Nau Salgados Palm Village - All Inclusive

I felt I needed to write a review as I read them before we went and was really worried. I needn't have been. It is a really good place and fab for kids. I didn't give it 5 stars because it could be better but we honestly had a super fortnight. Food The food is really good. The three restaurants provide variety and you'll soon decide on your favourite. Maybe not ideal for a vegan but nice veggie options and lots of great fish. Always pasta and fab pizzas. The restaurant staff are brilliant and just so lovely with the kids. It is a pain to have to book every day and isn't the case at all resorts, but it's just something to get used to really. 10am breakfast does mean they're tidying up around you and some things are taken away so it's not ideal. There are paper plates and bowls to take extras for by the pool/for the beach/for anyone who didn't make breakfast. The wine was a bit disappointing as there was only one white wine option, no fizz which was sad, and it wasn't great. White, red, rose or sangria (which was lovely) or lager. Plastic glasses at dinner and you have to get up to refill. I guess that's a difference between 4/5 star maybe but it's fine. Being able to take a bottle of water to your table would be handy when there's a few of you but that's not allowed so lots of wandering back and forwards for 6 of us. Pools A real bonus. 10 different ones and all different depths. You'll find your faves. We tended to go between 3 main ones. The central one is great and get the inflatable a few times a day so we tended to go over there when that was on but stayed manly at one of the quieter ones which was shallower for the children. Some vary in depth and some are constant across so you'll pick your favourites. One of the pools by Birdie restaurant gets entertainment for the younger children about 4pm each day with ball games which my younger children loved. The staff are so lovely with them and all speak at least 2 languages. Pool bar by the main pool with fab staff. Staggering how many people don't say basic thank you and please which is embarrassing really. Variety of cocktails included which is very civilised and my daughters had almost constant slushes. The pools could do with more toilets but never had to wait too long. Kids club This was a bit of a shame as there isn't a proper kids club, but this is in the information before you book so not a shock. There is a big kids' club building but I've no idea what is in it as the kids don't seem to go in it. There is entertainment there in the evening with disco, games, films etc which my children loved and Zoing the mascot was a big hit. Big thanks to the staff who are fab. It is a shame they don't offer more as they are lovely but it just doesn't seem to be set up that way. The park is good and there was often impromptu football matches in the evening with groups of children. We didn't go to the evening entertainment in the lobby bar because it was a bit late for the children so can't c

*Rooms - We had a two room apartment (sleeps 6) which was surprisingly big and comfortable except for the sofa bed. Two bathrooms and two toilets, lots of wardrobe space. It was missing a few features like more hooks in the bathroom (only 2) for towels and a clothes line to put on the big terrace to dry pool/beach towels and swimsuits. Phone in the room didn't work and asked reception twice to fix it. Never happened even though they noted it down. Usually I never use the room phone but reason on why we needed it now is explained further below. TV didn't work either. *10 pools but mostly used the main pool by the restaurants as that is where the action was. However it was not very clean with small pieces of rubbish (straws, bandaids) floating on bottom. I suggest to keep your eyes closed when underwater otherwise you will end up with sore red eyes from the chemicals added in the pool. Three of us ended up with blurry vision for approx 12 hours after doing this. *Food - 3 restaurants to choose from (Birdie - local food, Bogey - Italian food, Eagle - BBQ) Quite bland and often food was cold. Expected more variety of local food in the "Birdie" restaurant such as seafood and shellfish. Breakfast was good apart from the coffee which always had a taste of chocolate. I suggest to drink the Nespresso capsules provided in the room. *Drinks - As an all inclusive place, you want to know about the alcohol. Pool/Lobby Bar has a choice of 15-20 different cocktails, only beer on tap is the Super Bock. In the restaurant for meals you have a choice of local white/rose/red wines. *The hotel has an online reservation system for booking the restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You need to reserve a minimum of four hours in advance your table in the restaurant of your choice. This was one of the most ridiculous systems I have come across in any hotel and a source of great frustration for us. Often we could not book a table online for five at the time we wanted to, even when trying booking the day before. We would go to the reception to see if they could make the bookings for us instead as you cant book in the restaurant itself. This worked sometimes but even then the restaurant did not have our reservation. We would have called the reception from our room to make the bookings but as mentioned above, our phone did not work! Reception did inform us its not a necessity to make these reservations but you can be guaranteed on several occasions the hosts in the restaurant clearly did not appreciate that we arrived without a booking and told us clearly so. An 11 night stay turns into trying to make 33 reservations, with constant headaches and honestly on holidays who wants to think about 12 hours in advance where they want to eat. Fix this!! *Entertainment - The "fun" team attempts every day to provide some animations around the pool with some games and dances. But it doesn't really draw in much attention or participation from the other guests. Except for the

