Matkat – Balança

Just a short walk away from all the usual touristy activities and shopping, location is offering nice and quiet enviroment. Apartment was really cozy and modern, fitting even for a longer stay. Highly recommended for two couples or individuals who want separated beds as this place actually offers two bedrooms for your comfort. Down side is that there is no great views and for some using stairs might be an issue.

Great location and fabulous breakfast

Super dejligt hotel med fantastisk beliggenhed. Men de vil gerne mere end de helt kan leve op til - det virker lidt "umodent". Første dag fik vi opredning inden sengetid - det glippede de to øvrige dage. Dag 2 fik vi ikke rengøring - da vi efterlyste det, fik vi det om aftenen. Der var ikke hver dag opfyldning på alt - f.eks. små håndklæder og vand. Morgenmaden bliver serveret som små retter - da vi den første dag havde siddet ved bordet i næsten 2 timer og stadig manglede to serveringer gik vi. De næste dage bad vi om hurtig servering - det gik nogenlunde. MEN der manglede alle dage opmærksomhed på, om vi manglede juice, kaffe el.a. Selve morgenmaden var rigtig god. Når ovennævnte er sagt, så må vi også sige, at alle var meget venlige og hjælpsomme. Vi fik god hjælp til valg af restauranter og bookning af bord - og her var de meget opmærksomme og fulgte op på, hvordan oplevelsen havde været osv.

GA Palace is really a 5 star hotel with all its services and especially professional and polite and lovely staff, thank you all.

Having booked 24hours before my stay, I spent an average of £108 per night (offer rate) for a Superior Room with Terrace but I did not feel like in a 4 star rated hotel. The location is very handy, far from the noisy central streets but 6mins walk from Metro and 10mins from Santa Catarina road. Checking was nice and they welcome you with a little pastry and some porto wine. Then reality kicks in: to start, pictures of the room were not as reality and the "terrace" was facing people's windows and balconies (literally 3meters away) and the next building staircase. No privacy at all. There was no way to regulate the aircon in the room to a quite setting over night; no matter what I selected, it kept going back on to the same speed/temperature. The solution proposed by the hotel staff was to turn off the aircon switch in the room main electric panel. Also the fan in the bathroom kept going on all day and night, thank god I always travel with ear plugs. The tv also didn't work: after 2mins watching something, the picture would freeze and msg would say "LAN cable disconnected", you had to press again the menu for it to come back connected. This happened with all channels and every night of the 4 I stayed. Coffee in the room was instant powder, shame for being in a country where coffee is so important. Breakfast was ok but coffee, again, wasn't good and fresh but delivered by one of those all in one machine that mixes powders (coffee and milk) on the go.