Carmo Apartments

The neighborhood is great, but on weekend nights, Thursday through Saturday, two nearby nightclubs and the busy pedestrian street are very loud. The apartment is compact but efficiently laid out. The bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living space worked for two, though I can't imagine four staying comfortably. The kitchen is basic but adequate, and the refrigerator is quite large. The flat could use a few inexpensive improvements. The so-called dining table is an old drafting table, and putting two stools there means banging your knees on the braces and drawer underneath. There is room for a coffee table in front of the sofa, but none, and there's only one end table. The bedding is poor: the pillows are small, about 18 inches or 45 cm square, and flat. The cover is thin too, so we were both chilly the first night until we got the heating set to a comfortable temperature. For hanging clothes, there are only a couple of shaky bars suspended from chains in the bedroom and a bamboo ladder leaning in the bathroom. Hooks or bars and a small wardrobe or proper clothing rail would work much better. The bedside outlets are taken up by lamps, so bring a power bar or outlet cube if you need to charge devices. The place is damp, and our towels and sweaty clothes wouldn't dry. It always smelled musty when we returned at the end of the day. None of this is a deal breaker, but for a decent flat in an upscale area, the owner should pay attention to these details. It wouldn't cost much and would make a big difference.