Villas in Grande Lisboa, Portugal

We arrived on Saturday, ready for a week in paradise. By Sunday, the villa had transformed into a live set for Attack of the Flies—200+ swarming the kitchen, living room, floors, sofas, and even the bedrooms. Nothing says “relaxing getaway” like playing fly assassin at 1 am and still waking up to find your room crawling with survivors. We get it: sometimes nature has other plans. What we don’t get is how the hotel staff’s solution was to hand us some spray cans and a shrug. Their “excuse”? Fertilized crops nearby. When we pointed out that the hotel itself was blissfully fly-free, they admitted it gets regular treatments. Villas, however, are apparently left to fend for themselves. They even let it slip that this particular villa is known to have fly problems. So why no effort to help? They flat-out refused to visit the villa or offer anything beyond, “Here’s some spray. Good luck.” Here’s the kicker: it wasn’t the flies that made us leave early—it was the lack of service. A good hotel or reputable villa rental company steps in when guests need help. Here, the staff showed zero interest in ensuring we felt comfortable. The villa was left entirely to us, including cleaning up after a problem we didn’t create, and still had to pack up and go because being completely ignored isn’t what we signed up for. To add insult to injury, when we politely informed the owner, their response was to assume we left the villa in chaos. They even suggested the mess was our fault, making wild claims about food stains and dirty dishes in rooms we never used for eating. Sure, blame your paying guests instead of acknowledging the real problem. This wasn’t just disappointing - it was infuriating. This could have been paradise, but bad management turned it into anything but. A stunning villa with terrible management is worse than no villa at all. Service matters—and here, there wasn’t any.

We spent six days here. This is our second visit. We love the quiet rural situation of the Quinte. Andre and his Mother are most hospitable people. Friendly and nothing too much trouble. Fantastic breakfast as much as you want to eat. Lovely swimming pool and pretty gardens. We visited Mafra, Sintra and various small rural villages in the region . Recommend Tabunas restaurant in Varezea but advise booking. Lovely beaches especially Magoito On a warm but stormy day, just us and the surfers. Car hire advisable as you are quite rural tho still in walking distance of Varezea but if you want to go out to rural restaurants or sightseeing it’s a must. If you want to visit Lisbon then there is a great train service from Sintra where you can park the car for free ( speak to Andre). We hope to be back again .

We arrived on Saturday, ready for a week in paradise. By Sunday, the villa had transformed into a live set for Attack of the Flies—200+ swarming the kitchen, living room, floors, sofas, and even the bedrooms. Nothing says “relaxing getaway” like playing fly assassin at 1 am and still waking up to find your room crawling with survivors. We get it: sometimes nature has other plans. What we don’t get is how the hotel staff’s solution was to hand us some spray cans and a shrug. Their “excuse”? Fertilized crops nearby. When we pointed out that the hotel itself was blissfully fly-free, they admitted it gets regular treatments. Villas, however, are apparently left to fend for themselves. They even let it slip that this particular villa is known to have fly problems. So why no effort to help? They flat-out refused to visit the villa or offer anything beyond, “Here’s some spray. Good luck.” Here’s the kicker: it wasn’t the flies that made us leave early—it was the lack of service. A good hotel or reputable villa rental company steps in when guests need help. Here, the staff showed zero interest in ensuring we felt comfortable. The villa was left entirely to us, including cleaning up after a problem we didn’t create, and still had to pack up and go because being completely ignored isn’t what we signed up for. To add insult to injury, when we politely informed the owner, their response was to assume we left the villa in chaos. They even suggested the mess was our fault, making wild claims about food stains and dirty dishes in rooms we never used for eating. Sure, blame your paying guests instead of acknowledging the real problem. This wasn’t just disappointing - it was infuriating. This could have been paradise, but bad management turned it into anything but. A stunning villa with terrible management is worse than no villa at all. Service matters—and here, there wasn’t any.

We arrived on Saturday, ready for a week in paradise. By Sunday, the villa had transformed into a live set for Attack of the Flies—200+ swarming the kitchen, living room, floors, sofas, and even the bedrooms. Nothing says “relaxing getaway” like playing fly assassin at 1 am and still waking up to find your room crawling with survivors. We get it: sometimes nature has other plans. What we don’t get is how the hotel staff’s solution was to hand us some spray cans and a shrug. Their “excuse”? Fertilized crops nearby. When we pointed out that the hotel itself was blissfully fly-free, they admitted it gets regular treatments. Villas, however, are apparently left to fend for themselves. They even let it slip that this particular villa is known to have fly problems. So why no effort to help? They flat-out refused to visit the villa or offer anything beyond, “Here’s some spray. Good luck.” Here’s the kicker: it wasn’t the flies that made us leave early—it was the lack of service. A good hotel or reputable villa rental company steps in when guests need help. Here, the staff showed zero interest in ensuring we felt comfortable. The villa was left entirely to us, including cleaning up after a problem we didn’t create, and still had to pack up and go because being completely ignored isn’t what we signed up for. To add insult to injury, when we politely informed the owner, their response was to assume we left the villa in chaos. They even suggested the mess was our fault, making wild claims about food stains and dirty dishes in rooms we never used for eating. Sure, blame your paying guests instead of acknowledging the real problem. This wasn’t just disappointing - it was infuriating. This could have been paradise, but bad management turned it into anything but. A stunning villa with terrible management is worse than no villa at all. Service matters—and here, there wasn’t any.

We arrived on Saturday, ready for a week in paradise. By Sunday, the villa had transformed into a live set for Attack of the Flies—200+ swarming the kitchen, living room, floors, sofas, and even the bedrooms. Nothing says “relaxing getaway” like playing fly assassin at 1 am and still waking up to find your room crawling with survivors. We get it: sometimes nature has other plans. What we don’t get is how the hotel staff’s solution was to hand us some spray cans and a shrug. Their “excuse”? Fertilized crops nearby. When we pointed out that the hotel itself was blissfully fly-free, they admitted it gets regular treatments. Villas, however, are apparently left to fend for themselves. They even let it slip that this particular villa is known to have fly problems. So why no effort to help? They flat-out refused to visit the villa or offer anything beyond, “Here’s some spray. Good luck.” Here’s the kicker: it wasn’t the flies that made us leave early—it was the lack of service. A good hotel or reputable villa rental company steps in when guests need help. Here, the staff showed zero interest in ensuring we felt comfortable. The villa was left entirely to us, including cleaning up after a problem we didn’t create, and still had to pack up and go because being completely ignored isn’t what we signed up for. To add insult to injury, when we politely informed the owner, their response was to assume we left the villa in chaos. They even suggested the mess was our fault, making wild claims about food stains and dirty dishes in rooms we never used for eating. Sure, blame your paying guests instead of acknowledging the real problem. This wasn’t just disappointing - it was infuriating. This could have been paradise, but bad management turned it into anything but. A stunning villa with terrible management is worse than no villa at all. Service matters—and here, there wasn’t any.