I booked this stay as a birthday present for my boyfriend’s 30th birthday and we had a really nice time. The bottom line for us is that we would happily return but feel a few things need pointing out for future potential guests.
The garden on the photos looks really idyllic and a big space to relax in, but in reality, it’s a lot smaller than it appears in the photos and is overlooked by unsightly (sorry) buildings and cars that are parked right by the edge of the grass, which the photos do not reflect. I imagined it’d be a relaxing space to perhaps set up a nice picnic in, as a treat for my boyfriend, but I was disappointed when I saw the actual garden, as it ruined that vision for me.
Also, we were admittedly a little disappointed with the immediate location of the property. In terms of accessing the city centre it’s fab, with a metro station only a 6 min walk away (timed on Google Maps), and only approx. 25 minutes to walk all the way to the centre. The disappointment for us was that we felt a little unsafe, as there were homeless people sleeping immediately outside the property. Also, on our first day when trying to find the property, a very kind local offered to help us after seeing that we were confused with the map directions, and when he figured out which part of the street our property was on, he warned us not to talk to any of the locals near there, which didn’t exactly fill us with hope for the remainder of our stay. I think he must have been referring to the homeless people.
One other thing that future guests might find useful to know is that the hosts have listed that they have an iron (which they did) but there’s no ironing board to accompany this (but in fairness to the hosts, they don’t list an ironing board in the amenities). This would be helpful, though. It was very difficult to use an iron with no board!
On a more positive note, the inside of the property is very true to the images and the hosts provide a very useful info book about the local area/things to do/amenities etc. The property was immaculate and had a very well equipped kitchen. The shower was really powerful and there’s heating controls in the property for when it gets a bit too warm/cold. I also asked the host for some good local restaurant recommendations, and we really enjoyed Restaurante Casa Aleixo which Graciette recommended.
All in all, a pleasant stay and would happily return.
P.s. watch out for the garden sprinklers if returning to the property at night! My boyfriend and I had a good laugh when one got me smack bang in the face and drenched my hair, too!