Pangsapuri di São Martinho

Rating 0/5 - Exceptions to this RATING - Are the polite & extremely helpful Jessica @ the front desk & Andre the Rooms Manager who went out of their respective ways to meet any requirements needed. Firstly, my reservation was booked 2 months prior yet NO NOTIFICATION that the Hotel name & brand had changed a couple weeks prior. With a few street signs & the massive New Name signage on the hotel marquis , I was not notified of the NH Re- Branding. I was told that ALL guests were notified of this Change of Corporate Re- Branding . When I explain this to the Day front Desk Manager his reply was nothing they can do as it all comes from Head Office (poor apology ). I checked all previous correspondence & no such emails were received by me despite being assured that notifications were sent to all arriving guests! After an 8 hour flight from Toronto Canada & driving past the hotel 3 times up & down one way streets, finally parked & asked where is the Tivoli Sintra Hotel? I was directed in its direction. Jessica @ the front desk walked back with me to my car ( got in with my wife & I ) & guided us through the streets to the hotel. Wonderful ! Andre was most attentive & any request was followed through with the expertise & care of a 5 star manager (a hand written note expressing his desire to be of service should we require anything) was in our room . COMMENDABLE! Now my rating is based not on these two wonderful caring staff But the other staff & room encounters. The shower head kept falling down on the bar so could only be used by hand . The evening front desk manager came to the room & apologizing said it would be repaired in the morning, still not corrected by next day. I asked for 4 towels as the shower floor was soaking wet ( said could give us ONLY 2 ) from the ill functioning shower-head, also the sink faucet spout that spewed water over the entire area (poor design) choice. The house maid came & cleaned entire bathroom that evening so we could still use it the next day - lovely lady despite no English we gestured what was required and she met our expectations. The following day we went @9:30 pm for a late light dinner. After being seated by a bus boy who did not provide us with table settings, we waited 10 minutes as the Waiter walked by us twice with no acknowledgment as to our presence (saying he would be with us momentarily would have been considerate). He proceeded to serve another table 3 feet from us, who were asking for additional drinks as they were obviously there for some time dining. We finally got up from the table & in dismay the waiter looked at us. We stated that being ignored & as guests of the hotel were upset with this level of disrespect & lack of hospitality professionalism. Lastly, I had sent an email at the time of booking advising of this being a special 70 th Birthday trip for my wife, to the hotel Manager that any niceties that could be offered would be appreciated. Not even a note ! As I am writing this in our Fig

The most perfect palacio in Sintra. Excellent location. Excellent service and very friendly staff from reception, restaurant, housekeeping to management. A location full of history, in Sintra yet very quiet and private. Great rooms, excellent beds. Outstanding food.

This is very nice hotel but not a 5-star. More inline with a 3-star one if you need a reference. The public areas do look historical but are worn out and in need up some repairs. Same goes with the rooms. While the rooms we had were clean they are in need of some updates. They do not look luxurious for sure. The bed was OK but not the best. The baths are not so inviting. It was not all bad though. We had rooms with balconies that faced a nice garden. Very peaceful and enjoyable. The front staff were great. Friendly and helpful. We had great discussions about Sintra and local life there. They made good recommendations for restaurant and followed up to make sure we enjoyed our experience. However, our experience at breakfast was not the same. The girl who worked there was unfriendly and unaccommodating. She did not seem too happy to work there. The location of the hotel is ideal. Close to the town center and the historical sites. One hint if you are going to get a ride (e.g. Uber or Bolt) to Pena Palace or Moorish Castle from the hotel is to go to the town center to initiate the ride. The front lady told us to walk to the bus/taxi stop next to the hotel. While the ride services do stop there, the palace and castle are not in that (one-way) direction. The driver had to take a detour around the hills back to town and then take the correct road to your destination. This took around 1-hour (on top of 15 minutes it took to get a driver). We almost missed our allocated time slot. If we would have taken the 5-minute walk to town center, the trip would have taken less than half of that time. This does not apply to Monserrate Palace and Quinta da Regaleira. It is the best to take the ride to those two from the bus stop next to the hotel. Quinta da Regaleira is walking distance in that direction anyway but it's an uphill walk. Walk it back even if you take a ride to go there since it is going to take more than hour to get back to hotel if you choose to take a ride service/taxi back from Quinta da Regaleira while it is only a 10-minute downhill walk back.

I knew it was madness even to drive TO Sintra. But the hotel was very helpful in trying to help me manage the downsides of coming by car. They advised I park the car immediately and use Ubers, taxis, or TukTuk to get around locally. Check! They had awkward, but OK off-site parking in an enclosed lot a few minutes walk from the hotel. Not great! The keypad activated door closed with us inside the lot. One [70+] person had to climb over the enclosure wall to let the others out! [No keypad inside the lot!! Bad!!] Then later trying to return to the hotel by car to pick up luggage was a horror! Though only a 5-minute walk from lot to hotel, it was almost a 20-minute drive on insane one-way systems back. The hotel itself was delightful. Staff very helpful. Location very convenient. If only we hadn't had a car!

