Great stay at a great apartment in a great location. We stayed for six nights. Ines from the agency that manages this apartment met us downstairs next to the building and stayed with us throughout the check-in procedure, including kindly showing us how to park the car in the underground garage. Below is an overview of the apartment for those who (like us) read reviews for details.
Location. The apartment is on one of the floors in a hi-rise building about 4 minute walk from the Campo 24 Agosto metro station. It is about a 15 min walk to Sao Bento, about 5 minute walk to Santa Catharina Street - the pedestrian/commercial street in Bolhao, and a 15-20 min. brisk walk to the Campanha train station (also two metro stops, but we walked). There is a Continente grocery store at the 24 Agosto metro station, a small pingo doce around the corner, and a wonderful small vegetable/fruit stand at the beginning of Rua de Bonfim, with excellent produce and great prices. There are several pastelarias in easy walking distance for morning coffee.
Apartment. The apartment has a spacious entryway hallway, a large dining-living room, a galley-style kitchen with a small sunroom, a full bathroom and a bedroom. All windows look south (towards the Douro river) and the view is fantastic - the photo on the listing page is not lying. The living room has a hammock and it works - I spent my evenings in it, it is very comfortable. Kitchen has no dishwasher, but does have a washing machine which we used actively. . Clothes can be dried on a rack in the sunroom. Kitchen is well-stocked. No electric coffee machine, but a coffee-pot and a french press coffee maker are present. Fridge has a built in icemaker we used a lot as well. Trash can be taken outside and disposed off at the trash disposal (there are four or five different bins there for different kind of trash/recycling) across the street, once you walk outside of the building. The TV set in the living room comes with a chromecast - we were very grateful for it!
Parking. This is the most sophisticated part of of the check-in process. The apartment complex is part of a business center that includes a hotel, a bus station, and some office space. There is an underground garage accessed via and entry that is next to the hotel side of the complex (next to the bus station). The parking space can be accessed only with the plastic card that resides in the apartment. So, the check-in procedure if you have a car looks like this:
(a) find temp parking in front of the apartment complex - right where maps takes us - there are some spaces there, if they are taken, there are spaces marked for motorcycles, that could potentially be used for several minutes.
(b) go up to the apartment for checkin, pick up the card.
(c) drive to the parking garage.
(d) enter the parking garage by inserting the card into the reader CLOSEST to the entrance barrier (there are two readers there, we made a mistake of trying to use the first one - IGNORE IT and pull up to the barrier).
(e) After you are inside the garage, THERE is ANOTHER PLACE, where you have to use the card, in order to access the designated parking spot (it opens the part of the garage that is reserved for the apartment complex residents). There is a map that is provided to you, but it ONLY makes sense if you know ahead of time that you need to open another door inside the garage.
(f) once parked, unload your luggage, walk up to the elevator (right in front of the parking space), and go to the apartment.
This looks complicated, but the ability to use the parking space is well worth the trouble during the check-in - just give yourself time to do it. We were very glad to have Ines show us the garage and help us discover the space.
The checkout is a similar process in reverse order: load the car, get it out of the garage, circle the block (it's a fairly long circle due to one-way streets), park temporarily in front of the apartment complex, get the card and the keys upstairs, leave.
Overall, the place is as described, well-managed, extremely convenient to everything Porto, has great view from the windows (we could see the Clerigos Tower), and is a great value. Excellent for two people.