Costa & Isaias Apartamentos

I’m puzzled by the high rating. Maybe I was simply unlucky, but our stay was a bad experience. The owner was nice, the apartments are near the centre, and there’s a car park. Beyond that, things were in poor shape, especially for what we paid, and the service wasn’t good. The apartment was dark and uncomfortable, with old, poor quality furniture and damaged bathroom doors from moisture. The beds were uncomfortable and too hot for the weather. There was no AC, and the place got really hot. A boiler in the bedroom made a lot of noise. The café beside the apartments stayed noisy late into the night, making it hard to sleep, especially when it was already so hot. Some basic things weren’t right either. We were given torn towels, and there weren’t enough dishes for an apartment that could sleep seven: only three forks, four plates, and six knives, and the plates were all dessert size. Room service didn’t wash the dirty dishes. The toilet was damaged and noisy both during and after use, and its bathroom door wouldn’t close. We also couldn’t lock the main door from inside because the lock had melted inside. One window was broken and wouldn’t shut. The owner fixed it immediately when we mentioned it, but it shouldn’t have been broken in the first place. The apartment was in bad condition and uncomfortable. I wouldn’t come back.

The inside was decent apart from the mold, which was the biggest problem. There were patches of black mold that smelled bad and could spread. They would clean one room if you asked, but not all of them. There’s no dishwasher, and the Wi-Fi kept glitching and couldn’t handle the phones of four or five people. The place says there’s a complaint book, but there wasn’t one. Black mold looks like little black dots, and it stinks.

The room was clean, pleasant and inexpensive, and the centre is close by. The people were very friendly and helpful. A perfect place to stay.

Good enough for a place to sleep, with reasonable prices. The city centre is about a 10 minute walk away.