EPIC SANA ALGARVE HOTEL

If you want a peaceful top quality hotel with amazing scenery, high spec accommodation and delicious food, then this is just the place! Staff friendly and always on hand to help and yet respectful of your need to maybe just be quiet and relax in silence! Buffett breakfast not overwhelming but a good choice, more than enough and the quality of the fruit exceeds anything in the uk.... Same applies to evening meal, the meat and fish actually tasted what they were, unlike some places i eaten! There is a stair way that leads down to a secluded sandy beach that was virtually deserted in May, some people may find it TOO quiet, but that was exactly what my husband and i wanted!

My partner and I booked a 6 night break at the Epic Sana on a B&B basis in an ocean facing room through British Airways, flights and hotel combined. On arrival at the hotel we were shown to our room on the 3rd floor of the hotel and was expecting to have a view of the ocean but instead we had a view of a bush! In fairness to the hotel staff they changed our room straight away to one of the 4th floor which not only faced the ocean but you could also see the ocean too! The room was modern, bright and clean. The bed comfortable and very large. We found the pillows too soft so asked reception if they had firmer pillows. We also requested some additional coat hangers. When we returned to the room we had memory foam pillows waiting but the hangers never arrived. The breakfast buffet was good and we found all staff to be friendly and helpful. Towards the end of our stay we asked if we could be shown around the different types of rooms as we were considering returning to the hotel with our daughter later in the year. We were taken by a helpful member of staff to be shown 4 rooms in the resort. It is here I feel I should explain about the 'social bathrooms', as this is something which may or may not be a problem depending on who you are travelling with and your expectations in terms of bathroom privacy. All the rooms at Epic Sana feature some form of a 'social bathroom' which has a shower and toilet encased in glass with frosted glass half way up, a free standing bath, basin and sink all open plan with your room. There is a sliding screen that can be pulled around the bathroom area which does create visual privacy but not so much sound privacy. Having seen several room types around the resort, they all have slightly different 'social bathrooms' so if privacy is something that is important to you, you might want to check with the hotel the bathroom layout of the room you are booking before you book. In fact I think it would be helpful to have a floor plan of each room on the website so you can see the layout of the room and the bathroom. It wasn't a problem for us but I'm not sure I would find it great if travelling with a friend. Sadly like most hotels the food and drink is expensive. We ate at lunch time at the Open Deck and shared a ham and cheese toasted sandwich which came with chips and we had a beer and a coke this came to around 20 Euros. I would avoid the tuna, egg and caper toasted sandwich as it comes swimming in warm mayonnaise rendering it inedible. The waitress seemed to agree that it didn't look like it was very nice when she collected it with only a few bites taken out of it, but it still appeared on our bill. We had a few drinks in the Bluum Bar which again was expensive. A gin and tonic was 14 Euros. The bar was very quiet with only a few people in there and some live music which would have been nice had the bar been full of people to create an atmosphere. I felt quite sorry for the musicians who played for several hours to more staff than guests. I wasn't sure if it was empty because the hotel was only at half capacity or whether it was empty because the drinks were so expensive. We would have liked to eaten in the hotels buffet restaurant but from reading other reviews and talking to other guests around the pool, the consensus was that the food was nice but not worth the 39 Euros per persons. The guests we spoke to who were eating there had got free upgrades as part of their booking and thought the food was ok but not worth the 39 Euros per person which didn't include any drinks not even bottled water. I did approach the reception staff to ask if they would consider offering us a complimentary evening meal as we were considering returning with our daughter and wanted to see what the evening buffet was like. The answer was a firm no, explaining that complimentary upgrades to half board are sometimes available when booking but if we want to eat in the buffet restaurant now we are here it is 39 Euros each. There were no discounts available or offers on half board once you arrived. I thought this was a little short sighted as the same amount of food would have to be prepared, yet had they offered guests an incentive to use the buffet restaurant they would have made money on wine and other drinks alone. Instead we walked across the road from the hotel and ate in the restaurants in the little commercial centre where the supermarket is at less than half the cost of eating in the hotel buffet restaurant. Overall a very lovely quiet hotel, beautifully maintained and clean. Overpriced at full room rates but if you can book and take advantage of offers it is a lovely place to stay. We would probably go back but only if we could get a good offer. I think it is a great shame the hotel does not offer any rebooking incentives to its guests.

Visited June 2015 We stayed in the self catering apartment which was stunning. Very spacious, sleek and modern with all the amenities you need in a kitchen. The bedroom was large and and the bathroom also stunning with an amazing shower and bath. The terrace was big and it was great having breakfast out there every morning. The bed in the main room was big with luxurious bed linen and the sofa bed mattress also very firm and comfortable that my daughter slept on. The apartment was very well cleaned every day, even the glass balcony got a good clean everyday. The pools are amazing but a bit of trek down to the beach down some steep stairs. The reception staff were always helpful and friendly. I have to agree with most of the other reviews that the restaurant is over-priced for the food that they offer. We had breakfast in there once or twice which was a bit expensive for what was on offer. There is a supermarket right outside the hotels that has an amazing bakery and a great range of fresh produce and food if you're self-catering. We didn't get the warmest weather during our week but had a fantastic stay at this hotel. It has to be one of the best hotels we've ever stayed at. I would definitely go back and stay and HIGHLY recommend this hotel.

Appalling. I was careful to ask before booking if the personal trainers had good experience of injuries and was told they were expert professionals with a lot of knowledge. Sadly, by day 2, I was in tears I was in so much agony as they continued to ignore my protestations and actually physically put weights on me!!! 3 hours of training was not given - as they used at least half an hour of this each day for a snack break! Plus on day 1, I was put in a group class that is free to all guests instead of the training I had purchased. By day 5, I could barely walk due to new injuries, and have been in physio every other day since back. When I complained to management, they promised to get back to me and make changes to rectify but never did get back to me. I had to keep calling London agent to try and get resolution which they happened but was told by the agent that 2 of the team had spoken to me and had made changes - they never had. When I raised this with the manager, he called me a liar!!! I have never been so outraged or embarrassed. Abysmal communications (read lackof!). Most stressful experience and still having to cancel work due to injuries. Legal claims have now begun as despite providing less than 13 of the purchased 18 hours of training, being made to miss one workshop due to one of the managers calling me out to discuss problems, (even before taking account of the injuries), they refuse to give any partial refund. The only help they gave was providing bags of ice on the last 3 days as I was hobbling so badly down to the restaurant.

This was our second visit to epic sana and this time we chose a suite and half board for our 10 night stay - 2 adults and a 2 year old. The accommodation was lovely but the food at dinner especially was terrible - more 3 star than 5 star. I wouldn't imagine that anyone who stays in this hotel feeds their children 'smily faces' or other processed total ****. It really was the cheapest of the cheap food (at 5 star prices). For a hotel that sells itself on well-being this is absolutely shocking, especially given it is for children!!! Our room was beautiful and the location lovely. I felt the price for the room matched the luxury but was so disappointed at the food, especially what they expected me to feed my son.