We were spending a week in Lisbon, Portugal before heading south and Hotel Alif Avenidas came out as being well reviewed, well located and affordable.

Address

Avenida Duque de Avila 189, Lisbon 1050-082, Lisbon, Portugal

Date stayed

Monday 25th April for seven nights

Room Type

Double Room – Non refundable booking

We were allocated a room on level 3 (308) of 8 floors

Price

We paid $1,181.55 (€791.55) for seven nights through Hotels.com averaging $168.79 AUD (€113) per night.  This rate was non refundable.  This includes a city tax of €2 per person per night payable at the property.

Location

Located in the  north of the Lisbon city centre but in a quiet neighbourhood, Hotel Alif Avenidas is well situated for public transport and shopping. Just opposite is the São Sebastião subway where you can also catch a train to the airport.  It is a short walk from a few attractions including parks and museums and there is a large multi level department store (El Corte Ingles) and food court within a short walk in addition to an Aldi supermarket.  A number of restaurants and bakeries are also nearby.

Check-in/Check-out

• Check-in is at 2pm
• Check-out is by 12pm
• 24 hour front desk

Parking

Secured covered self parking is available at the property for €15 per night on request subject to availability.

Internet

Internet is available in rooms and some public areas of the hotel.  It worked well most of the time but on video calls, would tend to freeze now and then.

Room Features

Our room featured:

• A King sized bed comprised of two single beds and bedside lights on the bedhead
• Floor lamp in the corner of the room
• A 32 inch flatscreen LG TV
• Two bedside tables containing a drawer, one phone, and an alarm on the wall
• A desk and chair with lamp and tall mirror
• Side table for extra storage
• Thermostatically controlled Air-conditioning
• An opening window that opens in and towards you from the top
• European power points on the wall beside the bed at each side and two power points above the desk
• Mini fridge (unstocked) and large bottle of complimentary water and two glasses
• Tea and coffee making facilities 
• Wardrobe containing hanging space and coat hangers, shelves, blanket, laptop sized safe
• Laminate flooring
• Housekeeping on request
• Bathroom with bath/shower (waterfall shower head and hand held sprayer), toilet, bidet, sink, hairdryer, two wrapped glasses, SOS pull cord, power on the wall outside the bathroom and shampoo and bar soap by Luxury Premium Collection and bath gel by arstars.
• Additional amenities available on request including toothbrush, shaving kit, nails set, cotton cleaner and bud, shoehorn, shoe shine sponge, sewing kit, comb, shower cap, slippers and tissues.

Hotel Facilities

The hotel does not contain a lot of facilities and the bar and restaurant are not operating.  What it does have is the following:

• Concierge services at Reception.  I’m assuming this was still operating through reception as there was not a designated concierge desk and we didn’t use this service.
• Laundry service – prices were very expensive so we didn’t use this either
• Two work desks and chairs next to the bar area
• A lounge in the foyer and the bar area
• A glass cabinet selling luxury watches
• Currency exchange
• Car hire
• Luggage storage
• A scale to weigh luggage for a one euro charge

Breakfast

The restaurant serving breakfast was closed for the whole duration of our stay and we weren’t able to view it as the lift would not allow us access to that floor.

Things to do in the Area

There are a number of things to do in the area as well as further out.  We walked everywhere but you could catch a train from the station across the road or a bus or Uber.  Some of the things we enjoyed doing were:

• Sampling Portuguese tarts (pastèis de nata) in one of the many pastry shops.  We loved the tarts and fresh orange juice from Fábrica da Nata.  Not to mention their beautifully blue tiled floors and decor.
• Walk down Pink Street with its pink path and colourful umbrellas – 3km (39 min walk).
• Wandering through the seven story department store El Corte Ingles and having a meal followed by Lisbon’s famous Nannarella gelato – 350m (4 min walk)
• Taking a ride up the 19th Century wrought iron Santa Justa lift designed by one of Eiffel’s students and see the view over Lisbon city from the top – 3.1km (36 min walk)
• Catch the number 28 tram up one of the steep streets of Lisbon
• Join the queue at “As Bifanas do Afonso” for a €3.70 Bafana (pork roll) and beer – 3.3km (40 min walk)
• Visit the Time Out Market to taste some authentic Portuguese food – 4km (50 min walk)
• Explore the old Castelo de S. Jorge (St George castle) – 3.8km (49 min walk)
• Take the lift to the top of the Arco da Rua Augusta, the stone arch built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake – 3.5km (41 min walk)
• Cool off at the attractive Gulbenkian Park which also houses a museum – 500m (6 min walk)

Pros

• I liked not having carpet in the rooms as it feels cleaner
• The window opened right up which allowed fresh air to come into the room
• The rooms were clean and although we only requested house keeping twice during our stay, the cleaners did a good job.
• The hotel was well located to subways, shops and eateries.
• A glass bottle of water was left in our room the first night

Cons

• The restaurant and bar were closed for the whole week we were there
• No ironing board or iron
• No conditioner or tissues (tissues available on request)
• Small TV
• No USB charging ports which are always handy to have
• One of the bedside lights didn’t work
• Could at times smell cigarette smoke in the room
• Could easily hear the people in other rooms
• Old hotel with strange dècor

Summary

This hotel reviewed really well on various sites and I agree the hotel is well located in terms of public transport, shops and supermarkets.  As you can see though from the distances to many of the attractions, you were either in for a long walk or required public transport. The girl at Reception was very friendly and helpful in suggesting where we could go to get things.  I also appreciated the large bottle of mineral water on the first night, the manufactured wood floors (cleaner than carpet) and having a window that opened right out to let fresh air in. The price, although not cheap, was better than many of the comparable hotels around.  On the downside this hotel felt like it was in need of refurbishment and was not up to the standard I’m used to getting from a four star hotel.  It was also quite a way from many of the attractions we visited.