We have just returned from our week stay with our two children aged 2 and 6. We travelled with friends who had a 5 year old and 1 year old also. First of all the positives:- - Rooms are lovely, spacious with huge balcony’s and we had a sink, microwave, fridge/freezer and kettle in the room. Air con worked well as did the shower. Only downside was no where at all to put clothes except one tiny rail, no draws, which is strange considering the size of the rooms. Always cleaned well and fresh towels. - 10 pools all of which were great temperatures and not too cold even for the little ones. - Majority of the restaurant and bar staff were friendly and plenty of drink options including cocktails - we enjoyed karaoke night and some of the other entertainment they had in the evening - the spa in the adjacent hotel is lovely and worth a visit but you do have to pay 10 euros to do so. - the little train which takes you to the beach is nice and runs every half an hour. One day we went just for a ride and didn’t even get off as my toddler liked the train. It’s still a little walk from The train drop off to the actual beach. - loads of sunbeds even in July in summer hols we didn’t have to rush to reserve beds or ever have difficulty getting sunbeds Now the negatives:- - the food is limited in options and quality. It’s not what we would call 4 star and one of the most basic and limited menus/options we’ve come across on an all inclusive. We went to the marina one night for a meal which was only around 5 euros in a taxi. We only needed to do this due to the lack of decent dinner options in the hotel. - the booking 4 hours before your meal is ridiculous and just doesn’t work. If we were told about this before booking we wouldn’t have booked. Having said this we were always let into dinner but you just feel like you’re being told off or an inconvenience every time. - kids club is not supervised, in that you don’t sign them in or leave them and have to stay with them the whole time which really defies the whole point which again wasn’t made clear when booking. - there’s only 2 bars, the pool bar which is only open in the day and then the lobby bar. For the size of the hotel it’s quite ridiculous, and did mean long queues at times. - the check in process was tediously long even though we got a private transfer so we were the only ones checking in, check out was fairly slow too. - there’s a lack of day time entertainment for the children. The blow up slide but that’s really the main thing - 20 euro deposit per towel - the hotel shop is small ridiculously overpriced even more than usual so take your own floats etc or jump in an Uber to the nearest shopping centre for around 4 euros - the transfer time is over an hour and a half so we instead decided to pay for private transfers which was 50 euros for an 8 seater. We had a good week because we were on holiday and making the most of time together, great weather and being with friends but we wouldn’t

