Last week we travelled to Portugal to stay in a beautiful villa called Villa Henriques in Gale Portugal

When I say beautiful, I really do mean beautiful.

 

The villa was provided by Villas 4 You the most straightforward travel company I have ever had the pleasure to work with.  They just made life so simple from booking through to transfer, accessing the villa and the actual villa itself.

No stress at all.

We flew from East Midlands to Faro and had arranged our transfer with Villas 4 You as we were not hiring a car. We had very clear instructions on meeting our driver who was amazing and took us there with no fuss and a bit of help with the bags! On arrival  we had a code to get our key and could drop our bags even though we were early.

We liked the comfy airy villa immediately.

 

Villa Henriques

Easy and straightforward is exactly what you need with two kids in tow.

Villas 4 You provide you with a comprehensive file with all the information you could possibly need inside, bus timetables, emergency numbers, local shops and restaurants, simple phrases you might require and more. They provide a safe and a rep service should you want one to call. We had free wifi in the villa, great TV and DVD combo and there was nothing at all they hadn’t thought of. A washing machine and dishwasher were also really useful.

We did choose to have their rep call and Ana was brilliant. She told us all about the area and what  we might enjoy and she was most welcoming and informative.

 

Villa Henriques – The Villa

The villa’s pool was just lovely, lots of lounges, easy steps in and it was maintained during the week and was both clean and fresh. The children had so much fun. We bough cheap inflatables from a little store nearby and they played and swam  for hours whist we relaxed.

The villa could easily have catered for 2 families of four. It was absolutely delightful. It had a large kitchen, filled with all the appliances you could need to make yourselves comfortable. You could eat in the large kitchen, in the lounge or out on the terrace. we could take our pick.

Each of the four bedrooms had their own ensuite and their was an additional downstairs cloakroom too. the bedrooms were spacious and well equipped with storage space.

Lovely airy rooms.

There were lots of pillows and spare blankets, inside towels were provided and there were even dishwasher tablets to start you off. So impressive..

There was a balcony outside each bedroom for sitting and watching the sun go down which we often did.We had such a lovely view of the sea right from the villa and we spent most of our time between the pool and the sea.

Perfect. The villa really was a lovely base.

 

The Area

Villa Henriques is in the quiet area of Gale in the Algarve about 5 miles from the lovely busy town of Albufeira. It has not one ounce of tacky tourism and is a gentle, slow paced place with the most astounding beaches.

 

We were just 200m from a small private beach with a lovely glass restaurant over looking it. It had  rockpools which my children adored spying crabs and other critters and there were shallow waters to paddle in and the most beautiful stones and shells. 200m in the other direction lay Gale beach, a long sandy beach with a couple of lovely restaurants overlooking the sea. It was the perfect place to see the sun set and to run in and out of the waves.

 

We were also 200m from a large well stocked supermarket which was just fabulous. We could self cater with ease and as vegetarians this is so welcome when abroad as every restaurant specialises in fish!

This was a relaxing holiday indeed. look how chilled out my usually extremely lively kids are – a combination of sunshine, lots of swimming, exploring and climbing on the rocks and running in and out the sea.

 

We took a few trips from Gale by taxis (though there bus routes very nearby) to an amazing waterpark in Lagoa called Splash and Slide, into the town of Albufeira and to the Marina for a boat trip to explore the sea caves and see the wild dolphins. I will tell you about these more in another post. Each adventure was great fun and it was lovely to come back after to our gorgeous villa afterwards and relax.

We soon made it our home and oh we were just so sorry to leave.

 

 

Would we go back?

Absolutely! Look how happy it made us!

 

 

This what I had to say on my last day there:

A very happy holiday indeed. The kids said they thought it was the best holiday ever and want to go back next year…or bring the villa home. Hmmm.

 

 

 

We reviewed Villa Henriques as part of a collaboration with Villas 4 You. All thoughts and opinions are entirely are own and completely honest