Hotels near Pelourinho de Ponte da Barca, Ponte da Barca

We were in awe of this home. So much to explore and so much history! Loved the thick granite walls and original wooden doors/shutters with hardware, antiques and displays everywhere, beautiful view, and even a pool. It is situated in a quaint little area by a church and you can easily walk down to the river. The area around Ponte da Barca is absolutely beautiful and fun to explore. The hosts are very friendly and offered a lovely breakfast.

We picked this location as we were going to a music festival nearby and taking odd days to explore the area…in between we were hoping to chill by the pool. How disappointed were. The plastic tree that greets you in the reception, is a pretty good representation of what you are going to get…Fake, this place is soulless and fake, but what makes it worse, it’s “tired fake”. From the dirty grubby carpets and chairs, black scuff marks on the once clean white walls and the cheap Italian style melamine furniture now chipped exposing its self for what it really is .. cheap coated chipboard. The first night we booked a table for dinner, on our way out we thought we’d have a drink in the bar first. The bar was empty of customers and bar staff so we made our way to the restaurant. The food was so bad it was comical. The tenderloin I ordered was so tough it should have been served with a chainsaw on the side. Breakfast the next morning was the same odd, awkward experience. But one thing we did realise they were actually other people staying at the hotel, not couples as you’d expect in a spa hotel but large families with lots of kids. We made our way out for the day. On our return we thought we we have a few hours buy the pool, .not possible, the pool was full of screaming children. So next option, sit on the balcony with a drink.. the balcony walls had black mold on them and the wooden deck was almost rotten and didn’t feel safe. Anyway below you had more screaming kids playing ball games. The 2nd morning we woke up and noticed that the 2 coffee pods that we had on the first morning hadn’t been replaced, I asked at reception on the way out and was told I need to pay an extra 1€ per pod after the first night.? Also the shower gel and shampoo were not replenished after the 3rd day I had to go to reception again and ask for them. I could go on… basically this place made us miserable, so miserable we changed our flight home at extra cost and checked out 2 days earlier than we were booked in for, losing the money for those last 2 nights. I would not recommend staying here.

Honestly everything was perfect. The room, the breakfast, the staff, the spa. The only thing I would ask you to change for next time would be the lack of places to hang the different towels in the bathroom. The two “dot” like hangers made more sense to be used for the bath robes but it this case they had to be used for the robes and the hand drying towels. For towels it would make much more so have a horizontal bar rather than those dots. And for shower rug there was no place whatsoever for us to hang it. We had to resort to the sink pipe under the sink itself and since it was a short pipe it would never dry. Sorry for the towel rant but that’s the only criticism I have.

The hotel is located in the heart of the city centre, the hotel is located in the heart of the city centre. They should celebrate events in the chapel that is spectacular in a unique environment

Great location, service, care and attention both at reception and in the restaurant. Good organization so there is no inconvenience of lack of tables at breakfast. Excellent breakfast. Definitely an experience to be repeated and recommended.