First, this apartment has a “wow” factor I have not experienced with other Air BnBs to date. The photos in the listing are accurate. The first floor loft style space is huge - 2500 square meters. Windows open to the street and there are large doors opening onto to a private terrace.
The location is great for eating and walking to other popular areas, including Barrio Alto, Baixa, and the Alfama so long as you are ok with hills). The apartment is accessible for taxis and Uber drivers and has an old elevator.
Our host, Margarida, was prompt and clear in her communication. Her son met us at the building and showed us the apartment.
Downsides of the location is that you are staying in a very busy neighborhood for hotels, hostels and Air BnBs, along with construction in residential buildings. During our stay there was construction in the building on week days. If you are out and about during the day, this won’t be a problem.
At night, we found we were unable to sleep with the windows open due to street noise from people smoking and talking on the street outside other hostels until past 1am. There was also light flooding in the bedrooms from street lights. Once all the apartment windows are closed, along with the wooden shutters, it is quiet and dark but quite hot. We couldn’t figure out how to run the air conditioning.
There are 2 bedrooms. We ended up moving to the second bedroom as we found the platform bed in the master bedroom uncomfortable to get and out of. The mattress was quite hard for our preference.
The kitchen had everything we needed to cook. There was a washing machine in the kitchen but no dryer. There are draft by racks.
The bathroom had towels, lotion, etc. Water temperature was good but the shower was prone to spraying water on the floor.
WiFi was strong in living areas and main bedroom but not so good in the second bedroom.
To give context to “us”, we are a couple in our early 50s from Australia and the US. Both are well traveled.