Ipanema Park Hotel, Porto > Reviews > Great for plane spotters

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Good
Standard of Service	Excellent
Quality of Food & Drink	Good
Cleanliness	Excellent
Quality of Facilities	Good

Advantages:	Good location to transport links
Disadvantages:	Can be a noisy night

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Ipanema Park is now about 15 year old and needing a bit of TLC however it is still a great hotel. It is located near Pasteleira which is a social housing area but do not be detracted from it. As with all major European cities it is also near Boavista which is one of the richest areas in the city.

If you are lucky to be staying on the west side you will get lovely views over the sea and the river, just don't look down as you will see an old soap factory and social housing. The social housing actually looks quite good compared to UK efforts in the 60s and 70s but it is the quality of people and dirty streets that undo it all.

To the East side you would get lovely views into the old city BUT for the high rise luxury apartment blocks in the way...

It has two swimming pools, one covered at street level that also has the health club and gym. The second is on the roof on the 16th floor, with fantastic views and a roof top bar. For all you airplane watchers out there this one to come to. The hotel is DIRECTLY under the flight path and every half hour or so (the airport is not busy) you will either see a plane fly over about 100m way or almost in eye sight line just to the side if it is one of the local TAP airlines pilots flying the plane, Hong Kong style. The hotel is well insulated enough for you not to be affected by the noise at all.

The restaurant offers good fayre but Porto as a vary wide variety of top quality cuisine, whereas the hotel is more conservative/bland in it's cuisine. I would recommend going to the Gaucho brazillian restaurant for some Rodizio, the Don Manuel for local Cuisine and the Convivio for a Francesinha Especial (the best in the city!). All are a 5 minute taxi ride.

The hotel also has a news agent/tobacconist and a antiques and art dealer. The staff are excellent in attention to detail and the concierge service is excellent and they will be happy to park and collect your car on demand (recommended in this part of the world)