We had a wonderful stay at Rui’s apartment. It is a spacious and welcoming environment. Clearly this is someone’s home (there are books everywhere) which makes the space feel more warm and comfortable than some of the sterile empty in-law apartments available on AirBnB. Nonetheless, there’s lots of room to spread out and for the days we were there it totally felt like our apartment. The kitchen is incredibly well equipped and very user-friendly. One perk is a washing machine and there are clothes lines for drying clothes outside the back and front windows. There are three bedrooms all with large beds. The most special space is the front room which has comfortable varied seating spaces and three large windows/doors that fill the room with light and open up on two small balconies that look down at the neighborhood.
The apartment is located in the heart of the Afami district which in itself is considered one of the major attractions of Lisbon. Although the apartment itself is on a quiet side street, there are multiple restaurants within 1-2 blocks walk. Many of these restaurants feature lovely Fado music.
I can’t say enough about Rui as a host. When we arrived after taking the Metro from the airport he was out on the street waiting for us. Although we had his phone number, we mostly communicated via email and received responses very promptly. As we were leaving the apartment we accidentally left my daughter’s jacket inside. Rui rushed over in the rain in less than 15 minutes to help us retrieve it and not miss our flight.
This was definitely one of the best AirBnB experiences I’ve ever had. Rui’s apartment actually added a lot to our wonderful Lisbon vacation.