Best Santa Luzia Hotels

After a day or so staying here, you pickup a theme that this place just needs a big chunk of investment. The villas are rather run down and not matching the decor on the TUI site. Lots of little bodge repairs with exposed mains, lights fittings hanging on by 1 of the 4 screws, missing cupboard doors etc. some of the pictures are also of an unrelated restaurant business down by the beach. The beds themselves are terribly soft and uncomfortable and the “sofa” is just a single bed with two pillows. Unlike other guests, we were lucky enough to get aircon but only on one floor. Would have been unbearably hot for anyone without this! While the cooker was obviously a recent replacement, the kitchen utensils aren’t complete. No bowls, no coffee jug, no kettle, no tumblers or wine glasses, corkscrew not the right size to extract a cork etc. the list goes on. If you’re looking to have breakfast or an evening meal in the villa, you’ll struggle. The pool itself is a lovely temperature but very cloudy and remained so all week. Looks like the filter isn’t up to the job at hand and needs upgrading. While there’s a lovely area for lounging round the pool, there’s a chronic shortage of seats and parasols. You really need to be at the pool before 9:30 to reserve a parasol or you won’t get one all day. There’s easily enough space to triple the number of loungers and parasols and each day you see a steady stream of disappointed faces looking for shade. Some other reviewers have mentioned paying for loungers. This is no longer the case but you need someone to be poolside when they setup and unlock the loungers. The Nora eating area serves basic food but be prepared for a really long wait for service. The staff don’t seem to scan the room so you’re best off walking up to the bar to order and pay. Overall, I think we were lucky with the room and looking at other reviews and pics, I can understand guests frustration and it could have been worse. As a family, we enjoyed the week and learned how to work around the issues but it’s not somewhere I’d recommend and won’t be coming back. We’ve been to similarly priced accommodation in the Algarve on previous years so it’s definitely possible to get better value for your money

We loved our stay, clean, pleasant space and very well located.

Rating by the door was a one star but should be rated a bit higher. Was given a 3) bed room (3 x twin beds) which was ok, except the 3rd bed took up precious room space. Room was clean, shower was clean, entire hotel appeared clean. Friendly and helpful staff. Free parking was available. Hotel is near the road but did not notice any undue noise at night. Hotel has a nice patio and a pool. Vending machines are available on property. Close enough to Tavira town to walk, just need to navigate the roundabout carefully. Walking in the middle of summer may not be advisable though. Room had a well functioning and quiet A/C. A small refrigerator was available. Breakfast was good and included in the room rate. The pastries were very good. Also available was a variety of breads, jams, some cold cuts and cheese and a bowl of chunky fruits. Coffee (machine) was somewhat typical of the area, coffee came out either too strong or too weak. Ended up using the black setting and adding my own milk. It's a bit odd that the traditional coffee milk available in most northern European countries was not available. 3 types of juices were dispensed from the machine with the orange being the best. Scrambled eggs smelled a bit fishy, also somewhat typical of the area, believe it is due to chickens being fed fish meal. There was a restaurant attached to the hotel specializing in rotisserie chicken, not sure if the restaurant was part of the hotel or independent. Price was very reasonable. Only complaint would be that meals are often served with only boiled or french fried potatoes, and lettuce with tomato salad. If visiting Tavira head to Santa Luzia and A Casa restaurant and try the grilled Octopus.

Good basic hotel for visiting Tavira. We rely on reviews here before choosing holiday accommodation so leaving a few tips for Villa Gale in Tavira. Perfect base for visiting this gorgeous city as everything within walking distance. Lovely pool and lots of sunbeds available. Rooms kept clean maids work hard. Rooms are serviced in the afternoon as mornings seem to be for changeovers. Very minimal storage space and no where to hang dresses. We kept most of our clothes in suitcases for our weeks stay as no where to hang them. Only 3 drawers available. TIP* If you want a specific room email before and keep copy of email. We wanted an upper floor room and the receptionist checking us in was adamant one was not available. Once we showed her the email request she relented and found us one. However we found top floor balconies had no covers for sun rain and pigeon poop protection so couldn't leave towels to dry out there. Very exposed. TIP* The rooms above the pool and indoor bar will suffer music all day until 11pm. Ask for a quiet room if that's your preference. Beds are so hard our backs suffered by the end of a week! Also very dark and dim so bring a torch. No hooks behind doors to hang coats on to dry. Such a simple thing to remedy. No shaving or makeup mirror either. Breakfasts perfectly nice didn't try evening buffet at hotel as cheaper and nicer to eat out. The food in Tavira is wonderful and worth a trip to Tavira island as so beautiful and peaceful this time of year only €2.5 return on ferry that runs hourly. The one feeling we were left with was how impersonal the staff were especially on reception. Rare to get a smile. We will return to Tavira but not to this hotel.

