We stayed here for one night at the end of the Optimus Alive Fesitival in Alges. We chose it as it was central Lisbon, so not far to walk from the Cais de Soldre train station. The room was clean and light and traditionally decorated. The hotel is not plush and nor does it advertise to be, but the location is perfect for sightseeing and is just what we needed to rest our heads after 3 nights camping. I would recommend it for a short break if you want to stay somewhere on a tight budget. The central location does mean it's quitenoisy in the morning - although this did not affect me, it did wake my partner. Also they provide luggage storage for free which is really useful if you have a flight later in the day, but want to do some sightseeing beforehand.

The hotel is an excellent value with clean rooms, great location, and a most friendly staff and owners.

This place is very well located for Lisbon, but that's about it. Don't worry about the reviews about "unsavory characters" They are just the local population and won't cause any problems. However, the issue is that to get in you have to be "buzzed" in by the 24 hr on duty person. Rooms are on multiple floors and you have to be "buzzed" in on each floor. For us, we have a room onthe 1st and 2nd floors. Every time we went between rooms, we had to be buzzed in. The rooms were very tight, even for Europe and the beds were very hard to the point of uncorfortable. Tried to put blankets down to soften them up, but housekeeping kept removing them each day, and finally took them away onthe third day of our stay. The last thing is that if you are a budget traveller and want to do some hand wash, it is strictly prohibitied. They have signs up saying so. We looked around for a laundry, even asked for directions. Couldn't find anything except a full service one diagonally across the square by the elevator. When we did a little laundry in the room, housekeeping took it all away and hung it in what looked like an abandoned elevator shaft and we then had to ask to reclaim our stuff. Our recommendation - Look for another place.

No big faults with this place, located right in the center of the city. However, irritations include:

1. The hotel is in a particularly sketchy area, frequented by prostitutes, drunks, the homeless, and drug dealers. Having said that, you are unlikely to be troubled by these people, and some of you might like the edgyness.

2. If you are an early to bed type, you might not like the noise outside. There can be quite a racket until 3am.

3. The staff are okay, but the husband owner is a grump. He works the desk during the afternoon/evening. The wife owner is a lovely, helpful lady, and she is there during the day.

4. No wi-fi, but there's an internet computer in the lobby area which you can use for a small fee.