NAU Sao Rafael Suites – All Inclusive

We really enjoyed our 4 night stay in this lovely hotel. We arrived early, and we're advised by the wonder reception staff that check in wasn't until 1600hrs - but we were offered use of the facilities and the choice of lunch on the day of arrival or departure. Whilst we were a little surprised by this, we were able to leave out suitcase securely at Reception, had access to food, a shower if needed and the pools. The room was ready earlier, so we were able to get settled in sooner fortunately! The room was fantastic! Large living room, and bedroom with 2 bathrooms. Lovely shower, bath and a really comfortable and very large bed. Super quality bedding ensured for a very good nights rest! We had a minor issue with one of the strip lights in the bathroom that kept flickering, but we reported this to reception and it was remedied very quickly. Fantastic service. We had 2 separate balconies, but found the balcony furniture very hard, heavy and uncomfortable. Even using the cushion from the sofa didn't help - so didn't spend much time on the balcony unfortunately. We had an all inclusive package, and found the food to be of good standard and variety. The dining area was clean, and the staff attentive and friendly. I only have a couple of grumbles, the first surrounds the behaviour of the loud, obnoxious drunk behaviour of the packs of golfers, or as I have deemed them oblividiots. There is one main bar inside, near to the food hall, and this space should be able to be enjoyed by everyone. The drunker the "packs" got, the noisier and more obnoxious they became, - hence the name oblividiots - ruining the environment for anyone else sitting there. With the balcony furniture too uncomfortable to spend any length of time on, and the weather hit and miss the bar/reception area is the only place to comfortably sit for the afternoon or evening if you want to socialise. We all felt really sorry for the staff as the packs became more demanding, louder and obnoxious. On one occasion a staff member did come over and ask a particularly noisy pack to quieten down, and the rest of us in that room were extremely grateful for the staff intervention. Personally, I do feel this inconsiderate behaviour could be managed better, and discouraged by management, as this behaviour negatively affected the majority of customers sitting in that space. My only other minor grumble was the lack of tea and coffee availability during the day. Personally I don't like to drink tea out of a cardboard cup, but for some reason the china tea cups and tea station only comes out at breakfast - I know this has been mentioned in other reviews about this hotel, and it's a shame as it would have be nice to be able to have a nice cup of tea in the afternoon as well. Overall this is really was a wonderful break, the staff are an absolute credit to the hotel, thank you for all that you do, it is greatly appreciated. The spa is also very nice, and the massage treatment we had was wonderful. Again the staff were fantastic, accommodating helpful and very professional.

Where to start, firstly the positives about this hotel:- 1. Free parking 2. Quiet location close to a beautiful beach 3. Alcoholic drinks were decent quality 4. Reception / waiters were good. (lady in the bar was amazing) 5. 2 bedroom ground floor suite was spacious with two good size bedrooms and large sitting room (3 bathrooms) and decent size fridge. 6. Reception / bar / dining area well maintained and look smart. 7. Good pillows. Now for the not so good:- 1. Late checkin, we arrived at 3pm and even though checkin was advertised at 4pm we didn't get our room until gone 5pm (and the hotel was not even busy) 2. Housekeeping, this was the biggest problem, the beds were not made / changed until the 3rd day when we asked reception why this has not been done. The rooms were not vacuumed until we requested this, there was lots of hair / dust on the floor and there was also a small shard of glass we found which bearing in mind we had small children crawling around was dangerous. Soap and shower gel ran out and this took 3 days to be refilled despite multiple requests to reception. On the 5th day no one even turned up until we asked reception. Also rooms in our area of the hotel were not even started until gone 4pm which was annoying if you wanted to be back chilling in the room after lunch as you would need to vacate for cleaning. 3. The food, very mixed feelings about this, lots of choice for salads and fruits, hit and miss on quality, sometimes nice and fresh, sometimes not so good. Lunchtime food and snacks was pretty repetitive (pizza / burgers / hotdog etc) and not the best quality but adequate enough. Evening meals more of the same but occasionally there would be something that stood out. Some other negatives were juices were concentrated and not fresh along with no Omelette station (rare in a 5*) 4. Ants in the room, in multiple areas, we mentioned this to reception who sent someone with some insect spray which kept them at bay for a while but they soon returned. This might be as we had a ground floor room. 5. Rooms in general were a bit shabby and run down, chipped paint, chipped plaster, sinks / showers not draining in multiple bathrooms. 6. Towels / bathrobes not great quality, stained and worn out. 7. No turndown service, again I have experienced this in most other 5* hotels and its just a small touch that makes you "feel like you're in a special hotel" There were times when there were lots of noise from both the bar and the guests, I had read this was a hotel often used by golfers and some nights there was quite a lot of shouting / general drunken noise / singing but our room was quite close to the bar so might be worth asking reception to house you further away. To sum up not a good experience all round, the housekeeping was a big negative and also mentioned by other guests we spoke to so not isolated to us. Other areas of the hotel were good, food was mixed but more negative than positive. This hotel is more like a 3* but being advertised as a 5* is very misleading. I have been to many 5* hotels around Europe and this was honestly the worst experience.

