We fully appreciate that organising a family holiday abroad takes time and money, which both always always come at a premium. Therefore, it is our aim to provide as much advise and guidance as possible to make your holiday easy to organise and as enjoyable as possible. Over the past 4 years we have colated a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers to help our clients be as prepared as possible before they arrive in the Algarve. Hopefully, these will also be of use for yourselves. If there is anything that is not listed, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

The villa sleeps 6 to 8 people. There is a douible bedroom, 2 twin bedrooms and a sofa bed in the lounge. There is also the option of using some 'put-me-up' type beds for small children. Baby cots are provided free of charge. See Casa Romantica for further details.

Yes, there is a private pool, which can be heated for an additional charge. For costs please contact the owners.

The earliest time that you can arrive at the villa is 14:30 on the day of arrival and the latest that you can leave is 10:30 on the day of departure.

Yes, the villa is fully managed by a local company who are based in Guia. Cleaners attend the villa 3 times per week, a gardener once a week and a pool cleaner comes once per week. The management company or ourselves can be contacted 24 hours a day.

Yes, there are ornate iron gates on all the patio doors, which lead to the swimming pool area.

Yes, we provide baby cots, high chairs, strollers and sterilisers free of charge.

Simply contact the owner, check the dates that you would like are available. If they are, then you will need to complete a brief form, which will be sent to you and then return the form with a deposit to the owner. The full balance it not due then until 10 weeks before you arrive for your holiday. The owner will issue you a reciept for all payments made. For more information please refer to How to book.

Once you have paid your final balance an information pack will be sent out to you in the post with all the details enclosed - including where to collect the keys from.

Yes, there is a dishwasher, fridge/freezer, washing machine, gas cooker, microwave, toaster, kettle, etc.

Yes, the sun rises at the back of the villa, where you can eat your breakfast and set on the pool side of the villa where you could have your evening meals. There are shaded areas at the front and back of he villa.

You can see all the BBC and ITV channels via SKY TV, but not SKY Sports or the SKY Movie channels. There is also a DVD player attached to the lounge TV. There is a separate TV and SOny PS/2 for playing games in a childrens games room, which is just off the main lounge.

Only the basic essentials to get you started - in case your flight is late and the shops are shut when you arrive. The Welcome Pack normally includes bread, milk, tea bags, coffee, wine, toilet rool, cheese, ham, butter and a bottle of water.

Yes, the villa has air-conditioning in all the bedrooms.

Yes, the villa is suitable for wheelchairs as it is on one storey (with the exception of 3 very shallow steeps whcih lead into the lounge).

Towels and linen are provided , but please bring your beach towels for using outside.

Yes. In Portugal they use the 2 pin type, not 3 pin. You can buy these from any boots at the airports.

Yes. They will work fine.

Yes, the pool can be heated at an additional cost. Please contact the owner for details of the costs.

Not necessarily in high season, but if there are nay small babies that are expected to go into the swimming pool then we would always recommend heating the pool as an change in temperature (regardless of how small), my be enough to put them off from going in - which would be a shame!

Dependent upon the time of year, it can take up to 2 days to heat the pool up (provided the pool blanket is kept on top)

Yes, the pool does have a shallow end with steps down.

Yes. Arm bands for any small children or any lilos. We do leave some out at the beginning of every season, but they unfortunately don't always stand the test of time! Alternatively, you can buy them when you arrive from the market in Guia.

The nearest is Faro airport and it is 30 mins drive away from Casa Romantica

It takes approximately 2 hours 30-45 mins to fly to Faro.

There are a number of low cost airlines that fly from the UK. These include Monarch, EasyJet, Firstchoice, Thomas Cook, Jet2, MyTravel, Ryanair, FlyGlobeSpan and Excel airways. Please find below a list of the UK and other worldwide airports where flights are available to Faro airport. More details regarding the airlines can be found on the Links page.

Belfast

easyJet, British Midland, First Choice, Mytravel Airways Ltd

Blackpool

Jet2

Bournemouth

Thomsonfly

Birmingham

Monarch, Flybe , bmibaby, Air Malta, First Choice, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook, Thomsonfly

Bristol

easyJet, Air Malta, First Choice, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook, Thomsonfly

Cardiff

bmibaby, Thomsonfly, Mytravel Airways, Excel Airways

Cork

Aer Lingus , Futura, Iberworld Airlines SA, Monarch

Coventry

Thomsonfly

Doncaster

Thomsonfly

Dublin

East Midlands

easyJet, bmibaby , Air Malta, Excel Airways, First Choice, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook, Thomsonfly

Edinburgh

flyglobespan, British Midland, First Choice, Monarch,

Exeter

Flybe, First Choice

Finingley

Thomsonfly

Galway / Carnmore

Nordic regional

Glasgow

flyglobespan

Leeds/Bradford

Jet2, British Midland, First Choice

Liverpool

easyJet, Thomsonfly

London Gatwick

easyJet, Monarch, British Airways, Excel Airways, First Choice, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook, Thomsonfly

London Heathrow

TAP Air Portugal , Monarch, British Airways, Excel Airways, First Choice, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook, Thomsonfly

Luton

easyJet, Monarch

Manchester

Monarch, Jet2, Thomsonfly, British Midland, Excel Airways, First Choice, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook

Newcastle

easyJet, Excel Airways, Mytravel Airways, Thomas Cook, Thomsonfly

Shannon

Ryanair, Futura, IberWorld Airlines SA

Southampton

Flybe

Stansted

easyJet

Waterford

Nordic Regional

Aarhus

Scandinavian Airlines System

Amsterdam

Transavia, TAP Air Portugal , Martinair, TUIfly

Bergen

Scandinavian Airlines System

Berlin (Schonefeld and Tegel)

