I am planning a one week holiday for the summer for when I graduate from Uni! Going with my boyfriend, both in early 20's. Any reccomendations on hotel/appartments would be helpful, and just the area in general.<BR><BR>Thank you very much<BR><BR>Kate

you mean...Praia da Rocha ? ( I think so )...It's a great beach in Algarve, with Alv&ocirc;r near ( a small village with nice restaurants and pubs, bars and street animation in the summer. )<BR>There are lots of hotels there, like D.Jo&atilde;o II - expensive , or rent a flat in the Torralta towers.<BR>Thow I'm not an expert on Algarve, I have a web page that may help u in other small stuff. www.turist-in-portugal.web.pt<BR>note: there´s an amazing bar, in a cliff in the Praia da Rocha, that has an elevator inside the cliff. It's very nice

Kate, I stayed at Hotel Bellavista in Praia da Rocha in 1995 and loved it. The name is apropos.

Prai da Rocha is great! Stayed there 3 days last year towards the end of April. Great warm weather, beautiful beach--it is one of the 2 most photographed in all of Portugal. Lots to see & do! Enjoy!

I wouldn't recommend Praia da Rocha for a holiday in the Algarve. The beach is the best thing about the resort - otherwise it is an unattractive collection of high rise hotels and apartments and bars and restaurants catering mainly to budget British package holidaymakers. My favourite town on the Algarve is Lagos, which has retained a lot of character and has a wide choice of excellent restaurants (not necessarily expensive), shops, and bars/clubs. It has a very cosmopolitan atmosphere with visitors of many nationalities. There is a 7km long beautiful beach called Meia Praia, although you do have to take a very short rowing-boat ferry ride across the river, or a long walk from the centre of town, to get there. The only downside is that Lagos old town has very steep cobbled streets which can be a problem for families with children or people with walking difficulties, but for a couple in their 20s that shouldn't be too much of a problem! My favourite apartments are called Porta da Vila (in the old town itself with marvellous views if you book one of the 1-bedroom apartments with a roof terrace). The only tour company I know who uses them is called Style Holidays (a British company - Lunn Poly travel agents carry their brochure).

No. Praia da Rocha is not very good. The beach is fine,but there's ugly buildings (very, very ugly), lots of drunks from the UK, bad restaurants,etc.<BR>You should go to Quinta do Lago in Algarve.<BR>