Tivoli Carvoeiro

I stayed between 15th June to 20 th June and would like to say thank you for a lovely stay. Also please compliment the following staff members who looked after going above and beyond Elisha Reuben Vanessa karoline Manuel ( breakfast) Sabrath Delfina Victor Andre

Thank you very much Helen Litherland

Beautiful location and hotel.

Having visited The Algarve on many occasions, I was keen to try out Carvoeiro. Research here led us to the Tivoli which appeared to tick all the boxes: calm, luxury, good family rooms at a decent distance to a nice resort.

It is indeed many of these things. We did have our really nice family holiday. However, it falls short in a few areas and it would have been helpful to know of these in advance.

Most importantly, there are major groundworks to the immediate side of the pool where the cliff side and walk has fallen away. This is a massive undertaking and is noisily operational all weekdays. At first we noticed it constantly but gradually over the weeks we somehow managed to zone out. Not really what we were looking for, for our days in the sun. I gather from other guests that sitting on their balcony by day was impossible.

The pool itself and surrounding area is small for a hotel of its size. An exam year for the children, we were able to travel outside of main school holidays. I don’t think we would go in the highest of seasons as the poolside/loungers seemed to struggle with capacity even in early June. Loungers are quite basic, to say the least.

There appears to be a communication issue between departments - you ask a question and it’s answered but not always followed through as agreed. I got the feeling that front desk and housekeeping didn’t understand each other at all. Indeed, housekeeping/turndown was unreliable and inconsistent. A management issue rather than the efforts of room staff, who worked hard.

The clientele is decidedly international and a high percentage of the restaurant staff appear to still be in training, although most were very pleasant. Breakfast coffee orders were particularly difficult to fulfill and there was often a chaotic air. The buffet on offer was standard breakfast fayre - all fine.

It would be churlish not to mention the very good stuff:

We had a lovely, airy two room family suite with a massive, well furnished terrace. Quite minimalist in design but this works for us on a beach holiday. We also by miracle managed to avoid a view of the works.

The distance into town is a short walk along pavements or joining the boardwalk. It’s a fabulous little town - something for everyone and with a great beach, so many bars and restaurants. You really don’t need transport. There’s also a complimentary timetabled Tuk Tuk service which shuttles from the hotel to town and to other beaches. It runs perfectly and is great in the heat.

The Sky Bar on the roof is an idyllic way to see in the end of the day with cocktails and nibbles; it added a touch of glamour to proceedings. It does close on evenings when there’s a wedding or event in the hotel, so it’s worth checking if you a planning a special night on a particular date.

The hotel offers a range of upgrades/add ons which you can book, prior to arrival. We had a late night flight so were glad to arrange (at quite some cost) a very late check out, which gave us an extra day.

Our daughter came to join us midway through our stay for a long weekend and we were able to incorporate her into the room plan quite smoothly.

(We arranged our transfer independently with Prestige Days of Armacaō de Pera, who we’ve used extensively previously. Pavel and co are absolutely wonderful and we wouldn’t trust anyone else with our travel plans.)

The Tivoli Carvoeiro is in all honesty not really the haven of luxury it believes itself to be, however it is still a very nice hotel of a high standard. We had a great holiday - but I’m aware the inconsistencies wouldn’t suit everyone. Would we go again? Very possibly, but I would think twice about how the hotel would cope in the highest of seasons and book accordingly.