The hotel Bela Vista has all the comforts of a holiday hotel ( rooms with television (cable TV), big-screen TV in the main hall, mini-bar, continental breakfast, bar service, room service, rooms with telephone, laundry, free parking. Through the reception, you have access to all the activities and services the Algarve has to offer, including golf, health clubs, plane and boat rides, water and theme parks, etc. A bridge club also meets once a week, having chosen the Bela Vista as the place to hold its meetings and games. During the summer (from July to mid-September) one of the finest attractions in Praia da Rocha is held at the hotel: the Palm Tree Garden, open from 9pm until 1am. This consists of an area completely covered by palm trees with bar service, live music and the latest in recorded music always at a volume where conversation is possible, where magnificent tropical cocktail parties are held. It is a place for the whole family, with no age restriction... Simple and charming. Although maintaining its fundamental character as a hotel ideal for those who want a relaxing break, the Bela Vista, by the very nature of its location, also capitalizes on the concept of an active holiday, offering its guests, in the summer, a hideaway when necessary, but at the same time being in the center of the busy life which Praia da Rocha and the Algarve have to offer. In the winter the calm that comes with an amenable climate reigns. Within easy reach of the whole of the Algarve, you can take in views of rare beauty, products and services of the highest quality and good eating. The hotel is situated in the center of all this and is an excellent starting point for the discovery of the magnificent Algarve and all it has to offer in the way of tourism.

With total respect for the glamour of the turn of the century, the hotel maintains much of its original decoration, including, in some rooms and common areas, 17th and 18th century tiles, signed by Victoria P., and ceilings of precious Brazilian wood, worked and painted by Pereira. Cao. The tiles, furthermore, tell the history of the golden age of the Portuguese Discoveries, excerpts from Os Lusiadas (epic work of the great Portuguese poet Luis Vaz de Camoes) and of the Arab occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. Built as the private residence of a wealthy family, Magalhaes Barros, it was later leased to a cousin, Henrique Bivar de Vasconcelos, who transformed it into a hotel in the 1930s, at a time when the first intrepid tourists discovered the Algarve and managed to arrive at Praia da Rocha by boat. The hotel preserves its history and its treasures from a glorious past, and with its simplicity, friendliness and dedicated staff, you are sure to feel as if you were visiting friends and family with none of the impersonal atmosphere of the large cosmopolitan hotels. One of the most outstanding periods of Bela Vista is the 40s decade, the years of World War II. Portugal, being politically neutral, worked as a place for the exchange, crossing of information. The hotel, thanks to the comfort, isolation and self-sufficiency that it could offer during those times, served as a privileged and adequate local for the meeting of spies, secret agents and postmen, who knew the hotel's location by the sea. It has always kept its guestbooks, which are a living registration of well spent vacations. The older ones include, among others, signatures and comments by Sidonio Pais (former portuguese. President) and his train, by the king Humberto de Saboya, Fuljencio Baptista (after Fidel Castro took the power, in Cuba) and by the great hero Mannerheim of Finland's personal doctor, who left a signed manuscript, eulogizing and describing the magnificent vacations they spent in the hotel, from where the hero left after a two-months recovery and completely re-established. And one of the most interesting stories tells us about a less well-intentioned employee kept the guest's letters and money, which, purportedly, should have been sent by mail. He kept the money to himself and never gave the letters away, hiding them in the reception. Thirty-five years later, during the hotel's restauration, these were discovered and sent away, some of them possibly being love letters. Some time later, grandchildren and great-grandchildren from the addressees arrived at the Hotel, coming from all over the world, from Australia to the United States. Silver and golden weddings also happen quite often. Many couples choose the Bela Vista to re-create their honeymoon as it was 25 or 50 years ago!

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The hotel Bela Vista, situated on the cliffs of Praia da Rocha, was built in the 19th century as a stately home. With private access to the beach and located a mere 800 meters from the new Marina of Portimao, it was the first hotel in the Algarve. Amidst the active life of Praia da Rocha and within easy reach of many tourist attractions, it stands as an oasis. Encircled by its own property, it is at once away from and part of the animation of Praia da Rocha. CLOSED TEMPORARY FOR RENOVATION WORKS for further info and get to know some curious facts...