Monte Santo Resort

Natan Cheifetz

Great potential place. It has a lovely pool and the rooms are nice. The facility is not well maintained unfortunately and shows it. You need a car if you stay here as it is not walking distance and there is little to do and minimal amenities around though there are some nice restaurants. Water in the pool is cold but the indoor pool is nice.

Angela Diforti

Where to start… Positive points: Upon arrival, we were impressed by the room . Negative points: We were surprised by the staff’s attitude, which was far below what we expected from a 5-star hotel. Service was often indifferent and, at times, even abrupt. For example, one waiter placed items on our table in a very discourteous way. There was little to no effort to communicate in French, and when we tried in English, the staff spoke extremely fast and were not helpful in making things easier for us — only later did we discover that some of them actually spoke French. The restaurant presents itself as “gourmet,” but in our experience it did not live up to that description, except in terms of price. Cocktails (€9.50) were poorly prepared and filled with ice, a small bottle of water was €4.50, and the wine (€5.50 per glass) was very average. The food was equally disappointing: the first lunch — just one hamburger, two poke bowls and three drinks — cost €80. At dinner, the first starter was four slices of tomato topped with burrata, followed by a piece of chicken served with salad. The next evening’s starter was six shrimp on three lettuce leaves, followed by barbecue ribs. This was far below what we expected from a so-called gourmet restaurant in a 5-star hotel. Check-in was officially at 4 pm, but like most hotels we expected to get the room earlier. Reception told us they would notify us, but at 3:55 pm we still hadn’t heard anything. When I asked, the receptionist simply said, “If we haven’t contacted you, come back at 4 pm.” I had also requested in advance a special decoration with a bottle of wine to celebrate my wife’s 40th birthday. When I asked about it at check-in, I was told it was an extra charge — which I fully expected and was willing to pay — but they had not prepared anything. I had even emailed beforehand to ask about payment for this and for the massage, and was told I could settle it at checkout. The lack of preparation was a real disappointment, and the response at the desk felt dismissive. Although the room looked beautiful at first sight, we encountered many issues once we settled in. We jokingly called it the “50 % hotel” because many of the double power outlets and switches worked only on one side. The whirlpool bath was a great idea in theory, but the small water heater meant that after my wife and daughter used it, there was no hot water left for me. Even worse, we couldn’t drain the water in either bathtub because the release buttons didn’t work — I had to use a knife to manually open the drains. We also noticed mold around the bathroom seals. The beds were acceptable, but the pillows were so uncomfortable that we had headaches every morning. The outdoor pools were attractive but unfortunately not heated. There was one pool in an indoor greenhouse that was slightly warmer, but it was uncomfortably humid and not very pleasant. The jacuzzi was particularly disappointing. The promotional photos are misleading: there were just two small jacuzzis in the corners of the room, only one of which worked, accessed by a rather unsafe staircase. The water was not well maintained, the cleanliness was questionable, and the temperature on the first day was only 34.5 °C — not warm enough. Since the area was open to everyone, it was often crowded with children shouting and jumping nearby, which made it far from relaxing. The fitness room was tiny and had very limited equipment — just some dumbbells and one basic machine. The pool bar was closed without explanation. Overall maintenance was poor: the poolside and restaurant chairs were dirty, umbrellas were broken, and we even saw a pile of glasses left on a table for three days without being cleared away. It was also impossible to have a light snack or a simple sandwich at lunchtime without leaving the hotel. All in all, this felt far below 5-star quality. In our opinion, it would be closer to a 3-star experience I

soumya tripathi

Had the most amazing holiday here in May 2025. Beautiful resort. Exemplary service in the restaurant,bar, room cleaning, reception anywhere you name it. We are vegetarians but still we hardly had to leave the resort as delicious and customized food was easily available. They even left a surprise birthday cake and drink in the room. Apartments was spacious and well serviced, cleaned every single day. Loved the tranquility the resort offered with the beach and town being a mere 15 min walk away. All in all a fabulous experience. Hope to return some day.

Claire Bailey

A Wonderful Stay Made Even More Memorable by Exceptional Care This was our third visit to Carvoeiro and our second time staying at Monte Santo Resort – and once again, it reminded us exactly why we love coming back. The resort is beautiful, the location is perfect, and the team truly goes above and beyond to make every stay special. During this visit, our daughter unfortunately injured her foot and required stitches – not the kind of holiday moment any parent wants to deal with. But the way the staff at Monte Santo responded was absolutely outstanding and turned a difficult situation into something positive. A heartfelt thank you goes to Mariana, who was incredibly kind, attentive, and genuinely caring throughout our stay. Her support made a big difference and truly stood out. We were also deeply touched by the thoughtfulness of the wider team. Everyone from the reception staff to housekeeping asked after our daughter and offered help in every way they could. Despite the unexpected twist to our holiday, Monte Santo helped make it a memorable and positive experience. We’re so grateful for the care and professionalism shown, and we’ll absolutely be returning again. Highly recommended – not just for the beautiful setting and facilities, but for the incredible people who make it truly special.

Amir Shenouda

We got a pool view villa. It is a bit far from the restaurant and main pool, not very far in terms of distance, but far in terms of a hotel. Around 5+ minutes walk. The pool outside the villa is very small. So it is a fake pool view villa :D Space in the villa is amazing, large rooms with a large bathroom in each. The sleeping rooms are upstairs. There is also a small toilet downstairs. The staff are super friendly The location is a bit far from other places, so it's better to have a car. What is nice is that there is a heated indoor pool, there is also a small GYM. Air conditioning in the GYM is very weak, also the GYM is very small and cramped, equipments are very little. The villa has a nice outside balcony on both the ground floor and second floor. Turning on the AC was a bit tricky, I asked someone from the staff for help. It turns out there is a trick, all unites needs to have the same mode, so he went over all the units and set them the same then it started to work. I would recommend this place, very nice for families or groups of friends.