Pestana Blue Alvor Beach - All Inclusive Hotel

This is a lovely hotel but is just let down by the food. The hotel itself was great, super clean bedrooms, pool area was good especially with the addition of the adult area. The rooms were cleaned daily. The drinks provided were definitely a 10/10, so much choice! We also really enjoyed the paddle tennis and football pitch. The staff were also all extremely welcoming which made our stay enjoyable. However, the standard of food in both the buffets and restaurants is not good enough. Especially in Luigi’s which you would expect better food as it is the on site restaurant. Food is often very bland and cold with a lack of choice and labelling. Breakfast was nice but we did struggle on an evening with the choices. Definitely personal opinion as we did not travel with children but the entertainment team are too full on for our likings. Especially when around the pool, the team would come over to guests on the sun beds. Some may like this but we found this over bearing especially when we were trying to relax. Overall it is a good hotel, just majorly let down with the food. Other than that, our stay was great.

after an early morning flight from Manchester, Arrived at the pastiana blue at around 1.15,told our room wasn’t ready they said they’d txt us, after waiting 2 hours we went to reception to be told they had tried to contact us( lies, as checked the number they had and it was correct) this was the start to a very disappointing week spent there, I would definitely not recommend this hotel, the food was very poor quality and mostly bland and cold!! One night we couldn’t get into the restaurant until 9pm, had to queue as the tables were all full of empty plates etc, waiters walking round with no idea what to do. The guy working at bubbles bar worked tirelessly having to make the cocktails on his own, always people having to wait ages for a drink, he always had a smile though! All in all I have no idea how this hotel is a tui 4* plus hotel, the only plus is it’s had a lovely refurb by the looks of it and the rooms were clean the bed was very comfortable. After reading reviews from May 24 it’s unbelievable that absolutely no improvements have been made.

amazing hotel staff were friendly and welcoming food was amazing the whole experience was just amazing great value for money and with the beach being a 5 minute walk and the alvor marina around the corner it’s in the perfect location all round 10/10

Brilliant service, food and facilities, absolutely wonderful entertainment and the staff are marvellous too! They went above and beyond to make sure our visit was amazing! The live music was a highlight, Vania was great and knew all the classics. On top of all of that , the area itself is lovely, only a short walk to the beach and a slightly longer but definitely manageable walk to Alvor town, would 100% recommend!

Staff were amazing, so attentive! I am celiac and we asked staff if they had gluten free lager, they literally bought bottled lager and filled a fridge in my room.. very impressed! Entertainment staff remember names and look out for you, bar staff, take their time with cocktails to give great drinks. Great big, clean rooms, amazing views.

As advertised, hotel has been freshly renovated and cleanliness was great. Hotel check in process smooth and with bubbles to start with. There re 4 pools: main one for everyone, adult one and 2 for kids, byt all of them with ice cold water. I think water in the ocean was bit warmer and there we used to spend most of the time. Plenty of sunbeds but quite often the ones by the pool and canopies were ''reserved'' by towel for shole day as some people were using them both not thinking about anyone else, there was info that towels will be removedm, but never saw it happening. Main bar understaffed, mainly one member of staff there, but drinks nice with branded spirits, but quite often too much ice. I had whisky served in a paper cup, no shot glasses etc. Drinks machines quite often broken, coke watered down half of the other drinks just water. Fridge in the room with 1 botte of water and 2 small carton juices only replenished if bottle was empty and when we bought own water bottles it has stopped. Water can only be supplied through drink machines but it is not the easiest task as bottle won't fit under nozzle also not great from hygiene point. Food truck was closed for all stay, snacks poor and nothing served after main restauruant closes. Food variety poor and quiter often cold. Very poor option for children. Nice pancakes but waiting time was riddiculus. Restaurant under staffed, cutlery not repelnised regularly and new tables not set on time for new guests, had to ask staff to do so if I could find them... Half of the coffee/drinks machines constantly broken, staff did not seems to be bothered at all responding onlu - I know. Good entertainment during the day, evening needs improvement. Minidisco same every evening and kids entertainment poor. Short walking distance to the beach which was nice with toilets and restaurant. Overall nice hotel but needs improvement.

