Let me start by clearing up any confusion - Despite my 5* rating this is clearly not a 5* hotel. That is of course because the Vila-Luz is officially an “Aparthotel” and therefore quite unique with respect to its offering. There are certainly no delusions of grandeur with this place, in fact the Aparthotel Vila Luz simply does exactly what it says on the tin………….but boy does it do it well!

Funnily enough I only came across the Vila-Luz by sheer chance - After hours of painstaking research and subsequent disappointment at the general standard of accommodation in the Luz / Lagos region, I was perusing through a well known search engine when I stumbled across a link to it. At that time the Vila-Luz wasn’t even listed on the Trip Advisor site and therefore remained a huge ‘unknown’ but fortunately for me the hotel had a great website of its own, with lots of decent images and information available to help us with our decision.

The hotel itself is fairly small and cosy with only around 20 guest rooms, 5 of which are a slightly different layout and decor. It is situated in a quiet part of Luz, very near to the sea and only a 10 minute walk to Praia da Luz beach. There is a fantastic pool in the middle of the landscaped terrace & gardens, which has a lovely waterfall feature too. It’s not the biggest pool you’ll ever see and it’s definitely one of the coldest (I prefer the term “refreshing”) but it is however extremely clean and well kept, perfect for a quick dip after basking in the hot Portugeese sun.

There is a large bar area inside the hotel complete with pool table and satellite T.V for those of you, like me, who still like to keep in touch with the sport back home. Be warned though the hotel does NOT serve food (apart from toasted sandwiches at lunch) so be prepared to walk down into Luz if you need a snack or fancy stocking up at the local supermarket. The bar is open in the evening until around 1am and there are quite a few ‘non-residents’ who use it – a point on which I will further elaborate later.

Our room was great – I made sure I did my homework beforehand and made regular contact with the hotel leading up to our stay. They suggested to me that Rooms 110 & 111 were slightly more special and because of their position enjoyed the best views of the ocean. We ended up with room “110” and we were not disappointed. As you can see from the pictures it was a very large and bright room with everything you needed: 2 beds (pushed together), sofa, dining table, kitchenette, great bathroom and the most gorgeous terrace overlooking the sea….breakfast on the balcony was an absolute treat everyday!

I have to say I’m a big ‘hotel person’ normally, but this place offers a brilliant mix of the two. Hotel style and delivery with the added bonus of villa / apartment type practicality. For instance it may be described as an apart-hotel but that has certainly not stopped them from ensuring the highest levels of specification when fitting the place out. The Vila Luz has not even celebrated its 1st birthday yet and if you look carefully you’ll notice that the sound system is Bose, the bathrooms are completely finished in grohe, their sun-loungers are of very good quality and they have lovely fitted mattresses too. Even little things like having a proper fridge-freezer was a godsend, especially for chilling the aperitif’s before our evening meals in Lagos! It was also really handy having a hob and microwave in the room for making snacks at lunch…thus saving us money for once and allowing for much more extravagant meals in the evening.

Speaking of which Lagos is definitely the place to go for your nights out. Roughly 10 Euros (£7) each way by taxi but worth every penny as the standard of restaurants and general nightlife is far superior to that of Luz. The only really decent place I would recommend in Luz is the Forteleza which is an old converted fort on the coastline. The setting is wonderful, the food was very nice and the staff reasonably friendly. The only negatives were that there are huge ants running around if you sit outside (which do get on your table) and also that the service was quite poor. If you venture in to Lagos then make sure you don’t miss ‘Vino Divino’ which you’ll find just off the Rua 1 de Maio.

Anyway rather than write a critique on each and every restaurant that we visited however, it’s probably easier to summarise:

No Patio – Nice terrace garden out the back. Friendly staff, lovely food and reasonably priced

Taverna O Lagos – I forget the exact name but it’s a large Tavern on the Rua 25 de Abril. Food was excellent, staff attentative and although a bit loud the surroundings were quite nice. Expensive though!

Don Toro – This is an Argentinian steakhouse and if steak is your thing then this is the place to go. Pricey, BUT the size and quality of the meat is awesome and you won’t be disappointed

Vino Divino – This was our favourite restaurant and we even went twice. Set back on a quiet street it has a fantastic roof terrace hidden away upstairs. It’s a family business with genuine Italian owners and the service and friendliness of the staff was the best we encountered. A real gem!

O Navegador – located on the walls of the old fort this has a great view of the Marina at Lagos. However be warned that after dusk you won’t actually be able to see any of it. Food was decent and prices were about standard.

Forteleza da Luz – Lovely setting, decent food and ok staff. You can either eat in the historic banquet hall or like us, go for a table outside over the secluded beach.

Dolce Vita – AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE. After waiting an hour from ordering, still no food and the rudest staff you will ever meet. They even had the cheek to ask us to pay for olives and bread after we said enough was enough and left the restaurant. Horrible place.


On last thing I would like to mention is both the quality and friendliness of the staff at the Vila Luz who were outstanding and really made our stay enjoyable. The hotel is only just starting out and as a result the owners are obviously still quite cautious with respect to the staffing levels. You will rarely find more than 2 members of staff on at once which is quite an ask when you think that they have to cover the concierge / reception, bar and kitchen etc. However whilst at times it can be a little frustrating having to wait to be seen, the quality of the staff more than makes up for this. Special mention must go to ‘Carla’ and ‘Fabio’ who were particularly friendly and always went out of their way to help us where possible. Given how busy the hotel was whilst we were there, I think it only fair that the owners recognise the difficulties they face and give them the extra resources they need.

I guess the only negative thing I can suggest is that the Vila Luz is largely abused by cheeky holidaymakers who are not actually staying at the hotel, but come down to fully utilise the facilities anyway. I have to say it was very irritating at times, especially in the afternoon when families suddenly appeared on mass, having taken the kids to the beach in the morning. Most seemed to be people who were staying in villas nearby and just enjoyed a bit of freeloading. This is perhaps therefore one thing that the hotel does need to address in the future as the place becomes busier?

All in all though it was a great holiday and I would certainly recommend this hotel to anyone. Whilst I’d say I’m more the exploring type who likes to visit new places each year, I have to say that I would be very tempted to go back to the Vila Luz in the future.

Jc