“A wee oasis”

My wife and I spent 11 days here from 23rd October. The property is beautiful and well looked after by Assunta and Svetlana. The bedrooms are basic but perfectly functional, the grounds and pool area are lovely and a great place for relaxing. The local village is very quiet and the local cafes a… more

My wife and I spent 11 days here from 23rd October. The property is beautiful and well looked after by Assunta and Svetlana. The bedrooms are basic but perfectly functional, the grounds and pool area are lovely and a great place for relaxing. The local village is very quiet and the local cafes are VERY cheap and the owners were friendly and helpful especially in the Dos Amigos and the Emigrantes. There are some nice restaurants around as well amongst them were Sabor And Alenjento's both of which were easily walkable from the property. I have already mentioned Assunta but have to again because she really was as helpful as anyone could have been with her advice and organising restaurant bookings, finding out bus times and organising taxis she done it all with a smile and a cheery word. Some people have advised that access to a car is necessary but we found that between walking, cycling and pubic transport that we managed perfectly well and we are a reasonably fit couple in our 60's. All in all a lovely place for a quite break and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

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“Wonderful stay!!!”

We came to Portugal for a wedding and found this hidden gem!! I had a call from the reception the day before we flew confirming our flight time, we would before arriving after check in closed so they arranged our key and instructions in the safe outside the main door. The room was for 3 girls, l… more

We came to Portugal for a wedding and found this hidden gem!! I had a call from the reception the day before we flew confirming our flight time, we would before arriving after check in closed so they arranged our key and instructions in the safe outside the main door. The room was for 3 girls, lovely big space, large bathroom, air con, separate wardrobe and fridge/tv. We also had breakfast included which was fruits, croissants, toast, cheese, meats, cereal, coffee, fresh juices, yoghurts! There was seating inside and outside which was lovely. The pool was clean and beautiful pink flowers everywhere, it was perfect! The staff were very helpful and helped us with taxi’s when we needed. On the day we were leaving which was a very early 4am pickup!!! The staff arranged some breakfast bits bought to our room and put in the fridge so we had something to eat before we left which was an amazing extra they arranged for us. We would definitely reccomend as a great base in Estombar, to get to the closest beaches is only 15/20 mins in a taxi (Uber is also available. Thank you everyone at Rio Arade for a wonderful stay!!!

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“Charming place”

Beautiful property, especially outdoors - colorful flowers, trees, various plants which provide this "exotic" touch which I love. Swimming pool was never crowded so usually we enjoyed it just for two of us. Our room was rather basic but still clean and well equipped, maybe suprisingly loud in the n… more

Beautiful property, especially outdoors - colorful flowers, trees, various plants which provide this "exotic" touch which I love. Swimming pool was never crowded so usually we enjoyed it just for two of us. Our room was rather basic but still clean and well equipped, maybe suprisingly loud in the night because of the cars, even tough it seems like a small city :) Ladies at the Reception were extremely nice and helpful - always welcomed us with a smile and also gave us few good recommendations. Woud like to go back there one day!

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“Nice and quaint”

My partner and I stayed here for 10 nights. We were welcomed by Michelle (the owner) and Aasunta who spoke very good English, Michelle not so well. Our room was very basic and the bathroom was a bit shabby and the shower could have done with a bit of tlc. The bed was comfy but not sure about the me… more

My partner and I stayed here for 10 nights. We were welcomed by Michelle (the owner) and Aasunta who spoke very good English, Michelle not so well. Our room was very basic and the bathroom was a bit shabby and the shower could have done with a bit of tlc. The bed was comfy but not sure about the metal frame, my partner stubbed his toe on there several times. There is no fire safety advice in the room, so had no idea where to go if there was one. Very nice areas to relax and enjoy the sun if you wanted to, all thought the furniture on the top veranda could be replaced. We only used the pool once, it's only one depth no shallow end. The breakfast was good and Aasunta asked us every morning if we would like eggs and bacon which the chef(sorry don't know her name) always delivered well cooked and tasty 😛 They also have a good selection of cheese, meat, yoghurt, bread and fruit etc. The coffee machine is a bit temperamental but Aasunta or the chef always came to fix it. We took our own travel kettle so we could have a cuppa in our room as there is a fridge in there. We hired their bikes for a week and travelled far. Lots of places near by the beach, portimao, vineyard etc. We biked into silves which is a beautiful place and on the way back my partner got a puncture, we tried the foam puncture stuff they provided us with and it did not work. We called the hotel and Aasunta was very helpful, she called a taxi which cost us 20 euros to get back to the hotel. Looking at the puncture hole in was caused by a piece of metal which had come away from the metal wheel, nothing had pieced through the rubber tyre. When we arrived back Aasunta was very concerned and pleased that we were both ok and not hurt. We can't thank her enough for all her help. She's a great asset to the hotel. The bus into portamio is 2.75euros one way but if you don't mind walking it's not far away. We used the bus once to see how far away it was. There is a great tapas bar at the bottom of the road (turn left out of the door) can't remember the name also another if you carry on up passed the tapas bar there is another place, it say snack bar but they do lovely evening meals, the bloke who owns it is called Victor.

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