Grande Hotel de Luso

This Grande Hotel is indeed grande! It is superbly maintained for a structure built in 1908. I stayed one night on a solo trip; it was definitely one of the best in Portugal. They have giant pools, both outdoor and (heated) indoor. The dinner was excellent and suprisingly reasonable. The bed was comfy and the parking was free. It's only got one elevator that I could see, but it was quick and quiet. The price in April was incredibly cheap! I had room and half board for under 100 Euros! It's a bit hard to get to, as it's about 18 km from Coimbra, mainly on back roads. You should try this place, I loved it!!!!

I love a thermal experience which is why we booked this hotel. I thought from the website and stuff they sent it might be an old fashioned spa hotel but that is not the case. The building is old but the inside has been refurbished and the attached Thermes are very modern indeed, at least the treatment areas are. It is true that the prevailing colour scheme in the hotel is brown, but it is well furnished and spacious, the rooms and the common areas alike. There are several lounge areas you can sit in, an Olympic size outdoor pool (just a bit chilly when we were there but lovely to sit round) and a fantastic indoor pool which is just beautiful. We had a standard room which was fine, in fact it was on the north side of the hotel without a balcony but that meant the room stayed cool which is a good thing. The rooms have decent lighting, a fridge and a safe but lack tea making facilities. It was comfortable and quite well soundproofed, you couldn’t hear people walking up and down or slamming room doors. Until night 2 when the chap next door made a very loud phone call at 11.00 at night and was shouting... Small complaint – the shower screen didn’t fit properly and it was hard to have a shower without making the floor very wet. There also weren’t enough hooks or racks for all the towels – bath towels, robe and swimming towels. Breakfast was generous and relaxed, you could go whenever you wanted and no-one was taking room numbers. There was a decent coffee machine but the hot food was not all very warm. Luso is only a little place but it has quite a lot of places to eat, and it is possibly to walk in the Bussaco national forest but it is a very steep walk up steps from the town and the map the tourist office give you is not very accurate so we got a lost a few times.