Hostel Portalegre — Hotel in Portalegre

Never called ahead, so door locked, but directed round the corner three doors down on the right, to the man in the pots'n'pans shop. Jose: que cavalheiro. Obrigadinho. ||||Just a two-day trip from Lisbon with my flatmate, visiting the marvellous frontier castles of Marvao & Castelo de Vide. We had the run of the roost of this rambling old house, all to ourselves. The corkwood crib scene was a bit spooky: the baby in the manger had voodoo-dolly pins in it. (Maybe just my warped imagination.)||||Character, but well maintained. Great kitchen for breakfast (Jose brought fresh rolls in the morning.) Comfy dorm, towels & toiletries, clean loos, ok shower, big courtyard for chilling, WiFi fine, though connection in the dorm was iffy.||||A great affordable base. I mentioned the stand-out villages, but Portalegre's a pleasant & goodhearted town in itself. Didn't manage to fit in the highly rated Tapestry Museum, but hey-ho. ||||7.30am Redes Expresso bus from Lisbon calls at Portalegre 11.15am. From there, Castelo de Vide takes 20mins, Marvao a further 15mins. Return from Marvao 3.50pm, Castelo 4.05pm, Portalegre 4.25pm, thence onwards back to Lisbon for 8.15pm. This made it a dawdle, considering the distance from Lisbon to Spain, to comfortably take in the sights, with 4 hours in each village on consecutive days.||||Only 6 berths at the inn, though, so book ahead in...

We arrived to this lovely town late in the evening and found the hostel totally accidentally - when wandering through narrow streets of the Old town we were stopped by a pleasant English speaking man. He asked if we were looking for something and then we found out that this person was a father of the owner of the hostel we were looking for! :) ||We loved this place! Rooms are cozy and spacious, bathrooms are clean and comfortable (I did not miss a single hook or shelf for putting lots of little things when having a shower after a long day!).They have a big, fully equipped kitchen and a very lovely inner yard. ||And the best part of this hostel is the owner! He was very friendly and willing to help. We received very useful recommendations for eating out and for visiting places of interest. Everything he recommended was really worth a visit - thanks very much! And last but not least - when we got up in the morning we found a "Good morning" written on a blackboard in the kitchen in our native language! That was a very...

My girlfriend and I stayed at Joao’s hostel only for one night, but in few hours we were really moved by his cordiality and kindness. We booked a room only 7 hours before arrival and took the bus to Portalegre: Joao was unexpectedly waiting for us at the bus station to help us with our backpacks, and welcomed us in his hostel with a kind smile. Hostel extremely cleaned, attention for details and great breakfast with everything you can imagine, and even an old typewriter were your can write feedbacks!! We were really sorry to stay only for one night, but will...