My husband and I had stayed here in April, 2016, and it remains one of my favorite places that we…read morehave stayed. First of all, the property is beautiful and impeccably kept. It's in a gorgeous old house, and they've done an excellent job of maintaining the character while also creating a very functional hostel. We stayed in a large room, which was considered a double, even though it had a little sitting area and felt more like a junior suite. Huge windows with views, a large shared terrace outside, nice furniture-- sleek, midcentury modern look, a really spacious and airy room.
We had a private bath across the hall, which seemed kind of pointless to me, but they had booked all of the ensuite rooms and my husband wanted our own bath. It ended up being great, because we could unpack our toiletries and leave them where we use them, and crossing the hall just felt like staying at a friend's very nice old family home. We had a key for the bath, along with our room, but the place was not at all crowded. The only time we saw any other guests was at breakfast. That may be because we were on the highest floor; I think I remember that there was a dorm room on a lower floor, but I never heard any noise or anything.
Location was great, a ten minute cab ride from the train station and an easy walk to the university.
Breakfast was excellent and regularly replenished. As I recall, they had yogurt and cold meats and cheese, a toaster with bagels and breads, cereals, lots of fruit, a coffee machine (maybe a nespresso, similar if not), juice, and scrambled eggs. Pretty much something for anyone, and you could have as much as you wanted. The breakfast room was as airy and sunny as the rest of the place, and the furniture was substantial; it did not feel like they had gone to Ikea and bought the least expensive pieces. The whole house was that way; they had a casual chic look that I really liked.
Best of all was the staff and management. From the time we stepped inside, everything was competently handled by pleasant, polite people. No one was obsequious or anything; it was just friendly competence. If you needed directions or suggestions, they had it. If you needed help with the coffee machine, someone was quickly available to show you. And when we left, my husband left a small wallet that he was using to carry his passport and a large amount of cash; they found it and called us within minutes, but my phone wasn't working outside of the US at the time, so we missed the call and took the train to Porto. He realized his mistake by the time we were halfway there, and went back immediately. The wallet was still there, contents intact.
There was nothing I would change about this place. If you're going to Portugal, you should go to Coimbra at least for a day or two, and if you go to Coimbra, I really recommend Luggage Hostel.
