Villa das Rosas

The gardens and pool gave the place a peaceful, beautiful feel, and the staff were kind and helpful. Our room was lovely as well. It's a little outside town, but the short walk was fine with us, and the quiet oasis made it worthwhile.

Paola, the manager who welcomed us, was responsive and professional, and housekeeping was excellent. The garden and pool are lovely. We had asked for a ground-floor room because my husband is handicapped, but we were given a first-floor room reached by 15 narrow steps, then 3 steep steps down to the bathroom. There was no option to move or upgrade. Room #8 felt cramped and stifling. My husband couldn't sleep with a draft coming through the skylight above his head. The lighting was inadequate, and there was a bulky, unnecessary chest of drawers instead of a small table. The skylight had a torn, shabby shade, and there were no towel hooks. The kettle's cable was so short it was almost unusable, and we had to improvise. These are all easy things to fix, and would make this room feel more worthy of the price and the Hotel's apparent level.

We ended up spending the night in our car after the owner turned us away. My sister-in-law had made a last-minute reservation for us while we were in Sintra celebrating their engagement. We kept the property updated about our arrival, but when we got there, we waited in the rain for a few minutes before anyone opened the gate. The owner arrived, spoke loudly and rudely to us, and pretty much kicked us out. I still don't understand what happened. I can't speak to the rooms, but the service was awful. If you take on a job, do it properly. I see I'm not the first person to have this kind of experience. At least he was honest enough to return my money. He's not a scammer, just extremely impolite.

Breakfast was good, with a buffet table, and there's parking on the premises. The Villa is close to the city centre, and the rooms have a nice style. It was a bit cold in winter, but there is AC. Hot water took a long time to arrive, though that wasn't a problem.