‘PERSONAL SERVICE AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL’

We appreciate the work involved and expense incurred in organising a foreign holiday. Because of this, we aim to help and advise on all aspects of your holiday in Salema, and have designed the website to give you as much detail as possible. We hope you find the information below useful to help you begin planning your holiday in Portugal. For approximate costings, please refer to our Prices page.

TRAVEL

Flights

The closest airport to Salema is Faro and there is a wide choice of routes on scheduled, ‘no-frills’ and charter airlines. Flight times from the UK and Ireland are approximately 2 hours 30 minutes.

With the opening of the new motorway from Faro to Lagos, the transfer time to Salema is just one hour.

There are also flights to Lisbon, which under 3-hours drive by motorway to Salema. Lisbon is particularly well served from within continental Europe. There are daily flights from Geneva with easyJet and TAP, making a twin centre holiday in the Alps with Simply Morzine perfectly feasible. Perhaps a weeks skiing, walking or summer adventure in the Alps followed by a week on the Algarve! My family often fly from Geneva to Lisbon and drive down to Salema. We then return the car to Faro and fly back into the UK.

Airport Car Hire.

We have negotiated special car hire prices with RENTAUTO, who specialise in car hire in Portugal. Having used this company for many years we can highly recommend them. In addition to their years of experience and professional, hassle-free service, their prices are very competitive and include insurance, additional driver(s), unlimited mileage and all taxes. Rentauto are also one of the few car hire companies that are actually based on Faro Airport site. This means that unlike most other companies, there is no minibus trip involved to an off-site depot during collection or return. Instead, simply collect and return your car to the office just by the arrivals hall.

To book your car hire with Rentauto please visit their website and follow the simple online booking system. To qualify for the special discount, you must indicate that you have booked with SIMPLY SALEMA on the Extras/Remarks field.

Airport Public Transport

There is a regular and efficient train or bus to Lagos, then a bus or taxi on to Salema.

Airport Taxis and Private Transfers

We can recommend our local Salema taxi company for private transfers from the airport or Lagos.

Car Hire from Salema

If you do not wish to hire a car for the whole duration of your holiday but maybe want a few days out during your stay, it is possible to hire a car from Salema for just a day or two.

Self Drive from the UK

If you have the time and want to make the journey part of your holiday, we would recommend two options:

1. Drive down from the Channel ports with a journey time of 2-3 days.
2. Take the car ferry from Plymouth to Santander in Northern Spain then drive down to the Algarve. Allow 12 hours for the drive from Santander to Salema.

SIMPLY SALEMA RESORT SERVICE

Resort Manager

Our manager will welcome you on arrival and brief you about the villa, Salema the Western Algarve, and will be on hand to help and advise you throughout the duration of your holiday. The manager will give you a Portuguese mobile telephone with all essential contact numbers, including emergency numbers, restaurants and activity providers.

Maid service

Our maids will visit the villa approximately twice per week or once per short break. There will be a midweek towel change for holidays of one week or longer, but not for short breaks. Bed linen will be changed after a weeks stay. The maids’ duties include general cleaning but not washing up and personal laundry!

Welcome Pack with our Compliments

To delay the inevitable shopping trip until after you have settled into the villa, you will receive a welcome grocery pack on arrival with the compliments of Simply Salema. This will consist of the basic essentials to get you started and provide a light meal on arrival and breakfast the next morning.

Nearby Facilities.

Salema has an excellent choice of restaurants and these are all detailed in our comprehensive welcome book at the villa. There are three well-stocked supermarkets in Salema. One being situated in the Salema Beach Club only two minutes walk from the villa. Next to this is an amazing take away restaurant ran by Gabby serving Mediterranean and traditional Portuguese food. Here you will also find the Salema Beach Club reception and our very good friend Esmeralda Rosado. Esmeralda is a "mine of information" on Salema and the Western Algarve.She can book and arrange a variety of activities, excursions as well as organise car hire, taxis and boat trips.

ACTIVITIES AND PLACES OF INTEREST

We recommend pre-booking all activities before arrival, particularly golf throughout the year and other activities in July and August.

For contact details, further information and to make bookings directly, please visit the individual websites on our Links page.