Visited the Grande Real Hotel in Januari and the weather was great. Once we arrived (late in the evening) we were greated nicely and received our keys promptly. A driver with a golf car drove before us so we could park our car in the underground parking. He then took our luggage and drove us with our luggage to our appartment. It was nicely decorated, had a great view of the pool (no sea views in the appartments). We had all kinds of utensils for cooking etc. We arranged our own breakfast each day (intermarche three minutes away) because the hotel charges 20 euros a person for breakfast. The apartments are cleaned every day and the ladies also do the dishes :-) We had a one bedroom appartment and bith the bedroom as the living room has an airconditioning.
We had two minor issues, one was the microwave / grill, it only does that, so no oven function. That would have been greatly appreciated, this way cooking was more difficult. Second thing was that we requested a quiet room with a view. The view was great but there was a private residence nearby with a great big water feature. And that water feature makes a lot of noise if you're in an appartment. We thought after the first night it had rained the while night, it did not, it was the neighbours. After a few nights we did not notice it anymore.
Location wise, the hotel is on the beach and close to a road with some shops and restaurants. The old center of Albufeira is about an hours walk away (one way). We had a car and then i