Margarida is an amazing host and her space is beautiful. However, my wife and I ran into some problems during our stay. First, there was construction in the apartment below us and the workers began working at around 8-830am. There was a lot of noise (drilling, hammering, loud voices, and music) which, as you can imagine, is an unpleasant wake up call when you’re on vacation. Margarida informed us about this situation 2 days before we checked in and she also emphasized that she and her neighbor had an agreement that the workers will only begin work at 9am. But the neighbor did not respect their agreement. Throughout out our entire stay of four nights, we woke up to drilling noise. Margarida was very apologetic and tried her best to remedy the situation but her neighbor still did not follow. Margarida even gave us a small refund for our stay because of this inconvenience. I would have given her 3 stars but because of her sincere efforts, I decided to give 4.
Second, apartment from the construction, the apartment in general was prone to noise. We could hear the footsteps and conversations of the people in the upper floor. At night as late at 11pm, there are people chatting and laughing on the street in front of us. I suggested to Margarida that maybe she can put sound proof windows to minimize the noise. There were a lot of creaking noises too and because my wife is a light sleeper, she did not have a comfortable experience. Maybe it’s just the way that houses in this part of town are built, I’m not sure. Past guests of Margarida have raised this too but I didn’t see their reviews prior to booking this place.
Another thing to note is that there are quite a number of stairs that you need to take to reach the apartment. There is one flight of stairs to reach the flat but to reach the apartment itself will require walking up/down more stairs depending on where you’re coming from. This might be difficult if you have a lot of bags or have trouble with mobility. Double check before booking! Also, the apartment is in a part of town that I heard is being slowly gentrified. It definitely has a local feel, it’s up and coming and “charming”.
As I mentioned, Margarida is a great host. She gave a lot of good tips and recommendations around the area and Lisbon in general. She also brought us some pastries and bread when we arrived. Nice touch! But, unfortunately, the noise made our stay a little less than perfect.
This is the longest review I have ever written and I hope this helps future guests make a good decision about their booking. Enjoy Lisbon!