Air Berlin, LTU

Brussels

Brussels Airlines , Thomas Cook Belgium

Charleroi

Ryanair

Cologne-Bonn

Germanwings, LTU

Copenhagen

Sterling, Scandinavian Airlines System

Dusseldorf

LTU, TUIfly

Dresden

Air Berlin

Eindhoven

Transavia

Enschede

Transavia

Frankfurt

TUIfly, Lufthansa, LTU

Funchal

Austrian Airlines

Gothenburg

Scandinavian Airlines System

Groningen

Transavia

Hamburg

TUIfly, LTU

Hannover

MyTravel Airways A/S

Helsinki

Brittania Airways, Finnair

Leipzig

Air Berlin

Lisbon

TAP Air Portugal

Luxemburg / Findel

Luxair

Lyon

TAP Air Portugal

Moscow

Transaero Airlines

Muenster

Air Berlin

Munich

TUIfly, LTU , Hello

Nuremberg

Air Berlin

Oslo

Norwegian Air Shuttle AS , Brittania Airways, Flynordic, Nordic East Airlink AB, Scandinavian Airlines System

Paderborn

Air Berlin

Paris

TAP Air Portugal , Air Europa, Air Mediterranee, Axis Airways, XL Airways France

Reykjavik

Astraeus Ltd , Icelandair

Rotterdam

Transavia

Stavanger

Scandinavian Airlines System

Stockholm

Sterling, Brittannia Airways

Stuttgart

TUIfly

Tenerife

Cimber Air, Iberworld Airlines SA

Toronto

Airtransat, Jetalliance, Sata, Thomas Cook

Valencia

Excel Airways

Vienna

Lauda Air, Austrian Airways

Warsaw

Centralwings, Fischer Air Polska

Zurich

Helvetic Airways , Swiss International Airlines

No. They are always exactly the same.

Yes. Most of of the high street banks or supermarkets can arrange travel insurance for you and your family. There are other deals from time to time - like the PostOffice travel policies. Best to shop around.

For UK nationals on a temporary visit to Portugal (i.e. a holiday) an E111 is not required, but check at the post office at least 4 weeks before you travel.

The currency is the Euro.

Yes, check with your service provider in the UK and get it enabled for 'International access' before you leave. When you want to use your mobile phone abroad to call somebody in the UK, enter the UK country code (0044), drop the first (0) of the telephone number you are calling. For example, if you were contacting somebody on 0161-123-4577, then you would dial 0044-161-123-4567.

Casa Romantica is 30 minutes drive from Faro airport in the Central Algarve, 5 mins walk from the local village of Guia and 5-10 mins drive from the nearest town, which is Albufeira.

Hiring a car is not essential, but I always stay that it is preferable. It is always possible to hire a taxi to/from the villa and nothing is that far away. However, for convenience and flexibility of being able to go a moments notice to out hiring a car would be the better option. It is great way to see the Algarve region and the roads are certainly a lot quieter than in the UK!!

There are 2 "Ali-Super" mini-markets within a 5 minute walk of the villa.

The nearest supermarket is called Continente and it is in the Algarve Shopping Centre, which is just a few minutes drive away. Please note that Continente is open 7 days per week, but it is closed from 13:00 every Sunday.

Easy. From the centre of Guia, follow the sign for Vale De Parra. This one, straight road takes you straight to Praia De Gale and the beach. Taxis are also available to take you to and from the beach.

Yes, it is possible to hire a taxi from Faro airport. We will provide you with the taxi details and you can ring the englisg speaking taxi company and pre-book a taxi for when you arrive at the airport.

Yes, there are parks and a childrens play ground a short walk away from the villa.

There are over 20 restaurants in the village of Guia, which are only a 5-10 minute walk away. There are hundres more in the town of Albufeira, which is 5-10 minutes drive away.

Yes, there are several water parks and a zoo marine only 5 minutes drive from the villa.

There is a cash machine at the bank in Guia and there are more cash machines at the Algarve Shopping Centre.

The nearest exchange bureau is outside the Modelo shopping centre in Albufeira.

Yes, but please note that all payments are in cash and don't forget the 19% tax, which is added to your bill at the end. No children are allowed into Makro at any time - not sure why?)

There are golf courses all along the Algarve coastline, but to give you an idea Guia is approximately 20 mins drive from Vilamoura and 20 minutes drive from Penina - so right in the middle of all the Algarve golf courses!

No. All of the hire car companies can provide these on a daily rental basis, but double check with them and pre-book to aviod delays when you get to the hire car company office at Faro airport.

It is not compulsory, but we highly recommend you do as in the event of a claim this will reduce the amount you pay to just the 'excess'.

On most occasions it is significantly cheaper to fill the car up yourself before you give it back than pay the high petrol rates of the hire companies - so yes.

There are several petrol stations only a short drive away from the villa - in Guia and Albfeira.

There are surprisingly few petrol stations, but there are at least some. Most notably the GALP petrol stations. The recommendation is to fill up on your last day as soon as you see a petrol station. Failing that use the GALP petrol station on the main round about outside Faro airport.

Normal leaded petrol is called "Gasolina". Unleaded petrol is called "Sem Chumbo 95 or 98". Diesel is called "Gasolio". Most hire cars are unleaded, but please check before you leave the hire car company at Faro airport - just in case!

As you see from the list of questions and answers above we have responded to a wide variety of questions from our clients over the last 4-5 years. Regardless of your query please don't hesitate to ask if you have a question for us. Just complete and send the enquiry form and we will respond to you normally within 24 hours.

Best Wishes,

The Sanders family