M'AR De AR Muralhas

Our room was spacious, nicely decorated, and very comfortable. The bed was great, especially the pillows. We were upgraded from a City View to a Garden View, which we appreciated, though either one would have been fine. We only spent one night at Hotel M’Ar de Ar Muralhas, in January, and couldn't use the pool, but I can picture it being lovely in warmer weather. We wished we could have stayed longer and will return to Évora. The hotel was better than we expected for the price, with comfortable, beautifully designed reception, lounge, and bar areas where we could settle in right away. Its location is handy for walking to the best restaurants and sights. Breakfast was good, though the buffet wasn't especially remarkable and the staff could have been quicker to refill things. A fantastic stay.

The city center location was convenient, and having a parking garage meant we didn’t have to drive through a lot of small streets. But the room was miserable. It looked cute when we checked in early evening, though it did seem geared toward kids. It was still about 90 degrees outside, and the room was already warm, so I turned up the AC before we went to dinner. When we got back around 10 p.m., it was even hotter and the AC wasn’t blowing cold air. The front desk offered to send someone, but after 20 minutes we called again because nobody had shown up. Someone eventually came, fiddled with the settings, and said the AC was out across our whole wing. He suggested opening a window, but with temperatures over 90 and no fan or other way to circulate air, that wasn’t much help. The hotel offered nothing for the trouble, and we were uncomfortable all night and the next morning. The shower spray was partly broken and coming off the wall, too. We left as quickly as we could. It’s hard to recommend a hotel that wouldn’t even offer a complimentary breakfast after all that.

The hotel is ideally placed, so you can walk everywhere in the city. The rooms were comfortable, but noise carried from other rooms and you could hear everything. Breakfast was mediocre at best, with very few worthwhile options. The pancakes were stale, there was no yogurt, and the coffee wasn't good. The scrambled eggs and bread were fine, but there still wasn’t much with protein.

The staff were gracious, though not particularly friendly. The rooms are huge, but old and in need of upkeep, and the hotel seems to be remodeling for the next few years through 2030, according to the signs. Its location inside the city walls is perfect for walking to all the sights. The plaza at the front, or whatever that area is, was extremely ugly, dirty, and full of construction debris.