My family and I stayed at this apartment for 4 weeks. We have a 4 year old and a 5 month old baby. We really enjoyed the apartment. We were greeted warmly by Goncalo on our arrival with a bottle of wine.
The unit was as pictured on the website. The unit is on the second floor (stair access only). The two bedrooms are connected with a doorway (which can be closed off to completely separate the two rooms). Both beds were comfortable. The only access to the bathroom is through the second bedroom which wasn’t an issue for us but may be if the people in the second bedroom needed privacy.
The unit does not have air conditioning, there is a space heater which we ran several nights to keep the unit warm as some nights did get cool when we were there in May. The French doors of the unit all open and provide a nice breeze through the apartment.
The kitchen is well equipped. We cooked many meals in the apartment without any issues. The clothes washer unfortunately broke down while we were there. Goncalo was quick to respond to have someone look at it and as it could not be fixed quickly he gave us money and directions to the nearest laundromat. He also provided clean towels and bed sheets throughout our stay.
Goncalo was very quick to respond to any questions we had for him. He was easily reachable by text message.
The neighbourhood: The best part about this unit for us was the neighbourhood. It’s located in Bairro Alto which in general is a lively bar area. However, there is only one small bar in close proximity to the apartment and the bar is very quiet most days of the week. During the day the neighbourhood is relatively quiet and has a local vibe. At night there are more tourists and a younger party crowd that comes out. We enjoyed both aspects of the neighbourhood.
The apartment has excellent sound proof windows which blocks out most of the noise. Admittedly, there were a handful of times during our stay when we were woken by shouting and partying in the streets (even with the windows closed). You will also get cigarette smoke coming up into the apartment on these nights if you have the windows open.
There are many nice (not expensive) restaurants in close proximity to the apartment. There is a great Moroccan restaurant across the street from the unit called Flor de Laranja which is definitely worth a visit. There is a local bar/coffee shop directly below the unit (not open at night) that a lot of locals visit each morning for breakfast etc. A few blocks away there is a very beautiful park (with a kids park as well) called Jardim do Principe Real.
Overall, we enjoyed this apartment very much and Goncalo is a great host! Would definitely recommend staying here.