Turim Europa Hotel Lisbon

Nice 4* hotel

This was my 5th trip to Lisbon but first stay in this hotel.

The rooms were just the right size, super comfy beds & pillows, nice decor, nice towels, hot water was hot, great pressure in the shower!

Good hairdryer and a separate make-up mirror in the bathroom. Air con was great: set it 16C and it takes about 15 minutes to get a comfortable temperature (outside was +31C (second week of May))

There's free wi-fi in the rooms and a TV although the channel selection wasn't great (local, Spanish, Italian and German channels plus CNN but then who comes on holiday to watch telly?).

The bedside table has a handy bendy reading light. There's a safe and ample wardrobe space with full length mirrors on the doors.

If you want to sleep with the window open on the street side the local garbage collection happens nightly and they are very LOUD so earplugs are the name of the game but they are there only for a few minutes.

The street is cobbled so cars driving past are louder than on tarmac but it's not a popular through road so there is hardly any traffic during the night.

Also the "aeroplane landing on your head" noise during the day is the local train which goes in a tunnel about 50 meters from the hotel to the right but that literally lasts about 5 seconds. It's a sort of whoosh! and after the first day you don't even notice it.

And last but not least weirdly the water is so soft I didn't need to use conditioner on my hair at all! At home in London (chalky water) I need loads!

Unique Quality: The breakfast (not included in the standard price, pay for it when you book the room, it's worth it!) was possibly the best I've had in any hotel in Europe, definitely compared to the ones I've stayed in Lisbon (Real Parque and Eduardo VII)

There were plenty of different breads, buns and cakes to choose from pancakes to choc brownies to locals pastries. 4 types of yogurt, fruit juices, coffee, tea, cereals. Bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs with and without bacon, four types of cold meats, cheese etc etc.

The reception and breakfast room staff were friendly and courteous.

The Aerobus 91 from the airport stops a three minute walk away from the hotel (stop Picoas) Out of the bus, turn left, take the second on the right (Rua Martens Ferrao), walk down the hill and you can see the hotel on your left. Local bus 44 stops there too, it runs from the Airport to Cais do Sodre - handy for going into central Lisbon. Other handy bus from that stop is n:o 83 which goes to the Amoreiras Shopping Center.

The location is great for several metro stations (Marques De Pombal (Blue and Yellow Lines) - out of the door, turn right, under the railway bridge in the tunnel, bear right, take 2nd left, turn right at the end and the entrance (stairs down) is in front of you on a traffic island. This is one of the few stations with a full ticket office which is handy for travel cards for metro/buses/tram if you don't fancy using the ticket machines. The staff speak English. The Viva Viagem card is 12 Euros (plus 0.50 cents for the card) for three days (May 2011)

Another metro station (Parque, Blue Line) is out of the hotel door, turn left, walk until you get to a set of stairs going up just before the bridge, up the stairs, at the top turn left, at the end of the street cross the road and keep going down hill to the left.

Third station (São Sebastião, Blue Line) which is under the massive El Corte Ingles department store (which has a large supermarket in the basement) is about 5-7 minutes from the hotel.