Hotel Ipanema Park^{(5 stars)}

The room was very spacious and very tastefully furnished, the furniture shows small traces of surface deterioration. Very good beds, adjustable air-conditioning, windows that can be opened, opaque curtains, chairs, enough outlets, good lighting, spacious closet in the hall, minibar, TV (no German channels). Very spacious marble bathroom (fixed shower and hand shower, bidet, hair dryer). Altogether, really a very pleasant room.

I only ate breakfast at the hotel, which was excellent: A lot of pastry varieties, freshly sliced Iberian ham, fresh fruit, a good selection of drinks.

Perfect: The staff was very friendly and competent. Room cleaning was perfect.

The HF Ipanema Park is quite large (280 rooms). The building dates back to the nineties and is very well-kept. The lobby with bar and restaurant is spacious and luxurious. The hotel has several meeting rooms, which is why it is visited by many business travelers. In the lobby is wireless LAN for free. Altogether, a really beautiful, pleasant hotel.

The HF Ipanema Park is not located close by the sights of the inner city, but is about 3 kilometers away. As the city is quite hilly, there is nothing worth to be seen within walking distance. The hotel itself is located on a main road in a residential area, where there are a few small cafes and shops. The area is not spectacular, rather quiet. It should be noted, however, that in the old town of Porto there are barely any larger hotels, they are all in the newer neighborhoods like this one, for example. Almost directly in front of the hotel is a bus stop (Lordelo). The connections from there are very good. It takes about 15 minutes to the city or the beach. The bus did not drive that often though (during the daytime about every 10 minutes, less frequent in off-peak times). The main connections are: Downtown (PC da Liberdade, São Bento train station): Bus 200 and 207; Beach (Foz): Bus 200 and 204. From the airport: Metro to Casa da Musica, then bus 204.

Size, equipment and comfort were very good. Safe and mini bar were present. But, unfortunately, there was neither German nor French television. On request at the reception we were told that there's no possibility to install these either. A bit of a pity, but the bar was also comfortable :)

A bar, where you can eat lunch: salad buffet with two warm mains and desserts, incl. coffee for 9.50€ p.p.We made use of that upon arrival, because we just arrived around noon. Otherwise, we only had breakfast which was a buffet and was eaten at the restaurant.There was everything you could wish for: different breads and rolls, fresh fruit, various fruit juices, cheeses, ham, salami, jam, ... diverses pastries, and cakes, and all that again as regional products and a "low calorie" buffet which I have never seen in that size before. Bacon-egg-beans, omelettes, toast with ham and poached egg, warm waffles with various sauces were a hot alternative!

Staff were very friendly. German, English, French, no problem. At the front desk, at the restaurant and at the bar! A waiter at the bar amazingly could also speak Luxembourgian. Because, as he later told us, he was born in Luxembourg and resided there until he was 20! Housekeeping was never a problem, do not disturb signs were respected. Upon arrival, the doors taxi were opened by a uniformed member of staff and the luggage was carried to reception. And brought to the room by a porter who got there almost faster than we did.

Since we took a city break we did not actually take part in anything. In early March it was a little too cold to use the pool on the roof. brrr. But there are a small spa and a gym at the hotel.

Very clean hotel with 281 rooms, a bar, a restaurant, a rooftop pool with views over Porto and the Douro river. We had booked bed and breakfast! Guest structure was, in my opinion, more made up of business travellers?

The hotel is located centrally in the triangle: Parque da Cidade, Douro estuary and the old town. The old town is about 4km away. Taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (2 people + luggage) about 17 €. 24 hour taxi stand just outside the hotel! Opposite the old town of Porto, on the other side of the Douro, in Vila Nova de Gaia, are the porto wineries! Highly recommended are Taylors and Croft, a little up the hill. 2 glasses of port are included in the free tour. The tour at Sandeman costs 4 €? But then there are also 2 free glasses of port!

As already mentioned, we were 2 couples and, despite making our reservation together, we got rooms on different floors. Our friends had room 1203 on the 12th floor. The room was nicely clean and well equipped. Unfortunately, it was definitely a smoking room (although at the time of booking the non-smoking option was checked!). Airing did not help, all their clothes smelt of smoke the next day.We had room 205 (2nd floor) - which turned out to be wheelchair accessible. And what can be very helpful and useful for people with a handicap may be a real problem for those able to walk. The toilet was increased, and framed on either side by stainless steel handrails. The sink was attached very low (both of us are not really short!) and in the tiny, walk-in shower, there was a stainless steel shower seat to fold down, but there was no holder for the shower head so that you had to hold onto the shower the whole time. The shower curtain ended at a height of 1.50 m, which resulted in a flooding of the bathroom because of our height. As already mentioned: a change of rooms was denied. Although the bed was huge you could have also used a brick as a pillow (the hardness would have been the same). In the room there was a TV and a well stocked mini bar. Overall, we were, understandably, extremely disappointed and had expected much more out of 5 stars.

