I've just returned from 4 nights at Jardim da Amadora. The main reason I picked this hotel was because of the cheap rate and it seemed close enough to the city centre.

My friend and I had a room on the 5th floor with a shared bathroom. It seemed like 4 double rooms were sharing one bathroom.

Our room was spacious, clean but very dark. The room could've had a nice view of the park in front but the huge advertising banner was hanging from the top floor to the 3rd. Although we booked a twin room, they gave us a double room. The bed was small and uncomfortable. Although it was a double bed, they used single bed sized linen. Bed sheet only covered 2/3 of the woolen blacket- itch!!

Bathroom was clean but very small. The hotel doesn't provide bath matts so the floor was often wet. I almost slipped twice. The hotel doesn't leave spare toilet papers in the bathroom so often there were no toilet papers at all.

Some staff were friendly and some were not helpful at all. I complained about the shower twice (drain was blocked and the water came up to my ankle first 2 days) and the receptionist simply said 'okay'. She was very unpleasant and had a 'I don't care' attitude. She eventually told a cleaner after the second time. The other receptionist working at night didn't speak any English and we had to write our room number on a paper to get our room key.

Cold breakfast included was good...buns, bread, ham, cheese etc. Coffee from the machine was disgusting though. We also tried dinner at the hotel cafe once. It was nice and reasonably priced. A waiter was helpful and he explained the portugess menu to us. His English wasn't good so he made lots of sound such as 'mooo' for beef. The cafe was very popular with locals.

The hotel is located right outside the train station- convinient but nosey also. Freight trains are extremely loud and I couldn't sleep from 5am ish.

Amadora township is pretty good. It has lots of stores and lots of cafes. An immigration office at the airport was surprised when he saw 'Amadora' in my arrival card. He said it wasn't a safe neighbourhood and even suggested I book elsewhere instead. I felt quite safe around the hotel though.

The hotel isn't actually that close to the city centre. A train ride to Seito Rios (central area) takes about 10 minutes (1.10 euro one way). However, this area doesn't have anything other than the zoo so it's not really a city centre. From Jardim Zoologico metro stop, a metro ride to Restaurandores takes 15 minutes. We bought a travel pass which lets you travel unlimited on bus, metro and tram (around 3.30 euros per day). Train isn't part of the lisbon travel pass so we had to buy train tickets each day. The whole trip from the hotel to the city centre actually takes around 40-45 minutes as you'll have to walk from train station to metro station and also waiting time involved.

I wouldn't stay here again but for the price we paid we have no regrets. I'd say it's a good alternative to a hostel. If you are on budget, only needing place to sleep at night and don't mind staying out of the city centre, this is an okay choice.