The other option to travel around Portugal is by train. I went there before it joined the EU and was still using the Escudo as their currency. I remember the very comfortable trains from Lisbon to Porto only took 5 hours. Since most attractions I wanted to see were in the centre of town I didn't need a car and didn't have to worry about driving. Evora I must say was very memorable. I attended a wonderful classical concert inside a church at midnight and went up north to Braganca and south to Castelo Branco near the Spanish border. Without a car I couldn't stop in small villages in rural areas to see how they live and spend more time in the countryside. It is a small country yet has so much to offer and of course the food and wine and not to mention their Port, umm, I'd love to go back soon.

Portugal report[Lisbon, Porto, Evora; *wood & Le Meridien]
 

Just returned today. Appreciate advice/feedback on this site, so my turn to contribute. Attempting to provide as much detail. Le Meridien owned partly by *wood, had stayed at Meridien's (Gold/top member there) prior to joining *wood and wanted to try also.

Lisbon (was an intermediate point between North, East, West)

Sheraton:
1. Plat amenities - Table Wine, Port, Movie, $10 mini-bar, fresh fruit [no 500 pts option, no $10 off restaurant option].
2. Club lounge - closed from July 17 through early Sept. Did have one terminal for Internet access, though a few users on for a long time. Food good. They'll cook breakfast in smaller 'dining' room. Views great. Same views can be seen on Panorama floor (25th)
3. Panorama bar/floor/restaurant - smokey. At 11:02pm, absolutely no food available to order from regular menu - after concierge experience (see below), this was not good and I left - if I wanted tortillia chips type snack food, I would have gone elsewhere
4. Staff - check-in and lounge staff quite helpful, though for most anything beyond the basics, they suggest the concierge. Noted three concierges - Jorge was helpful.

A few less than helpful experiences with other two concierges.

(1) Returned from Porto 10:30/45-ish, was hungry and wanted to try a very good restaurant in town. The other two concierges, on duty at same time, said they thought the restaurant would be closed - they said they would call the restaurant - and via the Club Lounge said that in-town restaurant's kitchen was closed. So, I tried the Panorama floor restaurant (whose kitchen was closing as I arrived). After thinking, people eat late, and this is a weekday evening, I returned to the main lobby and asked concierge to confirm - same story. I insisted they check and that in-town restaurant was open.
(2) On Saturday afternoon, enquired about specialty stores for wine, cheese, olive oil. Concierge indicated there were a couple of stores in Baixa area, but it was Saturday and they would be closed. Tried to direct me to a store north of airport. Went to Club Lounge to look at some other flights, restaurant menus (concierge desk does not have these and not many are on-line after some searching), etc. A guest couple overheard me ask the Club Lounge staff member about menus, wine, etc, and approached me with their guidebook which had a couple of specialty stores listed. Checking on internet they should be open 7 days/wk. So, I asked Club Lounge staff to phone one of the two stores and it was open -- until 8pm. Walked to Baixa, both stores were open as was a third, somewhat similar store.

(3) in middle of helping me with restaurants, attended to other guests, spending more time on their questions verus finishing info look up for me.

5. Staff (check-in, Club Lounge, Porter) -- quite helpful, though wish they knew more about local area to help more as 2 of 3 concierges not so helpful.

6. The room -- quite good, marble floors, Molton Brown products, tea/coffee honey, water, etc.

7. Turn-down service / amenities in addition to Plat amenity. On first of three stays, received fruit and chocolates. On second stay, a 375ml of Port.

8. Food (restaurant and room service). A little less than pleased. Quality so so (though did not end up having a couple of dishes I would have like to have tried), the 11:02pm situation, salt and pepper shakers at room service both filled with pepper, asking for whole wheat bread only (which they said they had) and receiving 90% white rolls/bread.


Le Meridien

1. Staff (check-in, concierge, etc) -- all very helpful, including assistance to make reservations in Porto with Meridien's Moments points.

2. Restaurant - great food - fresh, food of the Azore's festival - try the Azores' lobster. Knowledgeable staff on regional foods, etc. I would return.

3. Lobby, bar, restaurant area -- much better layout and much brighter versus Sheraton.

4. Room - larger, a view in two directions, quite bright, modern furniture, comfortable chair after a long day of walking and carrying purchases from an interior Portugal visit. Bath products the typical Meridien (Molten Brown wins there), bath robe better, shower facility better, etc. The bed was very comfortable - it beat the "sleeper beds" of Sheraton. Generally more elegant.

5. Amenities - fresh fruit (better mix than Sheraton) and a litre of water (much needed).


Sheraton vs Meridien? Depends on your situation.

