An excellent stay at the Porto Novo Apartments - Anne Parkinson. Date of travel: Feb 2008
My husband and I are due to stay at the Porto Novo Apartments at the end of Feb and will be going back in Sept this year. We have stayed at the Porto Novo Apts at least 4 times before. We have been holidaying in Puerto Rico for the last 7/8 years, usually Jan/Feb and again Sept/Oct. Out of all the apts we have stayed in, we prefer the Porto Novo. Yes, the apts are quite basic and a bit tired looking, but the location can't be beaten and we feel they are really excellent value for money. We have always found them to be very clean and equipped with enough utensils, etc, to prepare meals in, if you wish. Try the Hawaii bar, which is at the other side of the harbour from the Porto Novo, for good atmosphere and great staff. Also, there is a little fish restaurant on the harbour further round from Hawaii bar which serves excellent fish and seafood at very reasonable prices. Walk round to the beautiful Amadores beach and try some of the bars and restaurants there. If you can catch the sunset whilst sitting have a drink, it's really worth the walk. Also, do try a boat trip to Puerto Mogan, either for the market on Fridays or just for the boat ride and a stroll round. It's such a lovely village with some great places to eat. With the Porto Novo being situated right on the harbour, everything is within walking distance - with no hills - and taxis are not needed. We have stayed in various apts in Puerto Rico and have stayed right at the top of the resort on a couple of occasions but have purposely booked the Porto Novo the last few times. Unless you are really fussy or only holiday in 5 star accommodation, I don't think you would be disappointed staying at the Porto Novo. As for bad points, we can honestly say that we have always throughly enjoyed our holidays in Puerto Rico, in fact we are planning a longer stay of up to a month in the next year or so. If you don't like loads of noisy music or hoards of people, avoid the centres but, then again, some holidaymakers like that so each to their own.

Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria - Mrs Caroline Alker. Date of travel: Sep 2007
First impression whan I walked in Porto Novo Apartments at reception is 'what have I booked!' Reception area in desperate need of upgrade, however room was of a good size with kitchenette nice also. I stayed in 2 bedroom apartment with my family (3 adults & 2 young children) and it did us very nicely. Balcony was of a good size but I think we must have had the largest one there as everyone elses was half the size! Pool was great, really good size but no shallow end or seperate childrens pool so found swimming with my baby difficult as I could hardly stand up! Really nice around pool area with bar, pizza place & Indian restaurant on site. Didn't think much of Indian but it did come highly recommended and was pretty full but was not a patch on our local Indian (Pavillion) in Bolton! Supermarket on site was very pricey but Spar round corner okay. Maria Salinas restaurant very overpriced. English place next to Wig Wam bar okay, breakfasts are lovely, worth paying €6 for! Highly recommend La Cabana in town centre, the steaks are to die for! It is facing a place where people queue up for food (Don something??) We ate there once, never again - was not impressed. Great English bar on road facing beach above all the shops, you have to go upstairs to get to it but I can't remember the name of it! They had quiz on every night where you can win cash & prizes - really good night! Overall had a great holiday, would go back to Puerto Rico but not Porto Novo Apartments, although were very nice is right on a noisy main road and facing a bottle bank where people re-cycled all hours of the night!

Porto Novo - Elizabeth Lowe. Date of travel: Oct 2006
The Porto Novo apartments are located on flat land across the road from the beach in Puerto Rico. No layers of stairs, mountains to climb or taxis to wait for and pay for... They're clean, the pool is absolutely lovely and you're conveniently located above a small cheap grocery store at one end of the building. "Don Quixote" is the best restaurant in town - reservations a must and it is closed Sun. and Mon. - also located in building. Next door, avoid the overpriced "Maria Salinas" with poor food and pretentious attitude. Puerto Rico is very safe, ignore the time share touts - don't look at them, they will simply waste a full day of your precious beach time. Eat at "San Miguel" in the main shopping centre - notice that it is the only restaurant there with a line-up and a main course can be had for 5-6 euros every night. Great service, good food - many eat there every night of their vacation. If you don't want to pay for a beach lounger every day just wait until 4 pm when they take the clothespeg markers off! Sitting there until 6 or 7 pm is simply the nicest time of the day when most of the crowd has left. Mind you they are only 2.50 euros a day. On the beach, "Beach Bubbles" makes fab. baguette sandwiches and if you want to really save your money, go buy your beers, coolers right at the Spar grocery store instead of a beach bar. Take your own cooler bag for the beach. This is a grocery store that I would like to invest in. We've been extremely satisfied with Record Rental Car after 3 vac. rentals. 275 euros for 2 weeks, we were upgraded and got a KIA that was a week and a half old. Far cheaper than Avis, Hertz and more reliable and newer cars than Easy Autos. The walk around the shore to Amadores Beach is to die for. The shops there are cheaper than anywhere in Puerto Rico so buy your beach wraps and towels there. Restaurants like "Ciao Ciao" are so much classier than the Puerto Rico beach area and they cost the same. Do your big shop at the Carrefour at the Vecindario exit on the highway south of the airport. However, we found that a lot of prices were just as good at the little supermarket in the Porto Novo building.