I will be arriving on the 6th, and probably won't get to our villa until about 10pm (in the Vale do Milho area). Will there be a shop open where we can get some water etc?

There may be a "late night" shop open -but cant you e-mail the folk youre renting villa from and ask them to leave some basic shopping at villa for you? Thats what I ve doneyou usually get a choice of 2 packages--one with wine/beer etc or or one with bread/sugar/butter /water etc.
Imsure you could have this done, so that youll have basics there for you on arrival,good luck, Elle

I live at Vale do Milho, so if you are still having difficulty, send me your shopping list to apartzone@hotmail.com and I will leave it at your villa. We are such nice people on this site.

Thanks Ranger, I'll be in touch if our villa manager can't provide some basics. You certainly are very kind people on this site!