I booked a rooftop room with shared bathroom. There's no lift so it was a bit of a climb with my 2 bags. It was really clean room but so small. Not enough room to stand up straight unless you were near the door. Nowhere to hang any clothes no drawers or cupboards. Tiny T. V. & small camper fridge. 1 chair and bed. It should be much cheaper than 55 Euros I paid. There are 2 ”rooms” on the roof so sharing the bathroom which had to be locked after every use was not always convenient. The rooftop is for ALL the residents of the hotel so you often have small gatherings of people taking photos and having a drink. The bathroom was cleaned daily but the shower head could not be in the attachment on the wall because it was too high and it went straight over the curtain rail. So it was a case of wet, soap, rinse. In all the place was OK if you were backpacking and needed a place to crash. The rate was breakfast included which was the usual cheese meats and cakes. Fresh orange juice and bad coffee from one of those little machines you see in all service stations. The place is saved by the fact it is directly opposite to the jetty where you take the boat to the stunning beaches of Tavira. The staff were solemn and rarely had a genuine smile or asked how you were doing. Ols world charm I suppose!

The pool area is the highlight of this hotel. There were plenty of sunbeds for the guests. There is a pool bar which opens if there is a full day of good weather. You must go to the bar, there is no poolside service. The gym and spa area were also good. I enjoyed a lovely massage. The hotel rooms are very compact but functional. Beds and pillows are comfortable. Shower was good and there was always hot water. The air con was great. The fridge works well if you leave the cabinet door open. There is tea and coffee (but not restocked) but no milk. You must put sign on the door if you want the cleaners to do your room. There is no iron in the room and none available on request. You have to pay for an ironing service. The sink drained very slowly in the bathroom. The hallway carpets had some questionable staining - I really cannot understand how they haven’t replaced sections of it. We had a room overlooking the carpark which is not the best view but does get nice evening sunshine on the balcony. The WiFi was good. The breakfast was only ok. I would have expected better. There was nice fresh fruit and fresh croissants each morning but the yogurt, orange juice and coffee were terrible quality. I wouldn’t touch the hot food. If you come down near the end of service, forget about it, staff seem to have given up, I even had to set my own table one morning as none of the tables had been cleared. The piano player at breakfast was very good. They give out flowers to the lady guests some days. These things are nice touches but I imagine guests would rather better food instead. We had lunch in the hotel twice. Pizza was ok. Tried the calamari another day but it could have been deep fried anything to be honest and fries tasted like they’d been sitting around. Rooftop bar is nice with lovely views and they make good cocktails. Bar staff were nice. We only in the rooftop restaurant once and it was disappointing.

We stayed here for 4 days as a big group of 3 families with ages ranging from 8-70! Our room was perfectly comfortable, and surprisingly good power shower! The breakfast was great, drinks very good and extremely reasonably priced. Dinner could have been better, but there was a food range and for the price, really can't complain! Pool is one of the coldest I've experienced, but very beautiful and the children loved the slides. There were plenty of loungers and even at 9 or 10 you could easily find plenty. Without a doubt, what made our stay was Rodrigo and the other animation team members, they are simply amazing! We never like to use kids clubs, as I don't feel comfort leaving my children with strangers, but Rodrigo would come every day and entertain them, play football with them and they absolutely adored him! The rest of the team also, were just so much fun and a joy to be around. We did tbe dolphin spotting trip from the hotel with very low expectations and were so happy that we had an amazing experience! The crew were excellent and we got to spend a wonderful morning surrounded by dolphins which we will never forget! The only negative was that we got eaten alive daily by mosquitos due to the location, but it felt worth it! Take plenty of mozzy spray!