Chalet Relogio Guesthouse

The owner, Jerome, was extremely unpleasant and rude. We had until 11:00 for checkout and offered to hand over the keys early so they could prepare the room, while we kept the car until the original checkout time. He took the keys and made us leave the parking because of supposed “maintenance,” even though parking was meant to be included with the room until 11:00. The room smelled, breakfast was mediocre and available for only a one-hour window. A bad experience. Update: Mr Jerome is lying in his reply. It was an extra 30-minute walk, and we still had 90 minutes before the original checkout time. Be careful, the parking scam mentioned below might be real.

The hot water didn’t work. We’d also paid extra for a room with a balcony, but when we got upstairs, there wasn’t one. When we asked the owner to refund the difference, he got aggressive and yelled that it wasn’t possible. We ended up staying because we had no other option. At checkout, we hadn’t read that we needed to move the car, so we went into town for half an hour. He called us more than ten times and threatened to call a tow truck to take the car away. In short, the owner’s rudeness ruined the stay, and his level of education left a lot to be desired. It’s much better to choose somewhere else than line the pockets of people like this.

You can see a castle as you walk out the door, which is a lovely feature of this guest house. The room was beautifully furnished, and the room itself seemed clean, but the en suite bathroom was a bit moldy around the bathtub and had hairs from previous guests on the shower curtain and inside the tub. It’s a little outside town, up a steep hill, so I wouldn’t call it easy to get around on foot. Sintra is steep all over, though. The room also wasn’t soundproof as the listing said. We heard people coming and going in the hallway all night. There’s no air conditioning or fan, and it got very hot at night even with the windows open. You do get a distant castle view with breakfast, but there are guest houses nearer town at the same price with cleaner rooms and better amenities. We moved to one of those after just one night at this Chalet.

Chalet Relogio is close to the tourist area but still very quiet, in the heart of a forest. I’d recommend it if you like a relaxed stay and the smell of an old house. The staff were really kind and the service was nice. I only wish breakfast changed a little from one morning to the next, though for two or three nights it’s just what you need.