A Lagosta Perdida

Robert was friendly, helpful, and a very good cook. Breakfast was simple but filling, while dinner was a real feast. He also has a big collection of maps and plenty of hiking advice for the area. The house is lovely, the rooms are wonderful, and the pool area out back is great.

The village felt like a medieval time capsule to someone as urban as me. It's tiny, with only 35 permanent residents, and very cute. The hotel has been beautifully restored, keeping the appealing historic architecture while offering a good level of comfort. Robert takes real pride in the place, and it's refreshing and inspiring to see. He's a fantastic host, kind, interesting, and highly professional, with skills well beyond being a jack of all trades. Dinner was a feast, the music was nice, and the hotel is very well cared for. The WiFi could be better. For rural accommodation it's still pretty good, though anyone from the hotel might want to look at TP-Link Mesh WiFi sets, which are inexpensive and could make it perfect.

We felt at home the whole time. Robert was a wonderful host, and Montezinho is such a lovely place to stay, switch off, and recharge. Beautiful and a little magical.

We loved the nature park and Montesinho, but a Lagosta Perdida was a disappointing example of poor management and unprofessional behavior. The village has almost no dining options, so you end up eating at the inn. Both meals we had were mediocre: roasted chicken and potatoes for dinner, then yogurt and a croissant for breakfast. The remodeled stone house was charming and well kept, but we ran into several problems during our one-night stay. There was no hot water or heat overnight. When I raised it, the couple running the place was very rude and made all kinds of excuses. After that, the service turned indifferent and they ignored us. We went on a long hike after breakfast, and when we came back for our luggage, the place was locked. We had to slip in through the kitchen to reach our room, and couldn't see either of the two workers. Shouldn't they have called to let us know the place would be closed? Montesinho is a charming village in a nature park in northern Portugal.