BestVillas Casa do Rio

Great location though uphill. Noise minimal in spite of a central area beside trains.

Nicely decorated, all provisions supplied. Check in could have been better. I was contacted before travelling on WhatsApp to provide our passport details which i thought was unusual. Sent 2, 1 remained as I did not have access to third person’s passport . Anyway sent third one one Sunday morning to same WhatsApp number. There was no message to tell me the person doesn’t work on Sundays and no alternative number provided. We were left at the gates trying to contact numbers on booking.com and the lady on WhatsApp who contacted me before, with no replies. Finally the cleaner came who was very kind and put me through to another lady on alternative number so we could check in. There should have been better communication regarding availability on Sundays and through booking.com than personal WhatsApps. After that everything went smoothly and we enjoyed our stay.

Absolutely incredible location, I woke up every day and sat with my morning coffee on the balcony and watched the crowds below navigate the bridge and streets. We arrived during the Festival of St John and essentially had front row seats to the fireworks show on the bridge. Despite the crowds, the windows do a good job of blocking out the worst of the noise. The AC was very welcome as it was sweltering when we arrived too. The hosts had some snacks and drinks waiting for us when we arrived which was very kind. Walking down to the riverfront to access restaurants etc was very easy. I stayed in the attic room which has its own bathroom so I didn't need to keep climbing up and down the spiral staircase to use the facilities.

The attic is definitely reduced height, which you get used to after a day or so and it can even be pretty neat to poke your head out the roof windows, but I did certainly bump my head a couple of times on the lintel of the bathroom door up there.

La ubicacion.

The location is excellent.

We followed the instructions to open the doors but they were minimally explained and somewhat confusing. The front door was so tight so we had to kick it open after calling the manager. There were 6 of us and a person stayed in the attic unfortunately hit his head 3 times. The smell of cleaning agent was too overwhelming to me. Also, the bathroom sink drain was badly clogged and the sink filled with water.