Villa in Spain/ Portugal?

Perfect10_2

Never booked a holiday abroad before and trying to find one for 5 adults, an 11 year old and a 13 year old...feeling the pressure

We fancy a villa hopefully so we don't annoy other people Ideally with a pool.

Also nobody wants to drive abroad so not sure how we do the whole getting to villa from airport thing?

And am I best booking villa then flights, or trying to find a company who does both?

Any recommendations for companies to hire villa from, or even best places to stay?

Help please ...

xx

ellay864

I've booked villas from Owner's Direct - always had great choices and prices were reasonable. We found villas first and checked availability, and while doing that we looked at flights - not all airports do flights on all days. Usually if you find dates that fit, a villa will hold provisionally while you book your flights, then you confirm your booking with them.
Can't advise on transfers as I hired cars each time. It's a lot of you to get in taxis - don't know how you go about hiring a minibus to transfer you. Just remember to think about that for pricing - the further you stay from airport the costlier your transport to your villa will be. Driving abroad is OK - I'm quite a cautious driver and I've done it when going abroad on my own with 2 young kids. Driven in Portugal (the Algarve) and Spain no problems...Italy is a different kettle of fish mind, their drivers are loons!!

xBubblesx

I went to a lovely villa last year that can sleep upto 8 people but its located in lanazarote, costa teguise.

lagoslife

If you use a company try james villas or villa plus.

To book direct with owners try: holiday-rentals.co.uk and ownersdirect.co.uk

I would find a villa first, check availability, terms and arrival days (may be set in the peak season) then check flights.

If you aren't hiring a car, then ask about public transport/taxi charges, walking distance into town.

Resorts in Portugal? Try Lagos or Alvor

sillygoose

I like villa plus because the details and photos are so detailed, prices are pretty good (I have tried pricing up the holiday components separately and didn't gain much)

Have also been searching for a Spain/Portugal villa for the summer hols, tried a lot but ended up back at Villa Plus, we went to a stunning villa in Spain\Portugal with them year before last and it was fantastic holiday!! especially as the villa, flights and car hire were all arranged together with them, it all ran seamlessly.

During the quoting pages they tend to add on everything automatically, its monotonous but you can deselect much of it - you can get cheaper family travel insurance elsewhere, you don't need a welcome pack, don't need to rent child car booster seats, take your own the airline didn't charge for them, etc. Don't buy in-flight meals, flights are not that long, buy/take a sandwich before getting on-board.

You need to experiment with different airports within reach as the arrival/departure times are much more sensible at some than others and the prices change, also experiment with different departure days.

My dilemma currently is pool heating, we thought the pool was lovely end of August in the Algarve, until we discovered the pool heating had been on by mistake! when the owner turned it off 2nd week it was much less fun! apparently the previous guests had got the owner to put it on as despite the weather it wasn't that warm. I now prefer to narrow my choice to villas with pool heating at least fitted, then if its a bit cold for the kids you can ask/beg/nag or last resort pay for it to be put on.

Just reread your post... villa plus can arrange private transfer to/from your villa too. Its going to be harder to find somewhere with a good range of things in foot range though. Are you sure no one wants to drive? you can hire a large enough vehicle for you all, we went out a lot and its not a doddle but the roads in the algarve are often quiet even high season and they are probably well used to Brits on the wrong side of the road!

spiro

When do you want to go and where can you fly from/to?

floss2

We booked our villa with Hoseasons (honestly!) and booked our flights with Air Portugal, mega cheap for scheduled daytime flights with meals

We found the villa & flights online, then used Thomas Cook to book it all as we were paying with vouchers we received as wedding gifts....also booked car hire, and have the security of knowing that it's all protected by both ABTA (Thos Cook) & ATOL (Hoseasons)

babyfruitella

We've booked a lovely villa in Menorca through www.holiday-rentals.co.uk We've paid a 200EUR deposit & will pay the remainder on arrival. We were going to prebook private transfers but we're probably going to get a cab straight from the airport instead now.

I would echo what lagoslife said & find the villa first. We did it @rse upwards & booked the flights first, then struggled to find a villa to accommodate our Tuesday arrival!