Recommendations for Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra or Tomar?
 

Looking for recommendations for the following places for the spring:

-Lisbon: (preferably an apartment - Airbnb or any of the rental agencies are fine with me)
-Tomar (ideally, apartment or guesthouse though a decent hotel is ok)
-Coimbra (something accessible to the center and not too far from parking!)
-Porto (hotel or guest house)

We will have a car after Lisbon and dropping off in Porto, which will be our last stop. Any recommendations for the above places most welcome. I try to keep cost less than $200/night (and so far, everything I’ve booked is less). I like charm and, if possible, a terrace and/or view. The latter isn’t a deal breaker. I’m more interested in friendly owners or staff.

progol,
Have you looked at the Flattered to Be in Tomar apartments? Â

Most people seem to be happy with the Hotel Oslo in Coimbra and it does have parking.

In Lisbon is the apartment that you looked at in the lower end of the Bairro Alto at the border of the Chiado still available? Â I'm not familiar with the airbnbs. Â We stayed in a huge 1 bedroom
apartment in the Chiado (where it meets the Bairro Alto) on Praça de Luis Camões belonging to Chiado Apartments, which is now under the umbrella of Portugal Rentals, as it was reviewed well here.  It's the Camões 3A but it has gone up significantly in price. Their others on Trinidade, Nova Almada and Garret, all Chiado streets, are less expensive.  Their office is on Rua Garret in Chiado. https://www.ptrentals.com/en/apartme...lisbon/6066/.ÂÂ

For Porto there are SO many new hotels and guest houses now. Â They had a building boom in lodging. Â There are several well-reviewed guest houses such as the 1872 River House & Guest House Douro in the waterfront Ribeira district, but that area can get very, very busy, noisy, hectic, as it's tourist central. Â We like the Clérigos area, Aliados (very central) and pedestrian Rua das Flores, now that the construction has been finished (but our favorite hotels on that street have become expensive). Â You may want to look at the new One Shot Aliados Goldsmith 12 (the One Shot hotels tend to be moderate in price). Â I like the very central location. Â Join the One Shot Friends Club online for a better rate.
https://www.hoteloneshotaliadosgoldsmith12.com/en/.Â
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Oh, Maribel, I knew I could count on you! You are certainly an encyclopedia of Portugal!

I will probably book Hotel Oslo in Coimbra - I had booked them when I planned the earlier trip, and it does seem to fit the bill pretty well.

I’ll look into the suggestions you made. I honestly don’t remember if I looked at the Flattered to be in Tomar apartments, but will do so now.

There are so many apartments listed in Lisbon that I’m getting absolutely overwhelmed. It’s hard not really knowing what a particular area or street really is like. I haven’t found the places I looked at from the earlier planning but am starting from scratch. There must be thousands of apartments for short term rentals in Lisbon, though!

Thank you for the Porto suggestions - many options! Having recently stayed in a very noisy apartment in Split, Croatia, I’m going to be very careful and try to avoid anything that even hints at noise!

Maribel,
I really like the Lisbon apartments at Rua Nova do Almada 81; is that a good location? The other 1-BR, without terrace, is Rua Garrett, 26, which may’ve been in the building I almost booked last time!

Hi progol,
Both are good choices. The Chiado is a great neighborhood. We'll be there soon.

Hi there! Here are the places we stayed, all within your budget. You can see my additional comments under the reviews for each, or hit me up with questions.

Lisbon https://abnb.me/Mffj7M826kb

Porto https://abnb.me/fOwOO8c36kb (about 10 min walk north of the Livraria Lello, across the street from the British Council).

Coimbra https://abnb.me/7AOJGRr36kb (on pedestrian street about 200m from taxi stand, but open to cars in the morning before 10am)

Thanks, Maribel, I will book one of the Chiado apartments. And I’m looking at the One Shot Friends hotel in Porto and it looks like a possibility.

Russ, thank you! I’ve been thinking of dropping you a line! Funny, I had also saved the Coimbra apartment because it did look nicer than most others - but 3 bedrooms? What does one do with all that space? The Lisbon AirBnB is lovely, but booked - which is ok, because their rates are up for my time frame. Since we end in Porto, I prefer staying in a hotel to help us deal with all the headaches of returning home.

More questions to come!

We had a great stay in Porto at B The Guest -https://www.btheguest.com/ Lovely owners, right across from the market (not sure when that is supposed to re-open)

In Lisbon we stayed at- Design & Bright Studio City Center Chiado- https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2694642...e-9e5de530e727 You get access to the rooftop where we had dinner once. Only complaint is there is no air conditioning so if you need to open the windows it can be a bit loud as the trolley rolls underneath the window

In Tomar we stayed here- https://www.thomarstory.pt/english.html . It was only one night but it worked well for us. There are stairs if that's an issue.

In Coimbra we stayed here-https://www.sophiaresidences.pt/ . The apartment on Rua de Sofia. There is a pay parking area just down the street. Nice apartment but lots of stairs up.

