Baluarte da Vila Apartments

Our 4th visit to Baluarte and it’s as good as ever. In a quiet spot at the top of the old town it’s scrupulously clean and elegantly furnished with lovely staff and well equipped apartments. A firm favourite and great value for money. We will be back !

Great location, 5 mins walk from a great food spa. 5 mins walk to the centre of the shops and restaurants. Central Pandaria “bakery” just 5 mins away also which is a super value and great coffee / breakfast shop 3 doors down on the corner which smart contemporary and always busy.

We stayed in a one bedroom with terrace and it was wonderful! First of all, there was only two of us, but we felt that we had tons of room and enjoyed having the multi-level apartment. The terrace and rooftop were absolutely incredible. Gorgeous view and perfect place to enjoy a glass of wine and happy hour. Jessica (staff member) was so wonderful and provided excellent recommendations for dinners and gave us directions everywhere. The location was fabulous in a quiet area in old town. The value is outstanding for the price and what you get for this incredible place. We loved this place. Our only "negative" was that the bottom floor of the apartment had a moldy smell-- and we needed to really air the place out every day. I'm sure this is an issue in this area of Portugal, but that's something that could use some attention.

Baluarte da Vila is located on the quiet side of the old town, which we really enjoyed. It’s away from all the noise and busyness, yet only a short walk away to everything and the beaches. It’s a 5-minute walk to a local grocery store/supermarket, Spar (which also contains a self-served laundromat) and a short walk to Dona Ana and Pinhao beach. Slightly less than a 25 minute’s walk from the train station for those who have to walk because they couldn’t find a taxi or an Uber. The room is slightly dated, yet surprisingly spacious. We stayed in one of the seaside view rooms. Everything was clean and the caretaker can be seen cleaning regularly. The room has a decent size kitchen with basic kitchen utensils. There is a pool with sufficient number of poolside lounge chairs. Pool towels could be rented for 1.5 euro for your stay. The water temperature was a bit too cold for us even in the summer heat, but the lounge chairs were comfortable and beaches were only a few steps away. The hidden gem and star of this place is the front desk staff, Jessica. Kind and warm, and often goes out of her way to assist other guests such as ourselves. There were a few occasions where she rushed to assist us when she heard us fumbled with our keys, even at a far distance which we appreciated. She also showed up shortcuts to places and made valuable restaurants recommendation (O Alcaide is a must stop for authentic Portuguese food and a 2 minute walk from Baluarte).

Good location with ocean view, at a distance but still nice. The room was specious and clean. Staff was helpful. Front desk person may not be there before check-in time so you may need to depend other customers to open the door to drop in your baggage. Check out at 10:30am but they extend to 11am. 10 euros per hour for additional time. I would have expected bar soap or bath gel with a wash cloth. Nether was there. Trying to find a wash cloth at the stores can be avoided if you bring one. The shower was renovated but did not have a place to put soap, washing gel/cloth, shampoo, etc. You have to out them on the floor. That was inconvenient.

We stayed here for 4 nights as a family of 2 adults and 2 children, and this pretty, clean and comfortable appart-hotel had all we could ever ask of it, from hugely helpful staff to a very nice pool to a very comfortable appartment with a rooftop terrace overlooking the town and the bay (which I believe most of them have). It's in a great location, about 10 minutes' walk from the centre of town, 15 minutes' walk from some of the best beaches in the Algarve (Dona Ana is wonderful), and a short walk to a Spar, past some pleasant open football and basketball courts where our children ended up spending quite a lot of time. Just make sure that if you're ordering a taxi from here, you give it plenty of time to arrive (ours took around 45 minutes).