Forrester Essence Douro Hotel, Alijó, Douro — Hotel in Alijó

The hotel interior was tired and dated. The rooms were clean but the bathroom was shabby. The coffee machine did not work and neither did the heating.||The worst part was the service at dinner. We were booked in at 8.15 but on arrival (although two tables were free) we were asked to wait in the bar for 5 minutes. We waited 45 minutes before we were invited to our table. During this time we were not offered anything to drink. We sat at our table for 35 minutes without a menu or offer of drink before a tray of olives, cheeses, bread etc arrived. Our complimentary glasses of wine were eventually brought to our table by the maitre D. Every drink ordered by the customers had to be brought from the bar 30 metres away by the maitre D. ||The meal was mediocre with melon and prosciutto to start, a rice and prawn dish ( which was very tasty) and a piece of cheese cake which appeared to be heated in a microwave. ||The buffet style breakfast was really good. ||The receptionist doubled as one of 3 waitresses. Many people including a Portuguese couple, who were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary and were declined a glass of champagne, thought the service was very unprofessional. ||I have complained to Douro cruises who organised the night’s...

When we arrived we were given room 201. This was a standard room and in accordance with our booking (booked via a travel agency in connection with our hiking week in the Douro Valley). The room was OK albeit a little dark. No balcony, but only few rooms at the Pousada have one. So not unexpected. But upon enquiry with reception for an extra charge of 10 Euro a night we got room 104, which was a much bigger room, with a lot of character, and probably with the best balcony of all the rooms. It made our stay so much more enjoyable. The shower was a little strange, but it worked, and the towels were really big (always a plus in my book).||We stayed two nights and had dinner in the restaurant one of the nights. Excellent food and really good and professional service – and very reasonably priced.||Smooth check-in, very friendly reception staff.||Our booking included lunch packages for our hikes each day, and these were very nice and included plastic containers with a nice fresh salat. Much appreciated.||This hotel was the only one during our hiking week that provided paper tissues. The only thing we missed in the room was an...

Calm place on an historic building. The place was cozy but still has many points to improve. It tries to keep up with the prestige of Pousadas de Portugal but does not quite achieve. Small details makes the stay not that memorable. The food is in fact of high quality and the staff friendly. But the serving still needs a lot of improvement. To make things uncomfortable on my own experience is a difference on handling the clients according the nationality (or maybe age). Knowing there are no available tables outside to be reserved yet afterwards a non-portuguese client was able to get his table reserved outside. Or when a waiter was trying to serve a white wine and went to get some glasses the room responsible replied to her to serve on the red wine glasses. While giving the 3 glasses scheme to other tables. I felt that they were doing me a favor by serving. These small things did not impair my enjoyment of a weekend on the Douro, yet it hindered the quality of my stay on...