And I think you were planning to stay in Guimarães? I highly recommend- Old Market Apartment [City Center] - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3243801...c-5249546a0164 . Lovely apartment, friendly owner and it includes parking.

I know! But it was a great location and less than $100/night at the time we booked!!

Thanks so much, valgachi! I will look at the places you recommend. As of now, I’ve booked one of the apartments in Lisbon from the company that Maribel recommended so I think we’re good to go there!

I’ve decided to book the Pousada just outside of Guimaraes but I’d noticed the Airbnb apartment you recommended. How many bedrooms do 2 people need?! The apartment looks, from the photos, to be in a relatively barren neighborhood, though, which didn’t appeal. At least that was the impression from the photo taken from the apartment.

I’m curious about Thomar Stories, and it looks sweet, though I don’t see breakfast available now. When you mention steps, could you tell me the range of about how many flights? It doesn’t say on the site or in the reviews.

Again, thanks!

The apartment in Guimaraes was not in a barren neighborhood. It was down a side street (above a very popular restaurant- though quiet inside the apartment) and just a 5 minute walk to Largo do Toural (a big sort of main square-ish spot). We walked to dinner every night (though we should have taken a cab to Duho as that is a bit outside the tourist area). We simply didn't use the bedrooms we didn't need. The price was good, it was in a good area, very clean & well kept & had parking. Worked for us. Not sure why the size would be an issue unless you were paying more (and in this case we weren't)? It's above Dan's Finger Food and Drinks so you can do a Google streetview to see the area.

For Tomar I don't remember exactly but I think there were two flights of stairs to get to our room.

Progol,
About the Pousada, former 12 century Augustinian Mosteiro Santa Marinha on the hill above Guimarães:

We stayed there rather than in town because we were touring with a car and had several excursions we wanted to make. There we had free, outdoor parking and an easy “in-and-out”. While our room in the historic wing was small (we didn’t splurge for a deluxe room), we did have access just down the vast, grand hall to the very large terrace where we sat in the evening enjoying a glass of wine with great views of the city below.
We are Pestana club members so we also enjoyed a discount.

We had breakfast in the atmospheric, vaulted, stone arched dining room but lunches in town or on the road. The Pousada has an outdoor (seasonal) pool and beautiful, vast public rooms in which to relax. It did indeed feel “regal”. At that time the restaurant served a set price menu along with the a la carte options. The bar also served a light menu.

The former Guimarães pousada in the historic quarter has been converted to the Hotel da Oliveira, with a very contemporary look. Parking is free but one is given a card by the hotel and instructions to reach the garage 5 minutes away, outside of the restricted pedestrian area. There are specific comments about reaching the garage on booking.com and TA.. It does get quite solid reviews.

Thanks, valgachi. I hope you didn’t take me too seriously about the # of bedrooms - I just find it funny to stay in a place with so many rooms! Of course, I live in NYC where space is a premium. I appreciate the description of the location of the apartment - that’s helpful. I’m going to stick with the Pousada for now because I think it’ll be an experience of its own.

Thanks, too, for the info about Tomar.

russ - see my comment to valgachi about # of rooms! By the way, you both might be interested in the other’s trip reports on Japan! It looks like you 2 have a shared love. I hope to get there sometime in 2022 or 2023 at the latest.

Maribel - I’m booked in the Pousada you mention, not the one in town. We’ll have a car and plan to do at least 1 day trip (we’ll be staying 3 nights).

Do you know the Myo Design House in Porto? I thought it looked nice for the cost. I’ve been looking at the various hotels, and am coming to the conclusion I’ll likely need to pay a little more than planned. My bigger concern is noise but —a number of places have complaints about noise due to current construction or the usual late night revelers. Of course, by May, it’s hard to know what will still be under comstruction but I’d dearly love not to have either too much street noise or too much construction, while still staying centrally.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/myo...ig=v1fyggPu8l&

progol,
I absolutely do know the MYDesign House, and it completely slipped my mind. We looked at it and decided that we really liked the location on the Rua das Flores. It's a less expensive option (I think) than the AS Porto, the Porto Bay Flores or the new Pousada. We thought that we should recommend it to others and I just forgot to mention it to you, so glad you reminded me!

Maribel,
Oh, wonderful! It’s definitely a less expensive option, perhaps comparable to the mid-range rooms of the Hotel One Shot in Porto. While it doesn’t have full hotel services, there is some services and breakfast is an option, and it has the advantage of also being an apartment. I’ll let you know what it’s like!

Paule

No worries Progol, no offense taken at all! I have read Russ's trip reports before but thanks for the reminder. We do seem to share a love of places (Japan, Italy and Portugal).

valgachi,
We have Italy ❤️ in common, and I hope, soon to include Portugal and Japan.😉

paule,
The additional attraction to staying at the Myo Design House is that a branch of Manteigaria, for its wonderful pasteis de nata, is just a short, 3-min. walk away on Rua dos Clérigos. Yumm! Below our Chiado apartment on Praça Luis de Camões/Rua Loreto there’s also a Manteigaria.

Maribel,
I can see where we will be going every day! Many thanks! I’m getting hungry already!😉
Paule