Review of a Disappointing First Day at NAU Salgados Palm Village, Albufeira Our first day at NAU Salgados Palm Village has been a major disappointment, to say the least. We are a family of 16, including several children who were excited for a relaxing and fun holiday. Sadly, it’s been anything but. Restaurant Reservations & Dining One of our biggest frustrations has been the dining arrangements. We were told reservations were needed for every meal! As we are such a large group this means 6 bookings three times a day! They had no interest in assisting with this process! When we finally got seated, they wouldn’t even accommodate our group together, forcing us to sit at separate tables. The lack of proper signage on the food (we are vegetarian/ allergies) and staff not knowing themselves has meant we have had to have be cautious and eat very little. Amenities Misleading The photos and information provided about the hotel were incredibly misleading. We expected facilities like a pool room, an arcade, a spa, and an indoor swimming pool, as clearly shown in the promotional materials. None of these were present! This was especially disappointing for the kids, who were eager to swim, but discovered there wasn’t even an indoor pool. Why are they showing photos of amenities they don’t have!!! Apparently it’s because their sister hotel (a 15 minute drive away) has them, at an extra cost! No Common Area or Lobby There is also nowhere to sit indoors. We were surprised to find there’s no proper lobby or communal space inside the hotel where our group could relax together. It’s bizarre that a hotel of this size and standard lacks basic indoor areas to gather. Live Entertainment Not As Expected We were looking forward to concerts and live entertainment, which seemed to be a highlight of the hotel. However, there is no information given On entertainment and it is not of a standard to match a 4star hotel! Shuttle Service Issues Adding to the frustration, there was no clear information provided about the shuttle service. We expected to be able to explore the area more easily, but the hotel failed to provide any guidance on how to access the shuttle. Nightmare Check-In The experience started on the wrong foot with a chaotic and poorly managed check-in process. The staff seemed overwhelmed, and it took far longer than expected to get settled. Overall, our group—especially the kids—are hugely disappointed with the first day here. We will be meeting with the manager tomorrow to discuss these issues, and we’re hoping she can still turn things around and salvage what’s left of our holiday. Right now, this has been far from the experience we were promised and expected. 0 star review from us.

We have recently come back from a 3 night 4 day Golf trip to Palm Village Apartments. After reading so many mixed reviews I thought I'd share our experiance from the working mans perspective. Firstly Check-in: We arrived at the hotel early (11:30am, which is a lot earlier then the 4pm Check in Time) We had a tee time booked at the onsite golf course and was tight for time. The reception staff where first class. As expected non of our rooms where ready, so to speed up our check in after the Golf, they took photo copies of everyone's passports and pre filled in the check in forms. After our Golf all 16 People where checked in and given Wrist Bands. Accommodation: The Rooms we had were Two Twin Room apartments with Two bathrooms and a large Living Area. There was ample space for the Golf clubs and Luggage. The rooms were all clean and the beds comfy. The beds were changed Daily and the towels where changed. Couldn't ask for more really. Restaurants: The food in the Hotel is ok, its best to look at these as mass catering rather than restaurant standard food. The food was tasty and mostly hot. The only pain is the booking system, which after you've used once is fine. Each night they managed to have all 16 people seated closely together. Bar: They have a Bar/Sports Bar next to reception which had live music and showed the Football. All drinks where fine, served in plastic cups. We had a large group and they happily served us as a group. we didn't encounter any of the two drinks max per person order limit as written about in other reviews. The live music was good and the outdoor seating area didn't make the place feel to busy or over crowded. Transport to Golf: We played the onsite Course Salgados, which is a 5 minute walk. We also played Morgado and Alamos, whish is about 25 minutes away by bus. Again everything ran smoothly with pick ups and drops offs. No issues here. The courses are a bit of a hike, so best to pre book buggies if you can! Its a 20 minute walk to the beach, which is worth doing. Overall we found this to suit us well and would definitely return. Its not a 5 star resort, so if you go with lower expectations then you wont be disappointed!

The spacious apartments are comfortable and clean but the fact that the food in all three restaurants was constantly cold put paid to any chance we had of enjoying this holiday, ( serving the food on cold plates doesn’t help ) The staff in the restaurants were friendly and helpful but health and safety seemed to take second place around the complex. We were alarmed when we saw emergency exit doors in one of the restaurants chained and locked and broken and missing covers to the drains near the swimming pool areas causing trip hazards but the extension lead stretching from building 4 to the swimming pool took the biscuit. I almost tripped over it as it crossed the exit door from the stairs and the lack of lighting at the steps to the buildings was very dangerous in the evenings. This was the first time that I wasn’t asked when I was checking out if I had enjoyed my stay and with the disorganised reception area and over worked staff I can understand why. Needless to say, we won’t be back.