Portugal - Porto experience (*wood and Meridien)
 

Somewhat the opposite of Lisbon in the Meridien vs Sheraton comparison.

Meridien

Arrived in evening, but that is not a factor in my impression. In short, pass on this hotel. Dark in lobby, in room and hallways. Somewhat helpful staff. Bed was comfortable.


Sheraton

Ok, to start off, I walk in the door, approach the staff for help and .... WOW !
Quite different from Lisbon Sheraton where check-in desk staff say to speak to the concierge, the Porto check-in staff is helpful (technically, before I'm a guest) and only on a couple of questions later in stay was I directed to the concierge -- yet check-in staff had much better recommendations for attractions, restaurants, things to do, transportation, specialty stores, events, very knowledgeable on hotel's facilities. :-:

That was all before a review of the Platinum amenities (same as Lisbon) and going to the room. So, things couldn't top that you think? Absolutely, positively, they were topped ... I was escorted to the room, while features of the hotel were described, and the room was AWE-mazing - corner suite, two plasma screens, huge bathroom, with see through glass (with electronic blinds), a table for four, two couches, all in a softer colours. And, I'm only staying one night? Argghh, I thought, and with very helpful, friendly, knowledgeable reception staff...and I can't recall exactly what preceeded it, but I was informed the staff could contact the airlines for itinerary changes, alternate travel arrangements, etc... like someone reading my mind... double WOW!! :)

Later in the day, a printed message was there waiting with the few alternate travel possiblilities researched. :-:

Club Lounge, Outdoor bar area, whole lobby were great. Did not try the restaurant, but the menu did look interesting.

Next day, more suggestions followed from prior day reception staff, along with an introduction to the manager who indicated a slight problem with an Evora reservation, but that they really wanted to help out. These sent me slightly off the beaten path on discovery of other parts of Porto where I saw fewer tourists. And a newer restaurant about 50/50 locals and tourists.

On third day, was disappointed the reception staff from first day was not present (perhaps a change in shifts or a day off? :( ). Though I continued with the suggestions from the prior day and at the train station one of the local free newspapers was handed to me and I noticed a wine festival of Aligo and a Galician town in the newspaper, so I made another excursion - when I informed the staff then on duty I would possibly check out they indicated to let them know by 2pm and they even provided a couple of hotel suggestions along the Duruo.

Thoroughly enjoyed the stay and have probably forgot to mention several other things. This is one place I would definitely return to! :-: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ :-:

My impression, as well...
 

Your positive reaction to the new Porto Sheraton mirrors the feelings that we had. It sounds like we also had the same style suite. Our children had a regular room, and that also had the high-tech glass bathroom. What about Evora?

Just back from a trip to Portugal including stays at the Sheratons in Lisbon and Porto, so thought I'd add to these generally positive reports with one of my own, even though I have no status with *wood.

I booked a Towers-level room at the Lisbon Sheraton and was offered a room on the 24th floor. If I hadn't insisted on a non-smoking room (the highest non-smoking floor is the 22nd), I'd have got a room with a view over the entire Tagus estuary and the whole city. As it was, half of that view from the 22nd floor was obscured by the ugly apartment block next door. At least we got the full view from the lounge.

The room was quite plush and comfortable, though not exactly spacious. And the view was on the good side of the building. My main problem was with the Towers lounge, which is probably the worst I've ever seen at any hotel, *wood or otherwise.

For a 65 euro mark-up over a standard room, we got a happy hour that was accurately named only in that it lasted exactly one hour - from 7 to 8 p.m :rolleyes: . But it wasn't exactly very happy. The lounge is tiny - the size of 2 regular rooms, so I guess we were lucky the Towers rooms weren't too busy because we got to sit down and actually eat off a table.
The beverages on offer were Portuguese only: red and white table wine (drinkable but nothing special), some ordinary tawny port and a sparkling wine. There were no spirits of any kind and absolutely no beer. Even the soft drinks were limited to water and fruit juice. No Coke or the like.
The "canapés", meanwhile, were what I would call UFOs - unidentifiable fried objects. The round ones tasted vaguely fishy while the triangular ones tasted of nothing at all. There were no nuts, chips/crisps or anything else.

I got up too late to try the breakfast.

So the LIS Sheraton is a good choice for anyone content with a standard room in a good hotel. It's also convenient for Picoas metro station and the staff were very friendly and efficient.

A few days later we arrived at the Sheraton Porto, which is a magnificent modern building. My 10th-floor Club floor room was perched 30 metres above the lobby atrium - only 10 cm of concrete floor between my bed and the void below!
The room was extremely comfortable with the high-tech glass bathroom already mentioned, but unfortunately a huge steel beam extending diagonally across the window. There wasn't much of a view anyway.

