Regrettably I can only give three stars for our stay at Mario’s apartment in Cascais. This is because our stay was disrupted by rats in the accommodation. We first noticed droppings and scratching sounds and then a rat appeared in the kitchen one morning, early on in our stay. We saw another rat (or the same one?) on the kitchen table at night too. We also found evidence that the rat/s were getting into the bedrooms (droppings, eaten medication), into the kitchen draws and under the sofa. The host was very responsive and dealt with the issue as quickly as possible, but unfortunately this situation took away time and enjoyment from a much-needed holiday. Airbnb were useless and didn’t really offer much help. This is a pity as the apartment is very nice – it is a smart, bright and nicely fitted accommodation with everything we needed, plus comfortable beds and a good shower. The location is great too for easy access to central Cascais. We were aware of the noise from the building work next door before we arrived – this was occasionally noisy enough to stop us from using the courtyard, but otherwise not too bad. After pest control had been we didn’t experience any problems with the rats, but we were careful not to leave out any food, including disposing of food waste morning and night. We have now agreed a compensation amount with the host due to the difficulties we experienced.