Villa Rica Hotel, Lisbon

.../> We stayed at the Villa Rica Lisboa Hotel in Portugal about 2 weeks ago. It is a lovely, modern hotel near the center of busy Lisbon (if you can find a real center in that large, sprawling city!). Finding the hotel was a little difficult at night. We had asked directions from the Car Rental agency, but also had to ask from several pedestrians. The one who gave us the best and final directions was a young man who seemed to be a bit drunk or stoned ...
...to find again. But once we found it, we discovered that we were only around the corner from the underground train station..which is very cheap and very efficient.

PARKING

Luckily there is a free, very clean and well-lighted underground parking structure, which you enter directly next to the front door of the hotel. They also have a parking attendant on duty 24 hours a day, which gives you a sense of safety in a strange ... more

INTRODUCTION

We stayed at the Villa Rica Lisboa Hotel in Portugal about 2 weeks ago. It is a lovely, modern hotel near the center of busy Lisbon (if you can find a real center in that large, sprawling city!). Finding the hotel was a little difficult at night. We had asked directions from the Car Rental agency, but also had to ask from several pedestrians. The one who gave us the best and final directions was a young man who seemed to be a bit drunk or stoned (!). LOL But once we located it, it wasn't difficult to find again. But once we found it, we discovered that we were only around the corner from the underground train station..which is very cheap and very efficient.

PARKING

Luckily there is a free, very clean and well-lighted underground parking structure, which you enter directly next to the front door of the hotel. They also have a parking attendant on duty 24 hours a day, which gives you a sense of safety in a strange city.

LOBBY

As you enter through the revolving door (there is also a 'stop' button for slow or handicapped users), you see a long, sweeping check-in counter with several young people working. It is a relaxed atmosphere, yet everyone seems to be busy talking with guests, ordering taxis, etc. The hotel English-speaking personnel were super. I will go into more detail later in this review.

The first impression is one of light and space. It is a large lobby with high ceilings. Original paintings and sculptures are placed around the enormous room. One of the first things you see is a shiny black baby grand piano. It is sitting in the middle of the floor in front of a gold-coloured stairway railing. In front of the piano is a little space and then there are several comfortable leather couches with wood and glass coffee tables. Behind the piano and stairway in the corner, is another area with a very modern-looking bar, also with bar stools, couches and coffee tables. On the walls behind this area are colourful earthenware sculptures of very strange people (?) or animals. As you have a drink or visit with friends, it is difficult to keep your eyes from these interesting works of art by local Portuguese artists. All in all it is an extremely comfortable, warm and inviting place to sit.

On the opposite side of the room from the bar area is a little glass-enclosed gift shop. Next to that are two high glass doors, leading to the coffee shop, which is open till 10 PM on weeknights and 11PM on Friday and Saturday nights. It opens at 7 AM. It is a large café, seating at least 100 people comfortably, and is very busy at lunchtime. Even at 10 PM, when we arrived, there were about 8 people finishing their meals and coffee. You can get coffee for 1.80 Euros and house wine or beer for 2.00. The menu ranges from sandwiches and hamburgers for around 6.00 Euros to 4-course meals averaging 20.00 Euros. We discovered that if you just want coffee, it is much cheaper in the coffee shop (1.80) than in the bar area (3.00). Of course the bar is open till 2AM and the coffee shop closes much earlier. It was very clean and the staff was friendly and efficient.

LIFTS

After we had coffee, we found the 2 lifts on the other side of the gift shop. They were very large and the inside was lined with a sea-green plexiglas and gold handrailings. When we quickly arrived on the 7th floor, the first thing we saw was a large, interesting painting hanging on the wall directly opposite the lift doors. When we had been in the elevator with other people who got off at different floors, we noticed that each floor has a slightly different version of this painting. The colours are predominately blues and greens with touches of pink, red or yellow. The composition is of a group of men and women, dressed in a quasi-renaissance style, standing in a grassy field. They appear to be talking or visiting with each other. As you walk down the softly-lighted hallway to your room, the brighter overhead lighting comes on as you approach, and then goes out behind you as you enter another section. It was a nice effect and energy-saving at the same time.

ROOMS

You easily enter the room with a card key and when you slide it into the slot provided inside, the soft room lights come on automatically. To the right of the front door you see two closet doors, which are made of frosted white Plexiglas. It is a very large room with two big beds, covered in bedspreads with the same blues and greens and a touch of gold. There is a modern TV/remote, a locked bar and internet connection. The telephone is on a bedside table. There are two sets of curtains, the white sheers and a heavy sun-proof curtain. There are two windows which can be opened partly. The room also comes with individual temperature controls for forced-air air conditioning and heating.

The bathroom is also very large with a big tub with shower (which has the hand-held shower head), nice sink/cabinet/mirror, built-in hand held hair dryer, a toilet as well as a bidet. There is the shampoo, soap, shower cap and lotion. Oversized, fluffy white towels and bath mat for the floor.

One interesting thing is that there was no noise from the busy street or the air traffic. I looked out the window and noticed a thick, clear Plexiglas wall about ½ meter from the buiding…all the way around and all the way up! I didn't see it at first and it didn't distort my view to the outside. Then I realized it was a sound-barrier! And it really worked, too!

BREAKFAST

Breakfast (6 AM till 10 AM and till 11 AM on Sundays) was included in our stay. It was buffet style. They had a full breakfast, including scrambled and fried eggs, bacon, sausage, cold cuts and sliced cheeses, 5 different kinds of bread rolls, sweet rolls, a kind of Pita bread, butter and margarine, jam, peanut butter and cream cheese. They had a fresh fruit salad, including mangoes and bananas and pineapple, as well as separate plates of sliced fruits. There was orange juice and tropical fruit juice, as well as the coffee machine, which you could choose to make your black coffee or cappuccino or café au lait, tea, chocolate or hot water. If you really wanted it, they would also make you a little cup of espresso from the bar, no extra charge. I must say, breakfast was wonderful! LOL!

PRICES:

Parking is free for hotel guests

We paid 91 Euros per night for two people. The actual price the hotel lists is 180 per night, but we got a good deal shopping around on the internet.

CONCLUSION

This was an excellent, modern 3 star hotel. The feeling of being 'cared-for' or 'a valued-guest' was very evident in all the little things and special touches they had provided. As an aside, we had wanted a room with one large bed, but had been given the one with two smaller beds (bigger than twin size, but smaller than double). In the morning we mentioned it to the staff at the lobby desk. The young man asked us to pack our bags and leave them on the bed and they would arrange another room and move our things for us before we returned. Just check in at the desk when we come in. And, not only did they do that for us, but as soon as we said what room we had been in, the fellow at the desk knew immediately what we wanted. We didn't have to explain at all. Everything was arranged for us. I must say I was really impressed. There were many other little examples of this service during the course of our 5-day stay. 

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