Riversuites

We felt right at home in this small, clean and authentic hotel, thanks to the extremely friendly, helpful staff. They told us about a francesinha festival right in the park, an easy five-minute walk away, and we loved that too. We'd love to come back someday.

The room was basic but had a comfortable bed, air conditioning and a good shower. It's a small hotel in a row of restaurants. There's free parking in a public car park about five minutes away on foot. I only dealt with the receptionist, who was friendly, helpful and spoke good English.

The street outside is noisy, and the breakfast coffee is instant. Still, it's not expensive by Coimbra standards, and the old town is less than a 10-minute walk away. The bedrooms and bathrooms were very clean, and the windows had good double glazing. Reception staff were very nice and helpful, with very good English.

The room was spacious, though the bathroom felt cramped, and there was no coffee or tea in the room. We were in building 1, which has no elevator. Building 2 does have one, but you can only get between the buildings at ground level. Staff offered to carry our bags up and down the steps and were quite insistent about it. The location seems great in theory, but students were partying across the street all night while we were there. Even on the top floor, we kept hearing thumps and bumps that seemed to come from above, and the fire alarm went off at 2 am. After two nights of bad sleep, I was glad to leave. Maybe the hotel would be fine in another room another time.