We had a great time during our 5 night stay at the Vila Gale Sintra. I’ll start with the pros of the resort. The property itself is beautiful. The pools, the scenery around the hotel are amazing. The family room layout was great for us. It was essentially what appeared to be what used to be two rooms combined into one. The large balcony was great for sitting out at night. The sunset was spectacular from our room. The kids activities were great as my kids got to enjoy the carousel, playground and trampoline park. Be aware though that they only open these at certain times throughout the day. The breakfast was great and had a ton of selections. There were a few cons, the first was the buffet dinner. It was quite expensive at 29 euros per person and the options werent great. They only really had one meat and one fish that they were cooking and there was a line to wait in if you wanted it. We only ate dinner there the first night. The room was partially refurbished. The carpet looked older and the sliding door within the room kept coming off the tracks. And the bathroom was a little odd in that the vanity was open to the rest of the room. So if someone needed to use the lights for it they would light potentially wake up the person in the room if they were sleeping. Then the WiFi, while it worked well for the most part, kept having to reconnect to the network. This happened on both my phone and iPad several times each day while I was there. The location of the hotel has its pluses and minuses. It is a quiet resort away from the city of Sintra. And it’s also located in a place that makes it easy to get to the beach and Colares. But there isn’t anything else right around the hotel so you need to rent a car or take an Uber to get around. We took and Uber and it did work pretty well. Nothing is within walking distance and the nearest bus stop is a 20-30 minute walk away.

This is a perfect little spot for being a few blocks to the center of Sintra, yet a little off as to not get all the noise. The hostess here, Dulce, is a very kind, caring woman. My phone fell into the sink and stopped working. I travel alone and had no information to my next place. Dulce took the time to sit with me, let me use her personal phone and assured me that everything would be okay. She did absolutely everything she could for me. This is the place you want to stay if you are traveling alone and need assistance within daytime hours. Not sure about night but I am confident they would help within their capability. Please note, the houses are very old and you can hear the people above you. There was an elephant staying above me so, PLEASE be aware of the people below when you walk across the room. Or ask for a top floor ~ all stairs. I also wish there was a small fridge in the room. Overall, an excellent place to stay with caring people there to welcome you and bid you farewell. I would highly recommend staying here if not having a fridge isn't an issue.

My wife and I stayed for three nights at the start of March and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The location is great: easy to find and a 3-minute walk from the main square in the historic centre but nonetheless in a very quiet area. We booked the ‘suite with private terrace and balcony’ which was huge and exactly as pictured on the website, clean and bright with lovely large windows and patio doors. Because the house sits on a hill, the room was at ground level at the front but at first floor level at the rear and it was reassuring that, I assume for security reasons, the windows accessible from the street could not be opened. The room had a large TV with Netflix available. Water pressure in the bathroom was very good and lovely soap, shampoo and conditioner were provided. (The only watch out is the water pressure can easily blow out the shower curtain, so water ends up on the bathroom floor. Still, you only make that mistake once.) The breakfast was buffet style and taken in the kitchen or the room next to it and it does feel like you’re in a family house. The food was lovely, with hot scrambled eggs, beans and sausages, along with coffee, juice, toast and pastries, cereals etc. available. They also make snacks, wine and beer available in the kitchen overnight and operate this on an honesty-book basis. This is really convenient if you’re really tired after a day of sightseeing. The host Karen was really welcoming, friendly and helpful, as was her assistant Bianca (who we saw most of as she seemed to be receptionist, housekeeper, chef, waitress etc, all rolled into one!) This is a guest house rather than a hotel so bear that in mind for the level of services - there’s no 24 reception for example. However Karen is accessible by WhatsApp and she replied quickly when we had a question about car parking on Saturday evening. We arrived by train (less than an hour from central Lisbon and dirt cheap - about €3) and the walk from the station is easy along pleasant roads and takes about 15 minutes. We got a hire car part way through our stay and used the car parking token (payable) from the guest house for parking in the Old Town. Even though visiting in low season, we were very lucky to find a space so plan carefully if you are intending to drive to the historic centre of Sintra. It’s also worth noting that Sintra has its own microclimate with relatively high humidity which means it can feel quite damp and there is often a lot of cloud and mist, even in summer. (Anyone with a respiratory condition might want to do some research.) Given the time of year we visited, this meant our room felt quite cold whenever we arrived but the air con unit was effective and warmed it up very quickly. Also, even though there is modern double glazing, there can still be some condensation on the windows in the morning so don’t leave things on the windowsill overnight as they could get damp. All in all, we had a lovely stay in the town of Sintra and in Sintra 1012, a

We stayed here after we couldn’t find anything in Sintra with parking. Owner very helpful but the common room is furnished with old furniture so smells very musty. We were taken downstairs to our room as we descended the stairs the damp smell started. The room was big but soooo damp smelling I didn’t unpack for fear of everything smelling. The bed was comfy but during the night I could feel my pyjamas were absorbing the wetness of the damp. I opened windows but the whole room was just damp , the shower is in the room just open so no privacy but the towels smelt damp so I didn’t bother. Can’t wait to get to my next hotel to shower and get rid of the smell. Plug ins have been used to try and mask the smell but this makes it worse.