Positives

• Friendly staff delivering good service
• Room furnishings and large bed size
• Varied and decent buffet though not 5*
• No signing for anything with the all-inclusive wristband
• Liberal approach to taking wine back to room

Negatives

• Limited all inclusive wine list reduced further by numerous out of stock drinks
• Awful, pre-mixed cocktails that verge on undrinkable
• Consistently rubberised scramble eggs

This is our first Iberostar resort and our first European all-inclusive. We were not expecting it to be like our last all-inclusive experience at the Marriott Merlin Beach in Thailand and our expectations were met. It claims to be a 5* resort and it shoots itself in the foot by doing so. If it promoted itself as 3-4* then it could be judged much more enthusiastically. In nobody’s book is this a 5* resort. Nevertheless we had a pleasant stay in the off season at ~€300 a night for two all in because of the staff but I wouldn’t pay high-season prices when it would almost work out cheaper to fly to Phuket for a week at the Marriott and have better food, drinks, and overall experience. All inclusive costs about €140 for two on top of the basic bed and breakfast rate and includes all your booze plus lunch and dinner in the buffet which would normally cost ~€36 per meal per person so you’re effectively getting your booze throughout the day, the minibar, and coffee pods free.Service from reception to the restaurants was good. Staff are friendly and make an effort. They were a bit confused that one of us spoke native Portuguese but that’s not surprising given the number of British accents we heard among the guests. We booked through ihg.com and this was the first IHG hotel where we were not thanked for being a member and not offered a welcome gift at check in. All arriving guests are given a glass of very acceptable sparkling wine from the Lisbon region upon arrival. If you’re coming by train you can walk easily from the station before Lagos, Meia Praia. Otherwise it’s a €5 Bolt ride. We asked for and got a late checkout at midday (it’s officially 11am). They took full payment off my card when we checked in which I’ve found common at HIXs too. No room upgrade though we had booked the room type we wanted already.

The room was exactly as expected including own outdoor Balinese bed however our half of the resort - the west wing - was in the shade all day so bear that in mind if you wish to sunbathe. We don’t tend to travel with a full pack of toiletries to 5* hotels and we had to ask for toothbrushes as there weren’t any amenities in the bathroom. These were delivered quickly but with such tiny sachets of toothpaste we had to keep ask again each day. If the intent is to be environmentally friendly then it fails because of the number of toothbrushes that we discarded unused. The mini bar was included and replenished every day with small bottles of beer, coke, port and a sparkling wine. Very good. There were four coffee pods but no tea bags which is odd given the number of British guests. Notable was the size of the TV which was the smallest I’ve seen in a hotel in the last ten years. it’s also encased behind glass so you cannot access the HDMI ports to watch your own movies. We didn’t even bother turning it on.

We had lunch and dinner in the main buffet every meal bar one and were happy with the quality and range of food. In the evening there themed buffets starting with a large seafood selection - including lobsters - and Mexican and Asian on other days. Plenty of staff on hand to bring drinks. We were told that the all inclusive rate didn’t include a few wines like Moët champagne which is fair enough but the reality is that the majority of wines are excluded. Most of these were standard Portuguese wines. Choice was further reduced because they ran out of two of the nicer wines after we’d had a bottle and liked it and they inexplicably didn’t include a single Portuguese Vinho Verde in the all inclusive list. The only rosé, from the Douro, was not to our taste. Breakfast was mostly excellent with a good variety of foods and self-serve sparkling wine. However, the scrambled eggs were inedibly rubberised every day rather than creamy and came out of the pot in hard slices which was a surprise given the otherwise high standards in the kitchen. They should visit the Crown Plaza Caparica to see how these should be cooked. Lunch at the snack bar was a la carte and featured a smaller menu of salads and burgers and a few Portuguese dishes like octopus. We only ate there once. At night this venue becomes a Portuguese restaurant which is not included in the all-inclusive price and appeared deserted whenever we passed by.

What we didn’t enjoy was the cocktails.

Some of the signature cocktails were excluded from the all-inclusive package which was meh but many of the basics like the mojito and caipirinha were terrible because they are made with mixers and not original ingredients. The mojito was metallically unpleasant and undrinkable to anyone who knows what one made properly should taste like. The caipirinha seemed to be the same prepared mixer mixed with cachaca. It’s inexplicable that a beach resort that promotes itself as 5* serves undrinkable mojitos from pre-mixed bottles and someone in management thinks this is a good idea. I can’t imagine the Iberostars in Bahia murder caipirinhas in the same way but who knows. Only the frozen daiquiri looked and tasted normal but on day three they ran out of strawberry daiquiris. We ended up drinking real basics like Tanqueray & tonic and Bacardi & coke because they couldn’t be ruined. A great positive is that all-inclusive guests do not have to sign anything for drinks or even give the room number which makes for a nicely seamless experience.

I asked when we checked out about the welcome gift and was told we would get 600 points. Needless to say these points did not post with the stay two days after we checked out. But everything else was there including the correct 2 x 3000 bonus points from the current promo. If I stayed again, I would probably go for the dinner, bed, and breakfast rate, eat out at lunch, and avoid the bars. If Iberostar promoted this as a 4* resort then I’d have more enthusiasm but to claim it’s a 5* all inclusive is a bit of a stretch and only likely to be believed by the most packaged of package tourists. I’m much more likely to return with enthusiasm to the Crown Plaza Caparica where they know how to make creamy scrambled eggs for breakfast and serve real drinks at the bar.