Murdeira Village Resort

Our second accommodation on the island after Santa Maria. Murdeira Village is the place for peace and quiet, no music in the daytime anywhere… heaven! Our room was at the back of the village, giving us sunshine on the balcony in the morning, out of the wind, plastic furniture is tiny and broken on the balcony, we used the sitting room chairs. The room is big, well maintained, very basic, not really a kitchenette we only had two odd glasses, two odd tiny cups and we had to ask for a kettle. The Fridge is tired but ok, no cooking facilities. No aircon needed for sleeping, I could feel the springs in the bed, slept on a duvet thing did help. Lovely fresh cotton sheets every couple of days. Laundry very clean and the room was cleaned everyday. Blackout curtains. That sand does get everywhere! The shower is very good if you have it before everyone else. A small shop down the road. There is rocky Sandy walks up and down the coast from the village. Average temp was 25 degrees, perfect. Evening cooler and sleep able. Our air cushions came in handy on the sun loungers, there are not enough sun loungers round the pool but we managed to get some most days. The sun loungers are homemade wood and not the ones on the website, no loungers on the beach as in the website images. The cushions mats are spilt and tired but they are comfy if you get out of the wind. Would be great to have loungers on the beach or beach chairs and wind breaks. More wind here as it is exposed, the cove bay is swimmable when the sea is less rough. Some coral and fish here, we did snorkel and you can sea turtles. The hotel beach bar / restaurant and beach bar has good food. We had the b&b options, one of everything off the breakfast list. Dried French bread jams and butter, egg (how you like them), fruit salad, yogart, a ham and cheese sandwich (good for lunch). The pool is busy at weekend. Sunset most nights, depending on the amount of sand in the air. We hailed the local bus at the roundabout into Santa Maria, €1.20 each, cozy hiace vans, very friendly and wonderful people. Very easy to get back too.

This hotel was very disappointing. I would not class it as even one star. To start with the food. We paid for half board. Breakfast consists of scrambled egg, tinned mushrooms and there was bacon only on one day. The only cereal was coco pops. Dinner was made as cheap as possible. Also very limited and served with chips and rice every day. The hotel rooms were very outdated and the bath and shower were appalling. The hotel pool actually didn't belong to the hotel, it was the village pool which is used by all the village residents. The toilets didn't have any water in them to flash the chain or wash your hands for 3 days. The hotel is also a small terrace down one of the roads in the village. The spa advertised was just a small shack which was never open. This hotel was such a disappointment and nothing like what was advertised. We expected a half decent place to stay and some nice food. On new years eve they did a buffet which was the only nice meal we had all holiday. The only positive thing I can say about our stay was that the staff were very friendly and tired their very best to make do with the limited resources to their disposal. Sal was chilled and we liked the island itself.

all inclusive at half board level. On the hotel beach 4 (four words)! wooden deckchairs and 6 umbrellas... Difficult entry into the ocean over rocks - water shoes required. Overall a boring place - nothing to do here. Older equipment of the apartment. The staff seem to pretend they are there for punishment.