This place has excellent access to public transportation. It is located in the tourist hotspot, within a short-walking distance to the metro verde line. It is easy to go to and fro the airport. The place is small but will accommodate two people easily.
Unfortunately this is a noisy neighborhood and apartment building. I didn’t know anything about the neighborhood, alfama, when I reserved this place. The noises from the street below didn’t cease until 2 am at many nights, and unlike windows and patio glass doors of other cities (vienna, paris, or berlin, for instance), this place’s patio glass doors couldn’t block out noises as effectively as they should. The music of rolling suitcases being pulled on calçada portuguesa is constant, and it gets worse on weekends.
And then there was awful machine-roaring sound from the next unit of the apartment. On my first night, I thought there was some kind of construction work being done. The humming noise was constant (every night), and it sounded as if a russian tank was rolling by your house. I think it was the noise from heating/ cooling machine in that apartment unit next to this one. The temps were perfect at night (65-70 f) but, I am guessing, people turned this one because outside noises made opening the windows and patio doors not possible.
It has a washing machine in the kitchen, which should have come in handy for long-term stay but couldn’t. It had the overpowering fake-perfume smell from laundry detergent. I couldn’t breathe when I first arrived. I had to open the patio doors and ran the machine empty with no detergent to get rid of the obnoxious stench. I saw lots of SUDS forming inside. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was never able to get rid of this artificial perfume of detergent from the machine. Needless to say I couldn’t use the washing machine. I am not that sensitive, and I have been traveling for 2 months at that point and got used to living in places that others had stayed before me. But I have never had this problem. The artificial perfume stench was excessive and headache-inducing.
This place could use attention here and there. Hard wooden chairs have no cushions; two laughably flimsy lamps in bedroom should be replaced; the dining area could use a lamp instead of harsh ceiling fluorescent lights; pillows are rock hard; a real blanket should be provided (there was only a large scarf-sized, decorative one) regardless of availability of heater. There are no table and chair on the balcony unlike what the picture suggests. The bedroom patio glass door to the tiny balcony was blocked by the clothes shelf.
All of these wouldn’t have bothered me much if the place was lower in rates. And asking the host to address these issues would have amounted to asking for a different accommodation. It does not offer the reasonable value when the rates and the quality of accommodation are considered. This place may work for those who plan to stay only 1-3 nights.