Again my main complaint is that the 45 euro mark-up for the club floor just wasn't worth it. The Club "lounge" was unstaffed (so check-in was at the main reception desk on the ground floor) and although happy hour lasted 2 hours it was barely any better than in Lisbon. Unsurprisingly, the selection of port wines was a lot better, but otherwise the wines were local again, and no spirits or beer were available. The food was fishy when it wasn't tasteless, so the whole experience was generally disappointing.

Either of the LIS and OPO Sheratons is a perfectly good hotel that I would recommend, but the Towers/Club level rooms are a total rip-off.

Sorry to hear your comments about the SHR Lisbon, my experience there was wonderful. Very large room on the 24th fl., nice amenities and over the top staff at the Lounge, both for c/in-c/out and for breakfast. Breakfast was superb ^

The Lounge is not huge, but in the week I stayed there I never had any problem finding a free table. The Club floors are not that busy. The free Internet was nice too

As to the evening drinks, I've found Portugues wines excellent and I'm surprised the staff didn't get you a beer or coke when you asked for one, in my experience they tended to bend over backwards when one asked for something

I must confess it never occurred to me to ask. I assumed that if it wasn't out on display, it wasn't available. I was stuck in the mentality that there are two types of lounge: the ones where everything is self-service ^ and the ones where you have to ask an attendant for everything you want :td: . The LIS Sheraton is in a 3rd, hybrid category.
Anyway, I'm not saying I didn't like the hotel - it's a very good property. My only complaint is that IMHO the Towers level is not worth the extra cost.

Starwood in Algarve, Portugal
 

We're thinking of spending a couple of weeks in the Algarve region of Portugal next spring and would like some feedback on the SPG options there. I've searched but only found reviews for the Sheraton Algarve, the vast majority of which highly recommend this property. I'm hoping that someone has stayed recently at either the Le Méridien Dona Filipa in Almancil, Cat. 5, or Le Méridien Penina Golf Resort in Portimao, Cat. 3.

Thanks for the help,

While I can't speak at all about the properties themselves, I can speak a little about the location.
Le Méridien Dona Filipa is almost on the beach.
Le Méridien Penina Golf Resort is about 2.5 miles from the beach. (Free shuttle provided.)

You may also be interested in this website about the surrounding resort as you evaluate the Sheraton Algarve...
http://www.pinecliffs.com

My wife and I stayed at the Sheraton Pinecliffs a year and a half ago for 3 nights. I would consider this hotel to be below average for a luxury collection hotel, we were there in August which I imagine is a very busy month so service wasn't that great and the room was worn however we had a junior suite which was comfortable. The hotel is situated on a cliff and access to the beach is via an elevator or rather long walk. Overall we had a very nice time however a room refurbishment is needed. I would use points again however wouldn't pay to stay here. Very kid friendly and tons of families there.

Not in the Algarve, however I would highly recommend the CONVENTO DO ESPINHEIRO HERITAGE HOTEL & SPA. We spent 3 nights at the hotel and it was amazing, rather hot in August however the hotel was almost empty (and I mean empty). We really had the place to ourselves. Our room was in the original convent section where they have restored the old chapel for weddings. The pool is very relaxing and they have spa services available, service/food in the restaurant was very good. Evora is an extremely interesting historical town and you get a good local feel of Portugal vs. an abundance of tourists in the Algarve similar to the south of Spain.

We also stayed at the Sheraton in Lisbon on this trip and the Convento was head and shoulders above the other properties. I believe they were all the same redemption amount.

Another option for historical properties in Portugal http://www.pousadas.pt/historicalhotels/EN


--

Thanks for your advice - we actually stayed at the Espinheiro after reading you post and it was truly excellent. Had a great time there and enjoyed their nice restaurant & spa areas.

Parking fees at the Sheratons Lisbon and Porto
 

Is it true the parking is free in the Lisbon Sheraton?

Stayed at Sheraton Lisbon in late Nov'07. The hotel was still undergoing renovations to its fitness center and parking facilities. Thus, the valets were parking the cars out front for free.

Now, that the renovations are most likely complete, it is probably back to what I would guess 15-20 euros or so per day. I also remember reading somebody's post in the older threads mentioning that Plats were comped the parking. Better e-mail the hotel to find out about the current situation.

We plan to go Portugal for Golfing. There are several options such as Le Méridien Dona Filipa,Le Méridien Penina Golf Resort or Sheraton Algarve.
Anyone have any golf experience at the above golf resorts?
Which one is the best golf resort overall?

Thanks in advance.