Des Arts

If you are visiting Amarante this is the best spot there is. Beautifully restored and designed interior with a great private cafe/bar overlooking the river. Forget the rail cycleway, just walk from hotel downstream to the aqua park, then uphill a little and back along the old railway line. Stop for lunch at Amarantinho Restaurant up the steep hill from the old Fregim railway station - just have what the locals are having - fantastic simple food and bargain prices

First of all let me say that in normal circumstances our Satnav would have found this hotel and car park easily, so you should have no concerns re this aspect of your stay. Unfortunately however, we arrived at the beginning of the town’s two day festival, and the poor Satnav tried its best but couldn’t cater for the various temporary no entry signs and one way systems that had been put in place. Eventually, not having a clue where to go, I stopped and asked a policeman who got into his patrol car and got us to follow him. Even his route came to a stop at no entry barrier, but he simply got the duty policeman to shift the barrier and let us through. The police car got us to the hotel and left us to it. The next problem was how to get the car parked, and a nice young chap from reception got into the car with me and directed me to the parking lot behind the hotel; so thanks to two fine Amarante locals for looking after us. What a lovely welcome to the town. The hotel itself is centrally located, just a hundred yards or so from the beautiful, old pedestrian bridge. As I’ve already mentioned, check in was efficient and very friendly. Our room is a superior twin room with river and garden view and is very nice in a modern way. It is quite small by “superior” standards but is comfortable and clean, with a small balcony area and access to the roof garden. There is ample hanging storage, but no drawers, but I guess living out of a suitcase for a couple of days isn’t a problem. The en-suite is beautifully designed and features two very attractive sinks, a super shower and good quality toiletries. Breakfast can be taken in the bar or the outside terrace and is very good. In addition to a splendid selection of fruits, cheeses, cold meats, breads and cake we were offered some scrambled eggs which was a welcome surprise and very tasty. A previous reviewer mentioned that the coffee was incredibly weak - and it certainly was on the first morning. On the second morning however it was very strong, so I guess it just depends on who is on coffee making duty on any particular day. As we had been warned when checking in, the two day festival is a noisy affair that goes on, through the night, until about 6 in the morning. As such, we had a certain amount of disturbance but, overall, we were really glad to have been in Amarante during the festival, which was great fun. In summary - this is a lovely hotel in an ideal location in a really nice town. The staff were all fabulous and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We would certainly use this hotel again.