Suite vista Castelo

What a disappointing experience this was. Advertised as an apartment on VRBO with a price to match; upon check in we discovered it was a room in an apartment with a shared kitchen and a shared rooftop terrace. The kitchen doesn’t have a hob, only an oven and a microwave. There are no bowls, so good luck if you want to eat soup or yoghurt. The only cutting board is a piece of plastic so ragged that it is a health and safety hazard. Our room’s door was also its only window and directly on the terrace. So if any of the other guests decide to have a smoke, a drink, or a bbq on the terrace, you have to try to sleep in their noise and smoke. As the door was the window too, we couldn’t lock it at night if we wanted any fresh air in the room. On top of that, the terrace was littered with old tat and there were cigarette butts in the plant pots. The bed has a saggy old mattress, the bathroom smelled of sewage and had exactly one towel hook - positioned right over the toilet brush. The ‘castle view’ means that you need to stand at the far end of the terrace and almost need binoculars to spot a piece of castle wall beside an ugly modern building. When we complained to the owner about the misleading advertising, rather than apologising for the miscommunication she just kept repeating that the ad said that the kitchen and terrace are shared, even though we have screen shots that prove that that isn’t true. What was meant to be a relaxing vacation became a source of stress.

From the time we walked to the rooftop room we were impressed and excited to stay. The staff were very friendly and helpful and made our stay effortless. Everything was extremely clean and the kitchen roomy and functional. Highly recommend.