Roadster

Can anyone recommend a hotel in tavira? We are only staying one night and would like to stay close to town, walking distance to a good restaurant and perhaps have a view of the river. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help!

lreynold1

We stayed at the Vila Gale Tavira in December and it was very nice. Kind of a standard four star hotel http://www.vilagale.pt/hoteis/Tavira...?hotel=14& but very close to the river and the town. The Vila Gale has two hotels in Tavira, one out on the coast, and the other in town. sounds like you would like the one we stayed in. As far as restaurants, we bypassed the row of restaurants on the river and found the Avenida Restaurant (walk up into the Praca Republica and turn left). Very crowded but not a tourist in sight, small, unpretentious, but delicious food – try the tuna in some local agua-ardiente (firewater) made from a berry. It was one of their specialties and just delicious.

walkinaround

i also stayed at vila gale in tavira (the one in town). it was last autumn and i got an incredible deal on a 10 day flight/hotel package.

i wasn't expecting much considering the price but i was very pleasantly surprised....very nice and well maintained hotel. they do a lot of package deals for older people. since you are staying one night i'm sure you are not too concerned with the guest profile.

walkinaround

by the way, there are very few hotels in tavira and vila gale seems like the only large, modern hotel...as the other poster mentioned, the vila gale albacore is the one on the beach but that is a distance out of town. Although, i'm sure there are some others, the only other hotel i noticed there was directly on the river and seemed small to medium sized and perhaps more of a budget place. vila gale is less than a five minute walk to the river.

larrya

Ireynold1, I'll be at the Vila Gale Tavira in May. Do you have any suggestions for restaurants or sights? Sounds like we'll be in a good location. Thanks

walkinaround

larry
the only two names i remember were Bica and Aquasul. both were great. Bica is more of a cheap local place (read "a little dirty&quot. however, the food is excellent. some may be put off by it though.

Aquasul is great if you want a break from local fare. we discovered it by accident one night when just about everything else was closed.

Yes, you are in a great location. however, most of the good restaurants are located on the other side of the river from the hotel. don't worry, it's a lovely walk. just do not take the large modern auto bridge next to the hotel...walk toward the town centre until you get to an old narrow bridge and take that to the other side instead. the whole walk from the hotel is only about 10 leisurely minutes.

In case you don't know, the town of tavira is split across the river so some things are on one side and some on the other. except for most restaurants and a great bar that we liked (sorry, forgot the name) most sites are on the same side of town as the hotel.

we spent an afternoon around the albacore (sister vila gale hotel - they have a shuttle bus). walked along the beach out there and had a picnic.

don't miss the produce market right across from the hotel.

we spent many days exploring the region by car using tavira as a base.

larrya

Walkinaround, thanks for the info, we'll check the places out. We'll be there two days driving from Selema after two days there and then on to Southern Spain. I'll do a trip report when we're back. Thanks again. Larry