Villa Stephane

We stayed at Villa Stephane for 10 days in May/June 2018 and had an amazing time. LOCATION The location is a good base for exploring the Algarve, esp Albuferia region, although you definitely need a car. It is a long track to the house and to the main road. Walking out isn't really possible. However, it is not far from the big shopping centre - Algarve Shopping (10 min drive maybe?) And this has plenty of free parking. There is Aldi within 5 min drive, as well as an overseas English supermarket at the large shopping centre, and another Aldi. We know the Albufeira region quite well and had researched parking etc before we went so we knew where we were headed which was good. We tried various beaches which are all lovely. Praia d'Oura is a firm favourite. It is about a 15 min drive from Albufeira old town and the Strip if I remember rightly. The villa really is deserted. There is a large electric gate and the property has fencing around. It also has electric shutters so all feels secure for the children to play. It has lots of outside space. We even saw a snake skin on the boundary of the villa grounds! FACILITIES The villa is amazing. It is furnished to a very high standard with all appliances. Only slight frustration was that there was a locked cupboard (presumably for the cleaner), but there was an iron and ironing board in it (we could see it but couldn't get to it!). It would have come in very useful. The air conditioning was fab. We a 3rd and 4th bed (bit of a squeeze) in the twin room upstairs as the children all wanted to stay in together. There was a master suite upstairs although maybe that lacked nice furniture on the large balcony so the balcony was rarely used (we had to take chairs out of the bedroom). There was plenty of seating around the pool and a huge dining table in the kitchen. The 2 downstairs bedrooms lead onto the pool area, so luckily it wasnt my bedroom that became the passage to the pool! The pool was fab. There is a small section at the top which the youngest played in. It's not sectioned off, but there was always an adult outside supervising so not a problem. Only thing with the pool was that it was COLD! We went end of May/ beginning of June, and the weather wasnt actually that warm, so maybe that's why the pool was cold. The locals were also amazed by the poor weather. Cardigans were definitely required on an evening. Would recommend Villa Stephane and would love to go again sometime!