Portugal Rental Update

On Friday we had not received a response from Monte Santo, but today (Monday) Darnya confirmed that all the two bedroom 'apartments' are booked but she offered us a two bedroom luxury townhouse with pool view (each townhouse building has it's own pool).  The price is 3534 euros ($5325) for 38 nights.  

If we booked this through Booking.com or another booking site the price would be $220.00 a night.  By doing our own booking we are paying about $140.00.  It's quite an increase for us but Portugal is booming so prices are up everywhere.

I believe the problem is not that they have those units rented contiquously but they can't put together a unit for a 38 day continuous period because of interim shorter term rentals already booked.  Merit Travel is one of their big customers and they regularly take units for 28 days.  Merit may be demanding more units this year as all travel is up and there are two Air Transat planes a week to Portugal this year as opposed to one in the past.

Given that I hadn't any further responses from Rocha Brava or Vale d'Olivieras we opted for the townhouse.  Of course it is far bigger than we need at 130 sq. metres (about 1450 sq. ft.) but it is two floors with a ground floor terrace and second floor balcony.  So we confirmed it with Darnya.  

For several years we stayed at Rocha Brava in townhouse 621.  It was a two floor townhouse with three bathrooms, etc., but frankly the furniture was getting tired and general maintenance was just okay.  It was around a 1000 sq. ft.   Monte Santo maintenance is first rate and any interior we had was always up to spec.

We also rented a car from Sixt over the weekend so we are good to go now.  

Map of Monte Santo-apartments 1-3 bedrooms on the right and townhouses on the left with the administration, clubhouse, pool, restaurant, etc. in center.

This is part of Monte Santo apartment complex.  There are one, two and three bedroom units here.  At the other end of the complex are the townhouses.  

Typical townhouse interior and exterior.  All apartments and townhouses face south toward the ocean although the ocean is about a mile away.  Most of the 'resorts' along the ocean are quite old.  That's why we have moved inland for better accommodation.  There are a few resorts along the ocean that are first rate but at $300-400 a night we don't see much difference.  No one swims in the ocean in Feb/Mar and one of the very nice things about Portugal is that you can walk anywhere without hindrance.  In fact you can walk the edge of the ocean from the far west to Spain (100 miles) and it's all marked with coloured posts and an established trail.  There is no property ownership along the ocean.