The flat is in a pretty good location - not particularly charming or as well placed as, say, Chiado, but a fairly short walk from central areas and good restaurants. With Uber it's a cinch getting around in any case.
The flat itself is billed as a two-bedroom flat, which it isn't really. I'll describe the layout:
- There is a combined living / dining room with a small dining table, a coffee table and a sofa which I guess one could sleep on though I wouldn't want to.
- a bedroom with a double bed, which is fine
- and up the stairs under the ceiling a double bed you have to crawl into as the ceiling is very low and there is not even standing room for a child. This sleeping area has no door and so is not really private, and also not suitable for elderly people or children to sleep alone as the staircase is steep and could be a safety risk for children.
- a very small kitchen, like an appendix to the dining room area, which has basic cooking equipment but almost no space to prepare food and so for us not a place we could imagine doing any serious cooking - which for us undermines the logic of an Airbnb over a hotel or B&B.
The front door opens into the combined living/ diving room. The lack of any kind of hallway was something I missed as one comes from outside with dirty footwear straight into the living area and indeed patch of floor one walks over to go to the bathroom. Many people might not mind this, but for me it felt a bit unhygienic (though I must say the flat was perfectly clean) and contributed to the feeling of an overly cramped space.
That flat did the job for us for a five-night stay because we were out and about most of the time, but it was not a place I enjoyed spending time. I also don't think it's suitable for anything more than a couple or small family (and bearing in mind the awkward bedding arrangements: we had one adult up under the ceiling and one with the child in the downstairs bedroom; I would not have put my child upstairs for fear of her falling down the stairs). It certainly isn't suitable for two couples expecting any privacy. Overall it feels like a lot of on-paper functionality packed into a very small space.
I would not rent it again, and would instead choose a hotel or nicer, central flat, or even a flat further from the centre when from past experience one can find much nicer and much bigger flats for the same cost or less - and considering how cheap and convenient Uber is in Lisbon, not being walking distance to the centre might not matter so much.