The hotel decor was stylish and elegant. We were upgraded to a spacious suite with a separate living room and 2 bathrooms and sea views, a complete surprise. They offered lunch on the day of arrival or departure as an extra. We left our bags and took a bolt to old town, spent time at beach before check-in at 4pm. It's about 8 min away by car and cost €3.66 one way. They have "snack time" between the main meals, which is actually good enough to be a 2nd breakfast and lunch. All-inclusive selection was decent. It is not a huge resort but still enough choice and most important thing is all the dishes tasted good, quality over quantity is always worth it. We requested one halal meat dish in advance for dinner, you can request more from the choices via email. They made sure to bring it to our table as soon as we asked for it to be served. Staff were helpful, kind, and friendly at reception and restaurant, always smiling. Two pools outside we couldn't use as out of season. Indoor pool in spa cost €15 to €20 euro depending on all day or few hours use. It rained on one day, so we used the spa pool and sauna. Only 2-3 other people came and went in the time we were there, which we liked. I read reviews of no coffee facilities in room, we did have a machine. Iron was brought up once requested, and they never took it back throughout our stay, which was nice. I read reviews of people complaining about golfer groups, this did concern me before going. However, once we were there it wasn't as issue at all. Yes, lot of golfers but they had fun and didn't bother others. Once we were in our room 126 we never had any noise disruption. The bed was comfortable, I actually slept well. Only thing I would point out is the mattress makes a lot of noise like a bean bag, not sure why. I would recommend this hotel to others for sure. Go with the right expectations and you will be pleasantly surprised.

A spacious room with a comfortable big double bed. A big balcony with a nice view into a palm garden. Plenty of cupboard room, a safe and a large fridge. The staff was professional and fun to talk too. And just for the food this should be a 5* hotel. The amazing local beach is only 12 minutes away, the bus stop right outside the hotel and the local Uber's are cheap.

Thank you SO much to Sae Rafael Suites for the incredible hospitality they provided when we came to Portugal. The hotel is beautiful, cosy and clean. The hotel staff are so friendly and the management team are amazing. The food, in particular the lunches were delicious! The effort they put in to ensure my sister and brother in law had the best wedding experience and comfort for their guests was out of this world. I would recommend this hotel to anyone as a holiday, or hosting a destination wedding! We will be back! Thank you very much again! Massive shout out to Deborah !

We booked over 40 rooms for our guests who were attending our wedding and the hotel team, especially Débora were INCREDIBLE! Everyone was super nice and helpful and they even catered to our large group when it came to dinner options. The rooms are extremely spacious and clean! The team were so amazing and our guests enjoyed every minute! The pool area was also very clean and we were lucky enough to host a party in the beautiful Tascaria restaurant. Definitely coming back again next year!

The service, cleanliness, and food were all spectacular. The price I paid seemed reasonable. I will return with my family.

After reading a lot of the reviews from other customers i was dubious about this hotel, but after spending a few days there i can honestly say that i had an amazing time! The rooms are spacious, the public areas are clean and tidy and the food is spot on, i honestly don't understand the negative comments that i have read, i have travelled a lot and this hotel is up there in the top 10 of my favorites. Whilst reading previous reviews i noticed a name that popped up many times, Richard, i was curious to meet him, and yes, its true, he is a really nice guy and definatley an asset to the company, anyone visiting this hotel should look him up, his knowledge of the area and advice on where to visit is spot on and he definitely made our stay more enjoyable! So, well done and keep up the good work Richard!

This is a difficult review as overall our family (inc 2 older teenagers) had a lovely 5 night break (away during the half-term in England). It’s difficult because whilst we had a great time together staying at the Nau Sao Rafael it would be unfair to dismiss previous reviewers comments. There were certainly positives such as the room size, ample indoor seating areas around the building and in the restaurant, nice pools etc what the resort really lacked was any real soul... It felt at times like it was a hotel chain (Premier Inn, Holiday Inn, Best Western etc) providing All Inclusive facilities rather than a holiday resort offering the fully inclusive experience eg , entertainment, activities, kids clubs etc. The excuse that it was out of season as well wouldn’t work as UK school holidays play a big part of business to resorts such as the Nau Sao Refael. Whilst our two teenagers wouldn’t have worried about kids clubs, entertainment etc I did feel for those parents with much younger children where that is much more important (for both the kids and the parents!). There were groups of (mainly male) golfers but we didn’t experience any issues or problems with them. One group sat near us did use the ‘F’ word a few times but I think they were in their own world and didn’t mean to cause offence to others. Also the staff were friendly and helpful but just didn’t seem completely motivated. And I would lay that at the door of the management rather than the staff themselves. They need to be incentivised and encouraged to want to be part of contributing to an overall positive environment rather than just ‘doing their job’. One exception to this would be Bruno on the bar who did a great job and was always bubbly and friendly. Perhaps he needs to be promoted to management?? The food was good enough for our 5 nights and a decent selection of drinks at the bar. The room was a good size as well (though some repair work on the balcony would be critical from both an aesthetically pleasing and safety perspective). Perhaps there needs to be some new management or a refresher for the existing management in how to offer the fully inclusive experience (and not just food and drink wise)? The Nau Sao Rafael needs to decide if it wants to be a true all-inclusive resort for all or a golfers hotel with beer and G&Ts on tap. It can’t really be both unfortunately…

Poor experince - Not a 5 star by any means. Food, alcohol are poor average. No entertainment for kids, no pool entertainment or music - Just kept getting told it’s out of season. No atmoshphere and rooms need a very good clean. Wouldn’t return.