3 mins from the strip, which is packed with restaurants, bars, clubs, shops etc.) Although it is not really suitable for the disabled due to it being on a very steep hill which the locals call cardiac hill and the lack of lifts.
I found the staff to be very friendly, even though most did not speak English they tied to find a way of communicating, and on my numerous visits they taught me basic Portuguese and I taught them English.
The staff always had time for you and made it a very enjoyable hotel to stay in. Even though it has been over a year since I was last there the staff still keeps in touch and I have made friends for life - you can’t get much friendlier than that.
There is not much in the way of entertainment for children at the Soldoiro, but Alan’s karaoke in bar Ra is always a laugh.
Let me put it this way - I liked the Soldoiro so much I spent every weekend out there for three months and I am hoping to move to Albufeira next year!
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