NH Hotel Porto Jardim

The staff were the best part, all of them kind and happy to help with anything. The rooms were beautiful and had everything we needed. It’s about five minutes from the city centre, but there’s no city noise around the hotel. After a day out, the garden was a perfect quiet spot for a drink. I highly recommend it.

We were given a small room on the fourth floor even though I’d paid extra for a larger superior room. The air conditioning didn’t work either, and the room became unbearably hot. I called reception and was told someone would come, but nobody did. When I went down to complain and asked for a larger room, they suddenly found us one on the fifth floor. It was bigger and looked suspiciously like the room I’d paid for. That was a rough start to the week. The staff weren’t very helpful overall. The one time they did make an effort was for our anniversary, when they brought a bottle of fizz and a tray of snacks, which was nice. But one staff member came across as very disingenuous. She’d assigned us the smaller room, then found the right one after I complained. When my wife asked about the rooms, she said they were both the same superior type. Asked why we hadn’t been given the bigger one from the start, she said rooms were pre-allocated. We didn’t believe her. The rooftop pool is a small plunge pool, and there’s no bar upstairs, though you can call the bar for drinks. Breakfast was okay, with the made-to-order omelettes as the best part. The hotel is about a 10-minute walk from the places you want to visit, which isn’t bad, but we had to work out the shortcuts ourselves. Because of how we were treated at check-in, we wouldn’t stay again. Anyone who does should check that they’ve been given the room they paid for.

The breakfast service was the one part I’d steer clear of. Dishes were left empty, even simple things like spoons weren’t available, and other guests seemed annoyed. There are plenty of better and cheaper breakfast spots nearby. Apart from that, I highly recommend the hotel. The location worked well for us, and the enclosed outdoor space was a restful place to sit after a day of sightseeing. Most of the staff were terrific, especially Goncalo and Claudio in the lobby restaurant, whose help and recommendations we really appreciated. We had a wonderful time.

Gabriel at the front desk was excellent at booking restaurants for us. At the hotel restaurant, Joana Santos, Claudio, and Rogerio were always a pleasure to talk with and very helpful. The whole team works hard, including many people guests may never see, and the hotel wouldn’t run without them. NH Porto Jardim is a lovely place to stay.