Espinho is on the Atlantic, just off major highways from Porto (20 minutes north) and Lisbon (3 hours south) and it’s also accessible by commuter rail from Porto. I’ve been here twice, both times at this hotel, courtesy of the nearby company I was visiting.

The PraiaGolfe is next to the casino and just a short walk from the center of town. It’s a seven or so story hotel facing a beautiful white sand beach with rolling surf, but you sleep in a room, not on the beach. The rooms are large enough for the two twin beds, but they’re bare minimum. They look like they haven’t been refreshed in 20 years. The bathroom is very small and the towels are worn thin. The lobby doesn’t have a single chair, although the floor is polished stone. (To be fair, there’s an area on the next floor up that has some comfortable chairs, but that space wasn’t heated well during my most recent visit.) Breakfast is in a large room with big windows, overlooking the ocean. The buffet breakfast was adequate but no more than that. Breakfast service starts at 7:00 AM, which seems a bit late.

On the positive side, the heat in the room worked well on an uncharacteristically cold couple of nights at the end of January/start of February and the twin beds are comfortable. Despite the tight space, the bathroom worked fine. There is wifi in the room for about 10 euros a day. The desk receptionist will give you a card with a wifi code on it, and you use the code to log on. If you want to use both a computer and a smartphone, you have to log off one in order to log onto the other. Download speed was adequate for email and web browsing. Parking is available right outside the front door, and there are usually a couple of somewhat down & out guys who will direct you to a spot and expect a euro tip in return.

The staff have been very friendly and helpful both times I've been here and I feel badly about criticizing their hotel, but unfortunately it has a worn-down, worn-out feel.