Beautiful but faded, stylish hotel in a fantastic location - very central with shops & tourist sights all around. Great for evening as many restaurants within short (safe) stroll. Staff very helpful and attentive, desk good for general or tourist info. We visited to celebrate a birthday and requested nicest room available on booking form - hotel upgraded us to a suite and wished me happy birthday upon arrival! Very nice. Public rooms grand so take a wander round the hotel and visit the bar - bedrooms similarly styled but in lovely old fashioned way so don't expect state of the art technology and minimalist decor! Breakfast nice - decent selection and reasonable quality. Lisbon Do's: try the hop-on-hop-off bus which goes to all the key sights, try the custard tarts in Belem and go up the Santa Justa street elevator for the experience & the great views from top Lisbon Don't's: don't let your guard slip in Lisbon! Taxi's will try to rip you off - a seemingly accepted problem. The meter is what you should pay, extras will be displayed so keep your eye on it and only give driver this fare rather than asking - we got caught on way in from airport with meter fare trippled by charming, helpful driver! (Fare airport/hotel should be EUR10). Told by hotel if any dispute just ask driver to call into his control to validate fare being charged &/or get receipt. Also really keep an eye on your valuables... middle of afternoon at station our bag blatantly snatched! Used old trick of one guy distracting us whilst 2nd stole bag which fortunately we grabbed back just in time. But learn from us and be very vilgilant to avoid a spoiled holiday.

Stayed in this hotel for 2 nights (2-3 May) in room 301. Great location in the middle of the city and within walking distance of Castello san Jorge, the Bairro Alta, Rossio and Chaido and right next to the station to Sintra. It was also a very short walk to the 28 tram stop (for the rickety old tourist tram which does a circuit through many of the oldest, narrowest and steepest streets). Upon arrival the doorman was helpful but check in was very slow. We were kept waiting for about 10 minutes for a check in person to appear. We were pleased with our room - twin bedroom, sitting room and bathroom plus shower room. However, it was difficult to work out where the refurbishment had taken place. It certainly did not look at all as if it had been refurbished. Further, there was absolutely no information in the room about the hotel or Lisbon which seemed a little odd. Also, the aged portable TV had poor reception (a constant loud buzzing over pictures) and the remote did not work. Breakfast was a good buffet style with an excellent range of food but none to order off a menu... all was from the buffet which is not what I would expect in a hotel of this class. Housekeeping was also disappointing - we returned to our room at 2.30 pm having been out since 9.00am to find the room had not been cleaned etc. About 5 minutes later, 3 housekeeping staff appeared in the room (without having knocked) meaning our drinks were taken downstairs instead. Given the hotel was half empty, it was very poor that the room had not been made up during the morning. If I were to return to Lisbon (and not sure I would - it was the grubbiest, dirtiest city I have been to for many years, spoiled further by the graffiti which seems to cover almost every building in the Bairro Alta and the presence of aggressive street people - not an attractive place at all), I would try an alternative hotel which offers more facilities and better service.

We stayed in the Avenida Palace Hotel from 2nd - 5th May 2008. We thought overall the hotel was lovely, in the best location and we were delighted with our choice. The hotel itself is very grand and feels like a step back in time. The staff were friendly and very helpful. The location is fantastic, right in the town centre and a few minutes walk from bars, restaurants and tourist sights. The rooms are quite old fashioned but do have a certain charm. The bed was really comfortable and we had a great view over the main street, yet it wasn't noisy. Everything was spotlessly clean. The bathroom was old fashioned, and not much to look at but the shower worked brilliantly, there were lots of toiletries and the towels were big and fluffy. The breakfast was excellent. The hotel had only 2 negatives. The first was the air conditioning. It was cool at night when we were there so it didn't matter too much, but it just didn't seem to be very efficient. I'm not sure I'd want to be here in the height of summer. The second was the hairdryer. One of those dreadful hose type things attached to the bathroom wall that takes hours to dry your hair. I'd take my own next time. We paid quite a lot for this hotel (?200 per night), but we booked it at the last minute on a UK bank holiday weekend - and all of the other central hotels were around the same price, so we were ok with that. Lisbon was a great city but had an edge to it (not one for the faint-hearted). There were a lot of dodgy streets and we were offered drugs more times than I can remember and that was in the centre of town! We witnessed a tourist being mugged on the Sunday morning at the tram stop. That said it was a beautiful and very different city and we had a great time. But my point is if you're going - be very careful where you stay there are a lot of streets that I wouldn't want to walk down at night. When I saw where some of the hotels were that I'd been considering (even though they were quite central) I just thought "I'm glad I'm not staying down that street". As an aside, I thought the Barrio Alto was a let-down and scary in parts. I felt very safe staying at the Avenida Palace Hotel. If I go back to Lisbon I would choose to stay here again - no question.

No spa? Who cares! No high-tech gimmicks? Who gives a damn?! A wonderful, wonderful place. One of the best-preserved belle-epoque hotels I have ever seen. Furnished throughout with the most exquisite, priceless antiques. Not an ugly object in sight. Yes, the mattress was a bit soft but what a walk down the central staircase! The chandeliers in the breakfast room are indeed worthy of a "palace". A quartet of amazing Ming vases in the first floor lounge - how can they let these objects just stand around?! Breakfast: A good buffet, nice service and a fine view over the Pra?a dos Restauradores and the bottom of the Avenida da Liberdade. Sensational location right in the centre, the best restaurants, caf?s and bars as well as most of the landmarks are within walking distance or, indeed, just around the corner. The bar is non-smoking (as most places in Portugal) but one is allowed to have a smoke in the sensationally opulent lounge on the ground floor. The barman was grumpy (I liked that, too, I admit) but the cocktails were very good - and generously poured as well! If you appreciate REAL class, this is the place to stay in Lisbon.