"We stayed at The Residences in a three-bedroom apartment and overall had a very good stay, although there is one important issue you should know about before booking.
Location
The location is good, around a 5 to 10-minute drive from Vilamoura and the beach. The Residences is situated in a beautiful, upmarket residential area, which gives the resort a pleasant and peaceful feel.
There are not many restaurants or other facilities within walking distance. There is an Italian restaurant nearby and a Pingo Doce supermarket is conveniently close, but for a wider choice of restaurants, shops and entertainment you will need to drive into Vilamoura.
Atmosphere
The resort itself has a relaxed, pleasant and quite luxurious atmosphere. Everything looks well maintained when you arrive and it is certainly family-friendly.
The arrival could be clearer, though. After parking behind the wall with The Residences sign, you have to walk through a gate to find the reception, which is not immediately obvious from the entrance. Some better signage would help.
Rooms
We had a three-bedroom apartment with three bathrooms and the amount of space was fantastic. Large rooms, beautiful stone floors, spacious bathrooms and plenty of room for a family.
The apartment is starting to show its age. We also stayed here around 13 years ago and it does not appear that much has been updated since then. The television is dated and the kitchen could also benefit from an upgrade.
That said, everything worked perfectly well and the apartment was extremely well maintained. The beds were comfortable, the air conditioning worked very well and having three bathrooms for three bedrooms was fantastic.
The kitchen itself is large and practical, although we expected more pots and pans for an apartment designed to accommodate this many people. There was also no coffee machine, which we would expect in an apartment of this level.
Value
The Residences is quite expensive during the high season. However, considering the space, daily housekeeping, facilities, breakfast and overall level of service, there are plenty of positives that help justify the price.
There are also a few areas where the experience does not quite match the price, particularly the dated elements of the apartment and, most importantly, the potential noise at night.
Cleanliness
This deserves a 10/10.
Our apartment was exceptionally clean. The housekeeping team did a fantastic job throughout our stay. The apartment was cleaned every day, the beds were made beautifully and everything was consistently spotless.
We were so impressed that we left the housekeeping team a tip. When it comes to cleanliness and daily housekeeping, this genuinely felt like a five-star resort.
Noise level
Unfortunately, this was by far the biggest negative of our stay.
Our first apartment was on the top floor with a beautiful view. Everything seemed perfect until we woke up during the night to very heavy bass music. The music continued from around 1am until 6am.
After looking into it, we discovered that there are open-air clubs in the Vilamoura area, including Bliss, and depending on the wind direction the bass can travel surprisingly far.
When we mentioned the noise at reception, it became clear that this was already a known issue. That was disappointing, because we would have appreciated being informed about it when choosing our apartment.
To their credit, the management helped us and moved us to a lower apartment. The difference was enormous. In the lower apartment we experienced little to virtually no disturbance from the music.
So this would be our most important advice to anyone booking The Residences: if a good night’s sleep is important to you, request a lower-level apartment, preferably towards the middle of the resort rather than on the outside. You may sacrifice some of the view, but for us it made the stay much more relaxing.
It is worth mentioning that this may be a wider Vilamoura issue during the summer months rather than something The Residences itself can control. However, because the problem is known, we feel guests should be made aware of it when checking in.
Service
Overall, the service was good and what we would expect from a four-star property. The lady who welcomed us was friendly and professional, and management handled our complaint about the noise reasonably well by moving us to another apartment.
But there was one person who made our stay particularly memorable: Numo at breakfast.
He was absolutely fantastic.
Every morning he welcomed us with genuine enthusiasm. He quickly remembered what we liked, was wonderful with our children and somehow managed to give everyone attention even when he was clearly very busy.
Service like this makes a real difference to a holiday.
Breakfast
Another 10/10, and probably the biggest surprise of our stay.
There is surprisingly little information about breakfast on The Residences’ own website, which is a shame because it is one of the highlights.
Breakfast is served outside by the bar and is à la carte. The quality was excellent, the coffee was very good and the service was excellent.
Combined with Numo’s hospitality, breakfast became something we genuinely looked forward to every morning.
Pool and facilities
The pool area is lovely and relaxing. We used it several times and there were almost always sunbeds available.
There was none of the usual early-morning rush to reserve sunbeds with towels, which made the pool experience much more enjoyable.
Overall
There is a lot to like about The Residences.
The apartments are exceptionally spacious, everything is extremely clean and well maintained, the resort feels comfortable and family-friendly, and the daily housekeeping is outstanding. Breakfast exceeded our expectations and Numo deserves a special mention for providing some of the best service we experienced during our stay.
The apartments are beginning to look somewhat dated and could benefit from some upgrades, although this did not significantly affect our comfort.
The major issue is the potential nighttime noise from clubs in the wider Vilamoura area. In our first, higher apartment this was genuinely disruptive. After moving to a lower apartment, however, the problem was almost completely solved.
Would we stay again? Yes, but we would specifically request a lower-level apartment in the middle of the resort.
With the right apartment, The Residences is a very comfortable, exceptionally clean and enjoyable place for a family holiday."
