Name: Convento das Bernardas Residence
Address: Rua Arquitecto Eduardo Souto Moura, n.º2, Tavira, Tavira, Tavira, 8800-000, Portugal
Rating: 8

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

General

Internet access

Internet

Airport transportation

Transfer

Parking

Outdoor pool

Pool and beach

Location

At the apartment

Alvaro de Campos Municipal Library

Salt Pans to Quatro Águas

Casa das Portas

Tavira Living Science Center

Camera Obscura

Tavira Gran Plaza Shopping Mall

Hospital Faro

Faro Municipal Market

Antonio Sergio Park

Carmo Church

Jardim Manuel Bivar

Archaeological Museum of Faro

Arco da Vila

Faro Marina

Faro Town Hall

Faro Old Town

Faro Cathedral

Forum Algarve

Faro Airport

Faro Island Beach

Rocha Baixinha Beach

Belharucas Beach

Olhos d Agua Beach

Maria Luisa Beach

Santa Eulalia Beach

Oura Beach

Aveiros Beach

Praia do Inatel

Fisherman's Beach

Albufeira Old Town Square

Peneco Beach

Albufeira Marina

Arrifes Beach

Sao Rafael Beach

Coelha Beach

Castelo Beach

Evaristo Beach

Manuel Lourenco Beach

Zoomarine

Convento das Bernardas Residence

Tavira

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

The place has a new agent and she's very good - phew. Requests for road directions were duly supplied, our plea for a late and flexible arrival granted, the offer of an impromptu welcome pack gratefully accepted. Tavira has what initially seemed an over-thought out, one-way system and so Anne had to direct us in for the last 500 yards over the mobile phone - once you know where you're going, you only need to be shown once. There is secure parking (electronic gate) with plenty of room so that was one thing less to worry about - shame I'd upped the insurance on the car rental ... 

The apartment is lovely - well thought out, clean and has pretty much everything you want - it will only cater for a couple of folk but it caters for them well: good wi-fi with decent download speeds (maybe not 4D supportable but BBC News clips etc were fine), 2 air-con units both much needed, and the shower was of a good pressure (but could do with a better thermostat as it can get too hot !). 

Outside, there is a little patio which is actually more useful than it looks as it gives some decent shade from the excesses of the sun. The grounds are well maintained - a short walk away are two pools - the nearest is the smaller and is only a metre deep so good for a wade, the other a more challenging 1.50 deep.  

Finally, as for location, it's pretty good - whilst Lidl is a 5 min car drive (you'll pass it on the way in, next to the rail station), you can walk quickly to a pretty decent Pingo Doce supermarket (just on the left after going over the car bridge), the ferry to the beach island is a 10 min stroll and all the restaurants are just beyond the ferry stop. As for those, I'd seriously recommend Pausa (to the left of the bombed-out looking cinema) - excellent tapas, O Castel (just beyond the Post Office) - excellent steak, and O Patio (over the 3rd pedestrian Bridge and up the pedestrian alleyway straight ahead - get a rooftop table) - excellent fish!

Overall, will we back - yep, I reckon so. The apartment ticked all the boxes, was safe, secure for both us and the car and had all we needed, the town is very pretty with great eateries, and the locals are really friendly. Happily and wholly recommended.

Great for couples ...

This is a converted convent, which is in a good location.  The premises is very clean and safe given that you can only access it via a heavy duty locked gate.  Plenty of parking and you'll absolutely love the salt water pool. It's only a 5-10 minute walk from the ferry to Tavira Island.  Also, the downtown area is only 10 minutes away on foot.   The property managers are friendly and helpful.    As we found out, however, the property is a mix of condo and hotel units.  We were informed that the hotel units will be put on sale and may be unavailable after October.    We hope their plan works out (well, not really !), but if not, we would absolutely love to stay here again when we return to Tavira.

Great property, stunning pool....

Going next mth can't wait travia is my favorite place passed these apartments many time  Not sure if the apartments  have an iron  and having trouble finding out .the accommodation  is in a lovely  postion in walking distance  to river doing the bank transfer was abit of a problem would have prefered card payment 

