We just stayed at this hotel for one night in the palace section. Rooms were very spacious, clean and nicely decorated. Since we arrived at night, we only realized how beautiful the garden surrounding the hotel was the next morning. Hotel is located in a very quite area, so we all slept very well.
We had booked dinner at the Arcadas Restaurant which is located in the hotel. We were unaware that it had a Michelin star and were very pleased by the excellent dinner we had.
When you are in Coimbra, make sure to visit the University's library.

The hotel is an old mansion belonging to the family of Ines de Castro, King Pedro of Portugal's lover, who unfortunately was murdered before she was crowned. This house is where Ines and Pedro met and fall in love and where she got killed and then Pedro embarked on search for bloody and macabre revenge.

The tragedy aside, the mansion is nicely renovated. The interiors are kept mostly brightly colored and clean looking (read: no heavy oak carved furniture to scare your wits off at night). There is plenty of wild garden to stroll around the hotel and plenty of parking space (not a problem here). Coming into the hotel from the main gate, you will have to go under arcs of trees, which is yes pretty romantic. To get your luggage into the hotel from the parking lot, do use the glass doors right at the parking lot don't go dragging your luggage up the staircase in front if you have bad back. And yes, the reception people is very attentive and speaks English.

The restaurant also offers decent food even if a bit pricey and service is super slow (by European standards Not Spanish standard) and not so attentive as the reception. For breakfast, go for it.. it's pretty good and worth the money.

Now the complaints: We got a black out of almost 2 hours which was very annoying as it happened right before our bedtime. And during black out everything went pitch dark. We saw from other reviews that this is not the first time so if you do want to stay here, please bring a torchlight.

There should be a better coordination between the reception and the cleaning lady. We arrive half an hour early and was told by the nice receptionist that the room is ready but when we showed up at our room the bed blankets were still crumbled like the maid has not even visited the room. It was not a big deal but one would expect more from a luxury hotel.

We find the timed off lights for the art gallery where Ines and pedro history is being told to be timed too short. Meaning, after a few minutes, lights are switched off leaving you in the dark in the middle of the gallery. So you will have to walk out to wave at the automatic sensor to get it to turn on again and again..

And it is not near town as the map would look. If you are used to walking around in European cities, then it should be a pleasant stroll going to the old town but if you are not, it's better you take the hotel's advice and take a cab up the University and then walk down.

Would we repeat this hotel? perhaps.. in spring or summer probably when the black out won't hurt the heater...

We have stayed in Coimbra for only 1 night during our Portugal trip in 2010.
We will never regret the amazing Quinta that accommodated us for that night. Clean and well maintained, polite and helpful employees but most of all great views. It could look like a "shabby chic" place in Provence but it has a totally different style and much more better maintained.
We would only recommend trying to work on keep the beautiful garden in a good shape. Otherwise, we felt trapped in time for 1 night and would gladly go there again!

This hotel, situated in Coimbra, is perfect for holydays once is located inside a wonderful garden, in a very peaceful place. And you have a surplus! History surrounds you. In the XIVth century, the tragic loves of King Pedro and Inês happened here.