So, you have organised your hotel, booked flights, broken up an argument between your children in the car on the way to the airport and now you’re on the plane. You cruise over a beautiful azure sea before coming into land and you feel a real sense that the holiday has started. Then horror strikes, your beautiful hotel looks run-down, there is a building site next to the pool and you get into your room and the bathroom is dirty, the bath linen is dirty...am I painting you a nice picture?
The best way to really enjoy your holiday accommodation is to remove the hotel from the equation entirely and to stay in a Holiday Villa. There are so many positive points to having your own villa rental for the duration of your stay it is difficult to put them all down in one place. Therefore I am going to give you the Top Ten reasons to stay in a villa for your holiday, whether it be in Cyprus or the Algarve.
PRIVACY AND INDEPENDENCE - Your villa is your own space. You are not tied to hotel dining times, there is no hassle about adjoining rooms, you can spend your holiday how you want to, with no interruptions or restriction (within reason!). A villa gives you the opportunity to really relax in the way you like to whether that is sunbathing by your own quiet pool, or exploring the local countryside, then coming back late to enjoy a late supper. You decide.
SPACE - A Villa is so much more spacious than a hotel room, being an actual house, there will be multiple bedrooms, bigger bathrooms, a kitchen and also a living area. Compare this to the two or, at a push, three rooms you can get in a hotel. With usually only a bedroom and a small bathroom, families are in close proximity all of the time; a villa can give the parents a break from the kids.Holiday Villas in the Costa del Sol are particularly spacious.
KITCHENS AND BARBECUES - Every villa has a kitchen. You can still eat out in the local restaurant, but you don’t have to. Spend an evening on the terrace, cook up a fabulous barbecue and eat as the sun goes down. For families especially this is a definite bonus and will save a lot of money. Rustic Kitchens add to the atmosphere of the villa, Algarve villas have some lovely traditional kitchens.
PRIVATE POOLS - Private Pools come with almost every villa. Hotels only have a limited number of sun loungers around their pool area and guests have to get up early in order to save their sun loungers. Also, your very own pool means no cramming up against other people, no noisy children (and parents) to disturb your relaxation. You can even invite some friends or neighbours and have a party. Corfu Villa are home to some beautiful private pools.
BATHROOMS - Additional bathrooms in a villa are very useful especially for big families. Almost all villas will a have a minimum of two bathrooms, one of which being an en-suite for the parents!This is especially important in the Costa Blanca, where everyone gets sandy on the beautiful beaches.
WASHING MACHINES - Why pack clothes for the whole two weeks? Villas have washing machines so you don’t need to pack 14 pairs of socks. Children also tend to make a mess fairly frequently, so just throw their clothes in the washing machine when you need to.
PARKING SPACE - Most people rent a car whilst on holiday but have to park a substantial distance away from the hotel. If you rent a villa you will have, either, your own parking space or drive, some villas even have a garage. This is very useful when carrying heavy luggage and small children to and from the car.
SNACKS - With kitchen storage, you can store all of your snacks and cold drinks in the villa. With the prices of hotel food around the pool areas, this can save a huge amount of money. In Mallorca, bulk buy your drinks and have a cold beverage ready at all times.
COST - The cost efficiency of renting a villa, as opposed to staying in a hotel can also make a huge difference. Rather than booking maybe two or three separate hotel rooms, you can just rent one villa for the duration.
HOME - A villa can be a home away from home. As a villa is essentially a house with all of the creature-comforts you enjoy at home, it can be more relaxing and homely than a hotel could ever be.
Have I convinced you to stay in a villa next time you go on holiday? In all seriousness, a villa holiday is very different to staying in a hotel. Being a self-contained building, villas give a sense of living rather than just staying in a resort. You can really emerge yourself in the culture of the country by shopping in local markets and cook authentic meals to eat on your very own terrace. As villas are usually located in residential areas so there is also a sense of experiencing life as a local, rather than as a tourist.
Whatever type of holiday you are looking for a villa will give you that extra layer of comfort luxury and ultimately relaxation.
