Casa da Mata SurfHouse — Hotel in Almada

First of all let me say that Tomas is a lovely host and he's very helpful and attentive. The facilities were clean but they were however not adequate or as described. The bathroom is a shared bathroom and the house holds 3 or 4 couples, so this was often very crowded and led to many delays when we were trying to get somewhere. Breakfast consists of cornflakes, bread rolls which I feel is not very good value for money, or accurately represented in the description. There are also 3 dogs on site, and while I love dogs and liked fussing them, they were very noisy through out the night. (They could maybe just use some training. They are otherwise very friendly) The walls are extremely thin and you can hear everything- definitely not ideal for a couple. If you're a surfer looking for a cheap place to stay, I'm sure this would be ideal as the beach is a few minutes down the road, but we were under the impression this was a hotel style place and it is not. If you are wanting to see Lisbon like we were, learn from our mistakes and book a hotel IN Lisbon as Costa da caparica is, yes cheaper, but very out of the way (even though it doesn't seem that far distance wise) and in the long run we actually spent more money than if we'd paid more for a hotel in the city as we had to rent bikes to get to the ferry, then pay for the ferry itself, as well as taxis when the transport system...

Unless you want to sleep in a barely finished dirty dorm room, with thin mattresses on the floor.. then this is the place with you. Bathrooms were awful! Kitchen was disgusting with a little lizard in the sink (forgot to save the picture), door doesn't lock, about 3 hours into our stay 3 strangers came to the dorms and woke us up.. couldn't fall back asleep because of the non stop snoring from them, the loud hosts who were right outside of the thin walls, and their dogs who barked the whole time!! We left mid night because we couldn't take it anymore. While we were walking out we got the cold stares even after we told them we had to leave to go to the airport. Ignorant hosts who don't even make you feel welcome!! I recommend ANYWHERE else but here! Slept in the car which was 100x quieter and safer than those sketchy bunk beds that you have to share with COMPLETE strangers! Save your money because they're "cash only" and don't even have a damn sign...

I loved it! The hostel is just amazing and so cozy. Janine is very helpful and kind, as well as the other staff. The people who stayed their as well became friends. There are a lot of good surfing schools and in the evening you can either hang out at the hostel or go out for dinner. The breakfast was as well very good and nearly every morning a pastry van is coming along and you can treat yourself with a lot of good sweet stuff. I enjoyed it to the last second.

The reason I give 4 out of 5 is because of the toilet and shower, both are outside near the shared places people hang around and i think it is not enough for so many people staying there and I would like to have the feeling to be more separated from others while using...