Hotel Senhora do Castelo — Hotel in Mangualde

PROS||- General cleanness: Everything just perfect when is about cleanness.||- Air conditioner in the bedroom: silent and efficient, despite to be a old device.||- Bedroom soundproofing: in fact it´s possible to heard the noise from the corridor, but from outside, because the hotel is on the top of a mountain and isolated, the nights are very silent. ||- Location: located in the top of the mountain, it´s silent, offering good views and easy, wide and free carpark.||- The exterior swimmingpool is just great, wide with a lot of green around. Also kids swimming pool available, tennis courts and changing facilities. There is also a interior pool.||- Price value: for the price it´s a decent clean hotel to relax for a few days. Winter or summer season. ||- Staff: very helpful and friendly. Exception one lady in the reception, was efficient but not very smiley. A blonde lady around 60´s.||||TO BE IMPROVED:||- Only 2 power outlets, one in the toilet and one in the room. Not enough for a double room on our days, with tablet PCs, smartphones, etc to be recharged.||- No minibar in the room, could be good to have one.||- No internet in the bedroom, only in the lobby. It´s free.||- The restaurant is a little expensive. If they decide to lower the prices even for a more "normal" meal/menu, most of the guest would had dinner in the hotel restaurant.||- Toilet: the amenities are very simple, I used my own shampoo. this must be improved.||- Breakfast: to me was ok, there´s croissants, white and brown bread, cheese, ham, yogurts, cakes, cereals, coffee, milk, espresso, tea, hot chocolate and some canned fruit. But no hot food available. This can be a bad point for some guests.||- Tv channels available: just a few and portuguese on a very small and old tv, to me is ok because i didn´t spent too much time watching tv.||- The bar in the swimming pool is not well managed, limited offer and sometimes closed during the working hours of the swimming pool||||CONS||- The water temperature in the shower are not permanent, always changing also the flow of water, sometime very weak, even only on second floor where was my room. This is the thing that annoyed me more during the stay.||||DO I WILL RETURN?||- Yes I will, is not a posh hotel, it is in fact a simple 3 stars offering everything needed for a few days...

They have lied on their website about having special diet menus, I am coeliac and got there to be told they don't have anything for me, for breakfast or dinner! It also says that you can have an extra bed for children, so when I arrived and asked for one I was told I would have to pay an extra £89.The staff were constantly laughing amongst themselves about me, pretending they couldn't speak English when they could, I even spoke Spanish to them which all Portuguese people understand asking for water and they deliberately would not. I gave my dress for my uncles party to them to iron, it was returned completely unironed. My socket in the room was unsafe and coming out of the wall. It advertises that all staff speak Spanish English Portuguese and French, some of them cannot speak English. The food at dinner was swimming with grease and I literally starved for a week. Beds are hard as a rock, sheets worn out plus pillows and pillowcases. Very old decor. One receptionist was nice, the other would never smile and even rolled her eyes because I called her from the back office...

If you're thinking of staying here, you should take note that this hotel is NOT where the TA map says it is - it's actually at the very top of quite a steep hill, almost next to the church.||My wife and I stayed here for a couple of days - we were somewhat surprised to find out how far it was from town - luckily the food in the restaurant isn't bad, and, for a 3-star hotel, not expensive either - during the week, (possibly only) out of season, there's an "Executive dinner" with 3 courses, drinks and coffee for just 10 euros - they even let me bring my own wine! Just around the corner on the way to the church is a small bar/snack bar for those who, like us, don't much like hotel bars.||The rooms - in fact the whole hotel - is somewhat dated - a little like a set from a 70s movie, but the beds are comfortable, the water is fast and hot, every room has a balcony, the air-con works and the views are terrific. Breakfast was...