Hotel das Amoreiras

Hotel das Amoreiras occupies a pair of eighteenth-century townhouses on Praça das Amoreiras, the tree-lined square at the end of the aqueduct where the Mãe d'Água reservoir sits. The square was planted with mulberry trees by the Marquis of Pombal in 1759 to feed a silk industry, and the houses were built for the people who worked in it. Pedro Oliveira bought the first in 2016 after twenty years in banking, added the second in 2017, and opened in September 2022 with Alicia Valero after a full refurbishment. They designed it themselves, down to the furniture and light fittings, and hung their own art on the walls. Nineteen rooms and suites over three floors, and no group behind it.

Rooms are pared back and comfortable, and they vary more than the price suggests. Mini Deluxe rooms are 14 square metres, Deluxe Courtyard and Deluxe Garden View are 20, and the two attic suites under the mansard roof on the top floor run to 35 and 40. Garden rooms look out at the square and the aqueduct, courtyard rooms at a centenary olive tree. Every bathroom is Portuguese marble with a walk-in rain shower. Corridors are carpeted, doors are heavy and windows are thick, which is part of why the overriding impression from guest feedback is of quiet, of being looked after, and of having found something. The courtyard is cobbled, with terracotta benches under that olive tree. The other ground-floor room is a mirrored 1970s bar with velvet banquettes, wicker stools and old film posters, open to non-residents.

There is no restaurant, no spa, no gym and no pool. Breakfast is cooked to order from eight until noon, with pastries, cheeses, cured meats, eggs and juice, and the bar handles snacks the rest of the day. This is the hotel for people who have done Lisbon once and want to come back and live in it. The neighbourhood is residential, with a good bakery, the Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva museum on the square and the Amoreiras shopping centre a short walk away for practicalities.

It will not suit a first visit if you want to step out of the lobby into the old town. Chiado is a pleasant walk down and a taxi back up. Nineteen rooms also means availability is tight and the category you book matters more than usual. Families should read the house rules first, because it is two adults, or one adult and one child, with no cots, no extra beds and no third person in a room under any circumstances. If you value peace over proximity, it is the most discovered-feeling address on this list.