Hotel Vila As Pedras

We hope to return and use this place as a base for exploring more of the region. The staff were kind and friendly, and the restaurant was truly incredible. We stayed two nights in this old house, which dates to 1815. With its solid stone walls and heavy wood, it’s remarkably well maintained. Our room was very clean and spacious. We chose the larger three-person room even though we were a couple, and it worked well.

The food was honestly some of the nicest I’ve ever had. Staff were attentive, patient and really helpful, and Fatima was always smiling. We only stayed one night, but the room was excellent, with exposed ceiling beams and old stone walls throughout. Room and board was ridiculously cheap compared with some other hotels I’ve stayed in. One of the best.

This stay was genuinely upsetting. We’d planned to be there only a few hours before an early flight, and told the owner at check-in that we’d be leaving at 3AM so he could take payment right away. He got angry about our early departure, saying our suitcases would wake the other guests. He made us feel so unwelcome and uncomfortable that we really thought he wanted us to leave. The room itself was also very uncomfortable. The mattress was hard, the sheets and blankets were poor quality, and the ceilings in both the room and bathroom were so low that my partner hit his head several times. It was hot, with no air conditioning, and the bathroom tap gave off an unbearable rotten smell. The walls were so thin we could hear someone snoring in one room and a TV in another.

The owner is a chef, and the food was fantastic, with a broad menu and everything beautifully prepared. We stayed a few nights just before the place had to close for the pandemic. It’s a charming little rural manor house converted into a boutique hotel.