Boutique Hotel Praia Maria

Praia’s designated pedestrian street is right outside, so it’s easy to walk everywhere, and breakfast at the restaurant comes with lovely sidewalk seating. The building has a special historic feel, though most windows look into an inner courtyard. Two rooms do have outside-facing windows, available on request. Rooms and shared areas were clean and comfortable. I took off a star because the Wi-Fi was unreliable in my room, though it worked better in the common areas. There’s no coffee service at the hotel, and the breakfast restaurant doesn’t open until 8am. Still, this boutique hotel is in a wonderful spot and worth considering in Praia.

The location is great, and they did find me a taxi at the last minute at 1am. The stay itself was rough. At 9pm my room still wasn’t ready, something I haven’t run into in 42 countries. I was assigned two rooms during the stay: the first flooded completely because of a blocked drain, while the second smelled odd and had a faulty AC with its wing stuck. With those problems, it would have helped to have staff who spoke English, since sorting them out was difficult. Breakfast is served across the road at a restaurant, with limited options.

The rooms were spotless, and the location is handy for a Praia stopover. Evenings can be noisy because restaurants nearby play music. Breakfast across the way was limited and service was slow.

The hotel was okay, though quite noisy. There was no water for the toilet in my room. I told the staff, but it wasn’t fixed while I was there.