I'd say £143 is stunning value - does it include luggage charges etc.? Who did you book with or is it DIY?

Anyway, Olhão is not exactly a resort, it's a small, genuine working town with a proper harbour as well as leisure marina and has a real working fish market not something put on for visitors. The old town (out as far as the railway) has a warren of narrow streets and old traditional buildings, it's less appealing beyond the railway.

Even the council's tourism website is only in Portuguese http://www.cm-olhao.pt/portal_autarquico/olhao/v_pt-PT/menu_turista/turismo/ there is also a commercially produced site in English at http://www.olhaouncovered.com/home.aspx

From photos the hotel sits at the end of the promenade and looks out over the estuary and part of the Ria Formosa nature reserve to the sea. This is typical of the eastern Algarve and the best beaches are often on the outward side of sand spits or small islands.

And I believe they have a football team, but someone else may be along to sing the glories of that......

Thanks for your reply Steve!

I booked it via lowcostholidays as a flight and hotel pack. The pricr includes 1 checked bag at 15 kilos. Hand luggage is 10kg each which isnt bad for 5 nights.

Looks like I will be enjoying authentic portuguese cuisine then!

What the weather like in October? Im hoping not too hot!

They do indeed have a football team, and they play in the portuguese primera ( our version of premier league! ).

I've never been to Algarve in October - although depending on your report when you get back I may consider it for next year! Expect the weather to be pleasant rather than hot and don't forget it will be going dark earlier by then. The sea will be getting quite cold by then as well. The hotel website says it has an indoor pool, I'd like to know how big it is please.

If it's only flight+hotel you'll need to sort out the transfer but that shouldn't be too much. For day trips there is still a reasonable train service (but for how much longer....??) and buses. Best site for that is http://www.algarvebus.info . Try half a day wandering round Tavira old town and castle or a whole day to Vila Real de San Antonio (VRSA) and the river boat across to Ayamonte in Spain.

I certainly will report back upon my return!!!

I think we will be getting a Taxi from the Airport to the hotel as its only 15km away. Is this advisable?

Thanks for the tips on where to visit... if we can pull ourselves away from the pool!!!! I read up on an article about Olhao in the Guardian, granted it was published in 2009, but its sounded absolutely beautiful, especially the islands that surround their coastline!!

don't forget it will be going dark earlier by then

But as you'll be going after the Autumn Equinox, sunset in Portugal at that time of year will be later than in the UK so the evenings will be lighter for longer than you'd be getting at home and probably still warmer. Admittedly, I live up in the East of Scotland so I do tend to notice these things more when spending time in southern Europe in October but it's always pleasant to be able to experience daylight for that bit longer.

Conversely, if I'm down there in June then it's always a bit of a shock just how early sunset is compared to back home at that time of year!

SM

I've only used a Faro taxi once as I normally get around on public transport but it seemed very reasonable, obviously agree the price before setting off. There are several companies who offer prebooked transfers but at this distance the saving may not be worth the hassle. Might be an idea to print a large scale map of Olhao from Google maps in case the driver isn't familiar with this hotel, you don't want to get caught up in the old town when they've built a short cut straight off the EN125. The hotel must be fairly new since it's shown on the Google map but their aerial photo only shows an empty plot on a new road.

I had been looking at it's details on the Real group's website but i've just found it's own site, http://www.real-marina.com/index.html and I'm even more interested in next year.

SMa - I think I know what you mean...!

Yep, I shall agree the price before we get in the taxi! I think 20 Euros seems reasonable, or so I read somewhere on the Internet!

I will be taking lots of pictures and will put a full in depth review on Trip Advisor on my return for you to take a look at!!!

excuse me? What about putting the review on here......?!!

My Apologies!! I shall put a review on this website too!!!!!