Disappointingly, we had a very mixed experience staying in this apartment.
On the plus side, the check in process was smooth and our greeter was fantastic, friendly and helpful. The apartment is very tastefully decorated and has superb views over the city. It is close to some great restaurants, food shopping and transport (including the famous 28 tram).
However, as well as some more minor maintenance issues (only one set of keys as the other was broken, no batteries in remote for TV, broken kitchen tap, missing or broken fixings in bathroom), there were major problems with electricity and we experienced multiple blackouts where the system shut down and needed to be reset (on one evening this happened eight times).
Essentially it was impossible to use multiple facilities at the same time. For example it was not possible to cook dinner for the family with the oven and stove on while also having the air conditioning on. Having quick showers in the evening for four people (we were two adults and two young teenagers) and having the air conditioning on led to numerous blackouts and fumbling around in the dark to restart the system. On our final night there was no air conditioning at all (despite it being 31 degrees). We have had to involve Airbnb and there has yet to be a satisfactory resolution.
The host put the problems down to this being an old building, could not rectify it and told us to use less power. However, this was our third stay in the historic parts of Lisbon in old apartments and we have never previously experienced anything like this with electricity.
We go into detail in this review because we want future guests to be aware of the limitations with the apartment. It looks nice on the surface and probably would be fine for a couple eating out all the time in the colder months but the apartment’s facilities are simply not functional for a family of four wanting to self cater and have air conditioning and showers in the hot summer months. For families, we’d strongly advise staying in other accommodation with other hosts.