A little taste of Lisbon (Turim Europa Hotel (Lisbon))

Member Name: Madge11

Product:	Turim Europa Hotel (Lisbon)
Date:	22/02/07 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's modern, clean and comfortable

Disadvantages: it's not in the centre, but not far away

THE HOTEL
The hotel was built in 2005 and has four stars. There are wooden floors throughout and it is very modern and stylish. It very much reminded me of "after" on a TV makeover programme, lots of wood, glass and chrome.

It's very environmentally friendly, with lights (and piped music!) which are activated by sensors as you walk along the corridors.

There are 100 rooms in total.

The hotel does not have its' own restaurant. There were a few restaurants in the area, but after the first night we found it just as easy to hop on the metro and go downtown where there was a wider selection of eateries.

LOCATION
It's only 5 km from the airport and 8 km from Lisbon's main railway station.

It's down a side street, on the corner of the road with its own drop off place in the front. There was a fair amount of traffic outside during the morning and evening rush hours, but in our third floor room with the double glazing we didn't hear a sound.

The nearest Metro stations to the hotel are Picoas Station (yellow line) and Parque Station (blue line). It's about a five minute walk to either of them.


THE COST
The hotel website gives the cost as Euro 62 per night for a double room, but we paid as part of a package with the flight from Gatwick included.

RECEPTION
In the main reception area there was a wonderful tiled mural depicting European cities, such as Big Ben for London, the Eiffel Tower for Paris, etc.
There was also a seating area, with various complementary newspapers and three computers in a screened off area with internet access, for a small charge. We didn't need internet access, we were on our honeymoon!
There are two reasonable size lifts to one side of reception.
N.B. The lights in the toilets by reception were movement activated, but I think the sensor was too far away from the door. I found the only way to avoid stumbling around in the dark was to open the door and run in as far as I could!

THE BAR
At one end of the breakfast room was a semi screened bar serving alcoholic drinks (not at breakfast time, I hasten to add!). When we were checking in we were given a voucher for a complementary drink in the bar. I took advantage and had a pina colada. Bar prices were comparable with outside the hotel.

THE STAFF
The reception is manned 24 hours. The staff were friendly. Every time we asked a question at reception they were able to give us an answer. Although we only stayed a few nights, the guy serving in the bar remembered us (and what we were drinking) the next day. Maybe we spent too much time in the bar….



OUR ROOM
Our room was a decent size, with a double bed, two bedside tables, bedside lights fixed to the wall, a wardrobe, two chairs and a desk.
The wardrobe had a fixed safe in the bottom, which was free to use and activated with your own choice of four digit number. There were only six fixed hangers in the wardrobe, not really enough for us, and we weren't staying very long.

There was a telephone in the room, and also in the bathroom.

Under the desk was a minibar. The prices weren't extortionate, but because there was room in it, (and we are cheapskates) we bought our own beer and cans and kept them cool in there…

There was a flat screen television on the wall, with various satellite channels. Unfortunately the only English speaking channel was CNN.

Your room key activates the electricity in your room (i.e. everything, including the air conditioning, switches off when you go out). The piped music which also came on automatically each time the electricity started was a trifle annoying, but could be turned off at the flick of a switch. It also played in the bathroom, and I did find it rather amusing to switch it back on when my hubby was in there, unable to turn it off himself!

The air conditioning can be set to any temperature you are comfortable with. We set it to 18 deg, but found that every time the room was cleaned it had been re set to 25 deg. The room was cleaned every day. The bed was made (I couldn't say if the sheets were changed every day) and we had clean towels (most of them were wet - see below). One day we returned to find we had no towels, but before we had a chance to go down to reception and complain the maid knocked on the door with the clean ones.


THE BATHROOM
There was a screen on the side of the bath, but it didn't (in our room at least) keep the water in the bath. Consequently every time we had a shower we had to put towels on the floor or it got flooded. The shower was nice and powerful though!
There was also an extremely noisy hairdryer securely fixed to the wall.
Although there was a large bank of mirrors above the basin area, and two settings on the lights in the internal bathroom, I didn't find the lighting in there terribly good. I wear contact lenses and like to have a reasonable light when I'm getting them in and out. It was actually lighter in the bedroom than the bathroom.


BREAKFAST
Breakfast was served in a fair size room behind the reception and laid out with tables for 2, 4 or 6 people. You could sit where you liked. A couple of times (but not everyday) we were asked for our room number. There were usually two or three staff in the breakfast area, clearing and setting tables or topping up the food. I don't know how full the hotel was, but the room was never overly crowded.
The breakfast (which was included) was extremely sufficient, with everything from cereal and a selection of rolls or bread which could be toasted, fruit, cheese and cold meats, to scrambled eggs, frankfurter sausages and bacon, juice (although not freshly squeezed) and coffee too. There was always a tray of numbered eggs, and an egg boiler, but I only saw one person using it. Breakfast was laid out buffet style, so you could eat as much as you liked - too much to try everything in one go though!

CONCLUSION
I don't make a habit of staying in hotels, but I think this is one of the nicest ones I have stayed in. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone going to Lisbon.

Summary: It was a good choice for us