Beutiful

We have been to Tavira on a number of occasions so we know and like the town quite well. It is however the first we stayed in this complex, which has been impressively converted after originally being used as a convent followed by a flour mill. Our flat extended over 3 floors - ground floor master bedroom with an en-suite; first floor living room and kitchen; second floor mezzanine holding - just - two single beds with another en-suite. The flat was accessed from the car park - well appointed, but still a car park, rather than the central space, containing the swimming pool. Also, no external furniture was provide and it was only thanks to an owner of another flat who lend us a table and some chairs that we could sit outside - by our front door - in the car park; not great. The living space being on the first floor does not link to the outside space. Eating outside for instance is not easy. The flat was reasonably appointed but in need of some TLC: all electrically operated blinds were broken and stuck - we were promised they would be fixed while we were there but that did not happen. The kitchen had just enough crockery - no extra. The door handle to the top bathroom was missing. The electrical wire to the heated towel rail in the top bathroom had its outside sheating missing by the connection to the rail. There were also some less important issues: no storage space in the bathrooms: no shelf by the basin; no hooks. The shower tray is too small. The water spills onto the polished tiled floor which makes the floor unnecessarily slippery. Lastly, the windows are small with limited views. There is no view out from the top floor; some restricted views from the living room. It creates an insular feeling. I believe that, with little effort and cost the flat could be improved significantly and be brought up to a better rating. As it was whe we were there, it only deserved a 3 despite the pleasant surroundings.

Well designed environment but, sadly, with a disappointing flat

The building is stunning - the pool is as good as it looks. The accommodation is spacious and in a good location with lovely views over salt pans. Very quiet. However the check in is shambolic - really showing the lack of any reception. There is no cleaning service - not made clear on booking. In a week we got one change of towels and told toilet rolls not replaced. We battled the ants ourselves - we get it’s a hot country but again some
cleaning missed.

The number of restrictive rules also suck any fun. It’s all about maintaining the look of the property - forgetting it’s holiday accommodation not  a museum! No towel drying, no outside light, nothing in the pool - no second key available. The place could be so  good - instead it’s a soulless mix of owned and rental properties. Not recommended sadly.

A beautiful building but a sadly soulless experience - disappointing as it could be an amazing  place.

We visited Convento das Bernardas in September.  In all fairness it has a stunning 20mtr square pool but as for the rest it was pretty average.  We booked our apartment via AirBnB.  Nothing wrong with it apart from being a bit sparse and tired but we didn't intend to spend much time in it so that didn't bother us too much.  Nice that it was spotlessly clean throughout.

The reason form my low rating wasn't due to the apartment though it was due to the unwritten rule (which I suspect was made up on the fly) surrounding the pool sunbeds.  I'm not wholly sure of the numbers but I think there are 78 apartments in the condominium but only about 14 sunbeds lined up on one side of the pool only.  We went to the pool mid morning and got two sunbeds without issue.  3 hours later my wife returned to the apartment to prepare a sandwich and then she phoned me to advise it was ready.  Just as my wife had, I left my towels, book and some clothing on the sunbed and went to the apartment to eat my sandwich.  Just 15 minutes later when I came back my belonging had been 'dumped' on my wife's sunbed and my sunbed was being used by rather a portly woman who I suspect was a property owner rather than a holiday maker. I complained but she was joined by two men and all three said there were 'rules' and if a bed was unused then it was free to be taken by others!!!  I said what about if the sunbed user has gone to the toilet or had gone for a swim and got 'Ah - but that's not the same.' - a 15 minute lunch is not allowed.  I argued with the 3 of them for a few minutes and then another owner joined in saying the woman was right - an empty sunbed is up for grabs if the property owners wanted it.  Do note that my bed was in use the whole time apart from those 15 minutes in my case and maybe 25 minutes for my wife.  I've never been anywhere so unfriendly I we decided not to use the sunbeds again.  Spoilt the holiday with a protectionist policy which excludes renters! Beware!

It was OK until the 'unwritten sunbed rule' kicked in!

For 3 years I spent my vacations in this hotel, and I loved it! The peace in the house, pool, the hotel in general was wonderful and made me and my family feel relaxed. In 2016 they started selling many apartments, so it is harder to rent one apartment. In 2017, Convento das bernardas is almost empty. The quiet and peace are the same, but the conditions aren't. The apartment we were in was a bit dirty, the blinds didn't work, we couldn't open one window otherwise it would fall on top of us, the water sometimes failed, and the kitchen was missing a couple of essencial tools. 
This isn't the standards we were used to in convento das bernardas, and we are very upset.


Going down hill

Good experience living (for a few days) in a condominium by one of best Portuguese architects, pleasant and well equipped apartments. Many options to manage the interior air flow, temperature, and sun light. Relaxed and very comfortable exterior for breakfast or any meal, even for a bit of writing. Excellent swimming pool with salted water and less chloride, great experience, the best. Good staff helping when requested to solve any issue. The wrong is the management. Failures on having the interiors properly clean, substitution of shower mat (old and stained), maintenance of the windows blinds, apartments with 20th century steel key instead of several proximity smart cards so everyone can have one and be free. Car park where the individual spaces are bike size. Prices aiming high. What could have been a 5* experience becomes an average 3* one. Management, hands on the details and Convento das Bernardas could be one of those unique 5* relaxed experiences without the need of additional luxury.

Convento das Bernardas Residence

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Internet

Transfer

Parking

Pool and beach

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Conditions of accommodation

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