First Time Kim Kim User for the Win

Portugal | May 4 - May 20, 2025

This was one of my favorite hotels of whole trip. Perfect location for Porto and so European and charming but very high end in service and feel. Would highly recommend and I would definitely stay there again.

The property was definitely a 5 star property and the setting beautiful. We stayed in the wine barrel room and I would not do that again if I went back. The majority of the hotel are normal rooms and I do not know what they were like because we didn't see one, But the wine barrel room while a beautiful setting and a cute idea was just very small. I think for a younger couple or for only one night it would be ok. But we were there three nights and are a bit older and used to a bit more luxurious room and we just didn't love it. There was nothing wrong with it, just not my thing. Hotel was beautiful though, restaurant great, staff great. Sitting out by pool with a spritzer in the afternoon was divine. I will say it's a bigger hotel for the area and a big winery so it gets a lot of bus tours or tours doing winery tours. So I think now that I've been to the area, if I went back I would choose something smaller that didn't have so much traffic.

We got upgraded to a suite when we arrived and it was beautiful, This hotel was top notch, highly recommend. It was up on one of hills so if you don't like to go back up the hill to your hotel then it wouldn't be good. But we loved the location and could walk to everything. The breakfast was fabulous and the bar was great in the evening. Loved everything about this hotel.

The hotel is on the opposite side of the river from the town, so it is a bit of a walk to town to get to tours or to see anything. If you don't mind being out a bit more in the outskirts then it's beautiful old hotel that has a lot of history and character to the property. Definitely explore the gardens and property if you stay in this hotel.

The setting of this hotel above the cliffs in Lagos was stunning and nice. It did feel a bit dated and needs a little refresh. We had an ocean view suite and I'd say the decor was very basic at best. But clean and completely satisfactory. There were very few chairs around pool which I found odd. It wasn't crowded so it wasn't hard to get a chair necessarily so maybe they bring more out as it gets closer and closer to high season. But there was definitely things broken here and there and the golf course looked completely neglected. But honestly the two things that made it so I would not choose to stay there again were the fact that there were zero plugs in either of our bathrooms for a curling iron or hair appliance. Nor were there any by any mirror anywhere in our large suite. That was so odd to me. And the other things was they had the thermostats in rooms locked so you could only lower your a/dto like 21 degrees. I just feel like a 5 star hotel that I am paying quite a bit of money to stay at should allow their guests to set the room at what temperature they like. This is definitely a family oriented hotel. Seemed like lots of small families from the UK on long weekend there.

I believe Philipa was our guide. She was great. We had 7 people in our group and had a great day.

Pedro was awesome. I honestly wasn't sure about what there could be interesting to see in Lamego, But he showed us so many great things in this small quaint town. We found out he is a sommelier and he does a lot of wine trips and since there was a sparking wine producer close in Lamego we ended up stopping there an d it was so cool. Highly recommend Pedro for curated wine days

Joao was a great tour guide. It said we were in a small group, but it was just us. We ate so much food and he took us so many places and was delightful. Highly recommend.

Eva was our guide for this and the Coimbra food walk. She was so cute and spoke such great English. We enjoyed both tours with her so much. I'd say if people are short on time, skip the food tour and just do the library and university and a general city tour.

Andreia and her husband gave us a great wine tour. We saw the valley and got to go to two small wineries that was fun since we were staying at one of the bigger ones. She took us on a boat tour down the Douro River and the lunch was so huge. We completely enjoyed our day with her.

I was unsure what to expect from this RIB boat trip. But I was so glad we were on a small boat and not a big catamaran or something. Definitely worth it to get in to smaller spaces. We got lucky because sea was so calm on the day we went so no bumpy ride. Loved it.