Montebelo Palácio dos Melos Viseu Historic Hotel

Spacious and comfortable rooms, average buffet breakfast. Location is great, right in the historical center. Can be a bit noisy during the night though due to the proximity of local bars and difficult to park the car.

First off, I want to say that the staff at the hotel were absolutely wonderful and clearly they did the best they could with what they had. They were very helpful, especially Sérgio - a sweet, kind gentleman who made sure to answer all my questions and even helped guide my rental car into the parking spot. He was wonderful! We paid for the "Superior Room" - room 2, however we were very unhappy with the room. It was really dark and dingy, with tiny windows that we couldn't see out of. In addition, the bed was really small for a double and we had trouble getting comfortable. The furniture was just *old* and beat up. I would have liked to see a king sized bed in the room as well as some use for the useless antechamber (in between the bedroom and bathroom) - something like a couch and TV would have been fantastic. Room 2 missed a lot of things that would make it "superior". We ended up getting switched to room 114, which was far better. It had a double and a twin, which was fine for us. Unfortunately, the pillows were very worn out and uncomfortable. The mattresses were very good, and I absolutely loved how well-appointed the bathroom was. There's nothing quite like taking a soak in the whirlpool tub after a day of walking around the Viseu city center. The rooms were clean and well taken care of, and the breakfast buffet had just the right variety! I think Palacio Does Melos is on the right track here, but they're just barely missing the mark with the superior rooms.

This hotel reminded me of how it is to sleep in a hostel. Although it is classified as 4 stars it should have 2 stars maybe 3. For more than 100 Euro for a double you don't even get a decent duvet to cover yourself during night. All you get are some hostel like blankets full of other people's hair. Not to mention the terrible mattress. They are advertised as a historic building, but the rooms wing is built on top of the old building, which makes the small rooms pretty unattractive. On the bright side the bathroom was nice and the breakfast was plentiful and great.