Residencial Porto Novo

It’s an old-school, budget-friendly hotel in a good spot. Porto center is about five minutes away, and the restaurant area near the bridge is roughly ten minutes away. Just remember, you’re not staying at the Hilton. I’d definitely stay again.

If your priority is a cheap place to sleep in the middle of the tourist sights, this could work well for a group of students. Our room, number 102, turned out better than the booking photos made us fear: the beds and bedding were nice and clean. The WiFi was fine too. The bathroom worked, but wasn’t very clean, had some pubic hair, and its fan seemed stuck, so it got very steamy. There’s no AC, and the room got hot enough that we had to leave the window open. The hotel is on a busy main road leading to a bridge, so loud revving bikes and other traffic made noise all night. Rooms that don’t face the street might avoid that. It’s old-fashioned, and depending on who was working that day, staff could be uncaring or unkind. You have to ring the bell to get in and leave your keys at reception. They don’t take cards, so bring cash.

I didn’t even get to book. The receptionist was horrible and very rude to talk to. Every time she heard English, she’d hang up on us. Absurd.

For the price, it’s actually not bad. The facilities are quite old, but it’s clean and feels like staying in a local Portuguese home, which made it different from a chain hotel. Be careful with big luggage: although the photo showed an elevator, there are stairs from the ground floor up to the first floor where it starts. I had to carry my heavy case up when I arrived, though staff kindly carried it down at checkout. They only take cash and didn’t have enough coins for change. The woman was kind enough to let me check in first and pay later.