Hotel Rural Solar das Arcadas

There were plenty of loungers around the inviting saltwater pool. Our room was a good size, with space to move around, and it was very clean, with crisp sheets, its own air conditioning, and good shower pressure. The staff were friendly, and breakfast offered lots of choice. A very nice, quaint place.

The views out to nature are beautiful and the surroundings are extremely quiet. The beds were comfortable, too. I wouldn't really call it a hotel, since it doesn't have the usual hotel characteristics. What bothered me was the shower: regulating the temperature was so difficult that having a shower was almost impossible. Some rooms are also close enough to the laundry that you can hear the washing and drying machines, so ask for a room farther away.

The hotel seemed peaceful, but when an ordinary problem came up, it became a much bigger incident because the emergency contacts didn't work. Everything may seem fine when nothing goes wrong, but if it does, you're on your own. Around 5 a.m. the fire alarm went off. Nobody from the hotel came to deal with it, so we followed the emergency board and went to the assembly point. We called the listed emergency number repeatedly without an answer, and had to call the firefighters ourselves. They checked that everyone was okay, then went inside and confirmed there was no fire. They still couldn't access the fire control panel, which was inside the building and unreachable. Nearly an hour later, one firefighter finally got through to the hotel's main number, which we'd also tried without success. The person responsible said she'd taken some pills and fallen into a deep sleep. Around 6:30, staff began arriving for work, and the person in charge showed up too, asking us, “What have you done?!” We expected the manager to say they were sorry. There was no formal apology, and the hotel carried on as if nothing had happened. They have my email but haven't even sent a brief apology. We're not upset that the alarm sounded at 5 a.m.; it did its job. We're angry about how the hotel handled the incident and its guests. Unacceptable.

A pleasant rural lodge by the Lima River in northern Portugal, with everything you need to switch off.