"Relaxing Winter Break"
We stayed at the Gale Praia for 2 weeks over the xmas break, having booked a cheap deal through Expedia/Style. We wanted a quiet hotel, with a relaxing atmosphere and that's what you get with the Gale Praia. The hotel is about 200 meters from the the beach and it's possible to walk along to the next resort (about 2 miles away), at low tide, which involved a short wade through a stream, as it crosses the beach. On the beach itself there are three restaurants, all of which were open during our stay, all serving decent seafood, but like the rest of the Algarve, vistually no vegetarian choices.
We stayed B&B, the breakfasts were great, with a huge choice of hot and cold food, served buffet style. We ate in the hotel restaurant a couple of times, which is excellent but expensive by Algarve standards (about 15-20 euro for a main course, so maybe 60 euro for two for two courses incl. drinks). The portions were small, the chef obviously tried hard to impress with presentation. Other guests, staying half board weren't that happy with the choices available, half board guests basically had no choice, pointlessly being handed a "menu" at the beginning of their meal. This might be a problem for vegetarians, since the a la carte menu only had two proper vegetarian choices.
The hotel itself is finished to the highest standards, all rooms very well cleaned every day, twin beds pushed together to form a huge bed (quite firm bed) and each room has a DVD/CD player and flat panel TV (with Sky News and BBC world etc.). DVDs can be borrowed for free at reception. We used the gym a few times, basic but decent Precor cycle, crosstrainer and running machine, plus free weights. The pool is unheated so can't realistically be used by in the winter. There also a massive jacuzzi, small suana and steam room. The health centre/gym was free to Style guests but cost about 7 euro per day, which is reaosnable value (you can get a weeks pass for less).
Being a bit of light sleeper I usually use earplugs in hotels and we were both amazed that the hotel was so quiet that these weren't necessary. This is partly because this is NOT a family hotel (children are all but banned because of the atmosphere and lack of childrens facilities). There were only couples and one or business types staying when we were there, with more Portuguese over the new year.
The rooms are located one either the garden or pool side of the hotel, the pool side rooms costing more. The pool side would be the best option in the summer, since they don't get the sun directly and would have less road noise. But in the winter I'd go for the garden side, since they get the sun until the afternoon and there was very little road noise when we were there (these rooms are on the the side of the hotel, face out onto the rest of Gale).
Gale itself was very quiet when we were there. It consists of mainly upmarket holiday villas and apartments. There's a very good supermarket about a five minute walk away. We did have trouble finding restaurants at the time of year we went, there was Indian restaurant up the road (which closed after the new year), Hapimag Swiss resort even further away (good place for a quiet drink/expensive meal), Roa (cheap excellent vege/indonesian food always open) near Hapimag and Prima Pasta which unlike the others is 2 miles away and not really walkable (good food though).
Gale probably doesn't have huge amount to offer, in terms of laid-on entertainment (no loud bars/pubs etc.), but is good place for a relaxing holiday (it'll be very busy in the summer though). Hiring a car is an option, but to be blunt the Algarve's real assets are it's beaches and weather (and golf course if you like golf). We were going to hire bikes but after hiring a car for three days it's obvious that the Algarve doesn't have the scenery/roads for good cycling (unlike Majorca).
There is however Salgados lagoon (behind the main beach next to the golf course), a good place for birdwathing. Flamingos, spoonbills, little owls, fantail warblers and plenty of other's to keep the twitchers happy.
All in all a good holiday at an excellent hotel, with helpful staff. We might not return to the Algarve, but were happy with our choice of hotel and resort - having seen Albufeira (ugh), believe me we made the right choice!
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