SOLAR PIEDADE - Our Lady of Mercy Villa — Hotel in Valongo

We stayed here as a family of 6, 4 teenage kids.

It's an old Portugese farmhouse with 6 rooms, for 12 people or so , not a hotel :-) The main building plus a side building is rented out, the building closer to the entrance of the terrain and on the other side of the innersquare is where the owners live. Although they only speak French and Portugese the owners are the nicest people, they even brought us a cake! The house is in Alfena, which is close to Porto (appr. 20-30 mins to the center, 30 - 40 mins to the beaches of Porto). Alfena itself is not a nice town, but if you're planning to go to Braga, Guimaraes or Porto anyway and you have a car, this is a perfect place. It has lots pf privacy, it is clean and bigger and nicer then on the pictures shown on homeaway etc. You can stay there with 12 people assuming at least half shares a bedroom and bed with the other half (6 bedrooms). The pool is surrounded by big trees, hence lots of privacy there. Next to the poolgarden is a tennis court you can use as your own! I can only highly recommend this place, and we will defo be back as soon as we...

Our second stay in this wonderful, spacious villa with its magnificent grounds and facilities! We (couple with accompanying kids in their 20's and their partners) love the place.The owner, Hélder, and his father, Sebastian, could not be kinder or more solicitous. The location is convenient with easy access to Porto city & airport. You can choose to relax within the walled surroundings (with the pool, tennis courts, table tennis, billiard table) or visit the lovely city Porto and its environs. We took an adventure trip to the Gerês National Park (with Oporto Adventure Tours - 5-star!) and a boat trip up the scenic Douro to Regua (BarcaDouro). The Pão Quente bakery round the corner supplied our breakfasts. Marvellous restaurants are Jimão, Vinhas D'Alho and O Retrato in Porto and (best of all) Dom Peixe in Matasinhos. Book your holiday here - I guarantee you won't...

I just returned from a week holiday in this beautiful estate. We rented the home with friends of ours so in total we were 4 adults and 3 children under 5 years. The pool was excellent and between the tennis court, ping-pong table and pool table we were never bored. The grounds were lovely and our girls (almost 5 yrs old) had a great time running around and exploring. There are two grocery stores and a bakery within 5 minutes walk away. I would not recommend renting this property without also renting a car as the public transport isn't super handy. We drove into the nearest train station (10 min drive) and took the train into Porto a few times. Driving into the city is also pretty easy but parking can be a pain. Parking is not insanely expensive but the garages and streets are very narrow and can be tricky to maneuver. Overall, we all loved it and hope to...