It's a 3.5 really. Lots of really good stuff - great pool, immaculately clean communal areas, fantastic rooms (we had a sea view on the 10th floor and it was cleaned beautifully every day), access to amazing beach and friendly hardworking staff. We hired a car (went to Silves, Monchique, Lisbon (long way!!) and Sagres, Lagos) and lots of parking. Paddle tennis court was great and infinity adult pool was bliss. We didn't have young ones but the facilities looked great for those who did. Cons - only one really and sadly it's the food. We agree with the other comments. It's just not four star for food. We were all inclusive but spent a fair bit on eating out as we didn't want to use the restaurant. Queues were crazy for dinner. Drinks also a bit poor - so many single use plastic items (which the blow into the pool). Simple things like a fresh orange machine and salt and pepper would make a difference. It's all inclusive but no way to get a beer in a glass until after 6.30. It's also pretty noisy in the day - all day. Though the sound proofing in the rooms is excellent. It's all solvable and we could see how hard people were working. We had two meals in themed restaurants and they were better. Some guests didn't get a slot due to availability so book when you arrive in reception. We also had a lovely TUI rep - Emma - thank you!!!

Stayed UK May bank holiday week in a superior family room with balcony. The balcony glass was dangerous but otherwise pleasant area with pool & sea view with a nice mat and new furniture. The room beds were comfortable but one of the single beds didn’t have a bedside table or shelf so had to put things on the floor.  Was happy with sun bed availability, there were plenty, some new and some old but could move spare ones around so could sit together as a family. Great guy doing some pool entertainment, the kids enjoyed this. Floor surface around the main pool is a very odd choice, it’s some kind of resin but not smooth and is very rough, and sharp. My son cut his toe whilst walking on it, I saw other children fall and cut themselves quite badly. It isn’t an ideal surface for a poolside. Good easy access to the beach, we did not think the path was steep at all but we are a fit & healthy family. Lovely beach and has plenty of lifeguards. Also has free toilets along the beach. Food truck was not open all week, despite being advertised as open daily 12:30-6pm. Asked the Tui rep over messages in the app but she did not respond specifically to my question (probably didn’t want to put it in writing). Buffet restaurant: food wasn’t very good unfortunately, hot food often cold, food not replenished on a timely basis, drinks machines closed/broken. Tables not cleaned and reset once used. No spare cutlery. Mugs/glasses ran out (plenty of plates), not enough staff. Front of house desk with staff member there but didn’t really appear to manage staff or really do anything. Suggest waiting staff have specific duties:- -Drinks machines maintenance -Clearing/cleaning/resetting tables -Crockery, cutlery & glassware -Replenishing food trays On arrival I reported a drinks machine wasn’t working and got the response “I’ve only worked here for 2 days sorry so can’t help”. Didn’t report anything after that as realised machines were constantly not working. Over the week hotel inspectors were walking around the buffet taking notes but nothing appeared to change service wise other than they limited the number of people allowed in at once so this caused a massive queue - another queue! If they aren’t going to bother opening the poolside snack food truck then they need to extend the main buffet to 12-3 for the amount of guests they need to feed. Braved one night at Luigi pizza restaurant which turned out to be an extension of the buffet, the pizza was awful and was like a cheap frozen pizza, not even freshly baked. We make better pizzas at home on our Ooni. Didn’t bother with the other Surf & Turf restaurant as assumed was just as pathetic. Didn’t eat in buffet restaurant in the evenings, plenty of restaurants around the harbour, can easily get an UBER, about €4, otherwise a taxi is about €8 cash and €10 by card. The beach restaurants were lovely too and no taxi needed! Mini bar consisted of 1 bottle of water and 2 x small cartons of pineapple juice. On a positive