Hotel Vila Galé Collection Praia

Praia da Galé is a long sandy beach west of Albufeira, away from the strip and the nightlife, backed by low dunes and a handful of restaurants. The Vila Galé Collection Praia sits 150 metres from it.

The name is misleading if you know the group. Vila Galé runs a great many large resorts across Portugal, but the Collection label covers its smaller and more distinctive properties, and this one has 40 rooms across three floors. Guests consistently note that it feels like having the place to themselves, which at that size it more or less is.

It takes no guests under sixteen, which is the other thing shaping the atmosphere. This is a couples' hotel and makes no attempt to be anything else.

Rooms have balconies, some looking over the pool and the palm garden, with modern furnishings and marble bathrooms. The exterior is a deep mauve, more Art Deco than Algarve, which is unusual for the area.

Facilities are good for the size: the Satsanga spa with a large jacuzzi, sauna, Turkish bath, treatment rooms and yoga classes, an indoor pool, a gym, an outdoor pool, and the Inevitável restaurant doing à la carte alongside a well-regarded breakfast buffet. There is an open-plan lobby bar with a library and a billiard table, and bicycles can be arranged.

Be clear that the building is modern, dating from 1989 with a substantial refurbishment since. The appeal here is scale, quiet and the beach rather than history.

Albufeira old town is around fifteen minutes by car, Faro airport about forty.