4/10 Poor
Verified traveler
Jul 24, 2018
More like a hotel room...
VRBO is supposed to mean vacation rental BY OWNER. Clearly, that was not the case. First, the four of us had to wait more than an hour outside the apartment for the manager of the rental business to come an open the door. He told us he has to manage 84 apartments... He gave us the keys, made us pay the last payment and left in a hurry. We never met the owner.
I didn't feel like I rented someone's home: it really felt like a two bedroom hotel room in the middle of Lisbon.
About the apartment... If you expect to cook for you family, forget it. It's not made for that. The kitchen is not equipped to really cook. The stovetop buttons don't work (worn out and loose) and there is no oven. There is a microwave and a coffee machine, that's about it. There is no space to store food! No pantry, no hidden closet, no space! No salt, no pepper, no oil, no sugar... Nothing. Again, it felt like in a hotel room. The bathroom is nice, but there was only one roll of paper for a family of four for three days... I had to go out on the first day to buy some...
There is no fan nor cooling system in the apartment. It was really hot and there was no way to cool the air but to open the unscreened front windows (I mean the street side windows...). So we had to choose between heat or car noise... Beds and mattresses were good however.
The surroundings: This is why I don't give this place only one star. It's well located in Alfama. Be ready to walk in narrow and rather steep streets. We walked a while with our luggage on the first day and I ruined my suitcase wheels by trying to get to the apartment. Sidewalks and streets were meant for people (and horses) to walk without luggages! Forget about driving in Alfama if you're not really used to having one inch loose on each side...
We found an amazing restaurant at 10 minutes walking distance as well as a few very nice boutiques close by.
Check-out: Be advised... The manager that does the check-in will take an authorization on your credit card as a security deposit. However, if he does not show up for check-out, as he did with us since we had to leave at 6:00 AM to catch our flight back, he will let the authorization expire by itself and this might take up to 15 days after check-out... I got a little worried after a week... The authorization expired and everything was ok, but the amount kept showing in my "approved amounts" and, after a week, I was wondering why. Well decorated, well situated 3 bed hotel room.
Verified traveler
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2018