Unfortunately I have been back a week from a wonderful 7 night stay at the Riu Guarana Hotel in Olhos D'Agua in the Algarve in Portugal.
The hotel is in pristine condition, cleanliness, food quality, bedroom comfort, communal areas are all first class.
However what makes this hotel that extra bit special are the 'Staff' from those on reception, to the bar staff, to the restaurant staff, the management, the entertainment team and the cleaners, they are all lovely.
A special mention for Ana Olivera on reception who was really wonderful in trying to accommodate my requests, she is a real asset to the Riu name and this hotel.
We were truly able to relax at this hotel.
My only criticism is there are no Adult Only areas!
The indoor swimming pool area is open to children which makes things very busy if the weather is a little chilly or inclement.
Also my partner and I enjoy having a drink before a late dinner but there is no adult only bar or quiet bar to relax in.
After dinner the only place for a night cap drink is the large entertainment bar, which at that time in the evening is very busy, especially if it is a little to chilly to sit outside, you will struggle to find a seat.
This hotel is crying out for a small Adult Only bar!
However it is worth taking a stroll down the hill towards the local beach which has some nice bars and restaurants to choose from.

We stayed here end of September this year and had a lovely stay. All the staff are pleasant and helpful and the entertainment team work really hard to keep everyone entertained, i would like to mention Yames in particular who really made mine and my partners stay memorable :)
There is a good choice of food in the buffet restaurant but after the week we did start to see repeats to maybe need to improve this slightly but i dont know whether this was due to it being near the end of the summer season. One thing that did disappoint me was that the pool bar was shut as i think the hotel was still very occupied and think this would have been nice to visit day to day.
The room was lovely and clean and i would definitely say request a high floor room with a pool view and then fingers crossed you may be able to see the sea!

Overall we had a lovely stay and i would recommend this hotel

I have to say the hotel is lovely the rooms are great, the food was great, the drinks were great, the cleaning staff and bar staff were wonderful as were the animation team. Underwhelmed by the entertainment.

The swimming pools are probably great in season, but were far too cold in October. The indoor pool was also cold, at least the jacuzzi, sauna and steam room could heat you up.

For older people like us, the trips to the beach are OK getting to. Three different ones one down a nice slope, one down a flight of steps apparently north of 120 although we didn't count them. Going over some slippery rocks at low tide we were able to get to the other beach with the slope, I only fell the once and got helped by a kind gentleman who helped me up as my wife stood there laughing her socks off. The third beach was also down a lot of steps, but we hadn't planned going up the steps we were going to walk the six kilometres to Vilamoura and catch the bus back. That was quite nice as we managed to have a nice pint of Guiness (OK 2).

The main trouble with all inclusive is you feel that having paid for your food and drink up front you feel reluctant to pay for stuff outside the hotel admittedly we didn't spend that much.

There is a bus stop with busses going to Faro via Vilamoura in one direction and Albufeira in the other. There is also an open top Hop-on Hop-off bus at a cost of 18€ which is for 48 hours so it allowed us to go in and out of Albufeira several times, the joy of that bus it stops right underneath the hotel entrance.