2 English speaking travellers from the UK here with minimal Portuguese. We stayed at Bernardo’s place for 1 month. The following is a list of the the pros and cons during our stay.
Pros:
-Bernardo picked us up from the bus station when arriving which was super helpful. Bernardo also recommended lots of places for us to eat/drink around the area. Really nice guy.
-Bernardo and his team were on top of helping us and were easy and quick to reach when we needed assistance.
-Hot water from the shower and filtered drinking water provided.
-Really nice location towards the front. Lively and super close to the beach.
-Nice pizza place that delivers to the door (Bernardo will provide further information)
-Really good fridge.
Cons:
-If you’re not used to walking incline, the hill was quite steep and the stairs leading up to the property can be difficult and took us around 20 minutes to get to the apartments at the top.
-We struggled to get taxis/food delivered. One Uber driver informed us that he was hesitant to drop us off at the top of the hill due to gang related issues around this area, and in turn dropped us off at the bottom of the hill. Following this, we felt safe throughout our stay. -Bed frame had termites but Bernardo provided insecticide aerosol quickly once reported to him.
-Our kitchen fan broke half way though our stay,this was replaced within around 3-4 days.
-The shower element burnt out during the stay due to a water cut (meaning cold showers only until replaced) this took 2 days to resolve.
-The internet was ok…when it worked,it worked really well. But when a lot of people were using it in the evenings and throughout the day would be unusable.
-We noticed mould in the kitchen which wasn’t a major issue. Throughout our stay,we noticed mould and damp build up on our possessions in the bedroom itself. We think this was due to the “air-con” unit passing air in from the adjacent utility-room and bathroom.
-At times, mainly morning and late evening, the room we were in was quite noisy due to the washing machines and utility room being within such close proximity to the bedroom, banging etc.
-1 short power cut in the area but this was resolved within 30 minutes.
Overall,we would recommend Bernardo’s place but maybe for shorter stays.