We only used the breakfast buffet. Here, unfortunately, a few things were wrong. Breakfast is served from 7 am to 10:30 am. The four of us arrived at 9:20 am, after we had been waiting on our respective floors for a lift for 15 minutes. (As already mentioned, there are few lifts and NOT one stairwell - at least we could not find one even after doing a search, EXCEPT a door with an alarm) - during peak hours, i.e. for breakfast, when all the guests want to use the lift, this is a real nuisance. In the breakfast room the fun went on: there was no free table. An employee allocates the (far too few) tables. We waited again for about 10-15 minutes and refused the offer of the attendant to sit at different tables. The table that was eventually available, was then still covered in the previous guest's rubbish. The chairs were sticky from eggs and crumbly. The actual breakfast was fine and there was plenty of choice (from cereal to fruit and yoghurt over bread, cold cuts and scrambled eggs). Sadly, you had wait for a long time at every single counter, as the breakfast room is too small for the amount of guests. You sat very close together - the waiter hit our heads or backs with his elbow or tablet 4 times when walking past. Our holiday mood was suffering a little from that.

Staff tried to ease friendliness but sometimes appeared helpless and disoriented. We were 2 couples who had booked 2 double rooms, the receptionist could not explain why we could not live on the same floor (1 room on the 2nd and one on the 12th floor - rebooking was apparently not possible). The best way to communicate is in Spanish or English, if you don't speak Portuguese, German is not spoken. Upon check-out the general satisfaction was not enquired about (in which case we would have had a few things to say).

The hotel makes a good impression at first sight: spacious entrance in a chic style, spacious lobby with a piano and a spacious bar. Unfortunately, there are not enough lifts for the many floors, which causes some problems during peak hours. The view from the rooms is rather moderate.

A good starting point for trips to the city of Porto and to the Sealife and other sights.

Size of the bathroom

6.0

Cleanliness & linen change

5.0

Room amenities (TV, balcony, safe, etc.)

5.0

Size of the room

6.0

Atmosphere & furnishings

5.0

Quality of food and drinks

5.0

Overall cleanliness in the restaurant and in the dining areas

6.0

Variety of food and drinks

5.0

Reception, check-in & check-out

5.0

Friendliness and helpfulness

5.0

Staff's knowledge of foreign language

5.0

Child care or playground

4.0

Condition of the Hotel

5.0

General cleanliness of the different areas

5.0

Proximity to shopping areas

3.0

Restaurants & bars in the area

3.0

Transportation connection and available excursions

6.0

We need music, and so we turned on VH1 in the morning. Whoever expected German television would be disappointed. But bad news was not needed really on holiday and the weather could be searched on the internet before.We had reserved family rooms and already at reservation sent an email to the hotel in English and Portuguese with the wish to get one of the higher floors.There was not even a reaction at first and actually could have then already avoided all the trouble about the room. We would have certainly altered our reservations.So, ask which floor the room was, if it is of importance.Our room was very bady soundproofed, especially concerning the noise in the shower.The size and design of the two rooms was then still decisive (as compared to the small suites downtown) that we stayed at this hotel.

We did not use the restaurant except for the relatively good breakfast. For a 5 star hotel I was expecting actually more selection.By the way, a little diet breakfast buffet was also set up.

The staff at the breakfast service was always friendly and courteous.The pearls of the hotel every day cleaned our room beautifully fine.Very disappointing receptionists behavior.We had a problem with the room location. (Second floor, the view of a corrugated wall) We were referred the second time curtly to our internet offer. They could do nothing for us.A very disappointing service!We sat every morning and evening shortly just on the roof terrace and enjoyed the view from there.

At the reception all sorts of brochures with the usual city tours, etc. and a city map.There was an indoor children's playground, which was however not suitable for 2 years old.Indoor pool was actually an inclusive service.

The reason for our 6 day trip to Porto, was a cheap flight there. We reserved the hotel because of the family room offer, its "beach location," the 16 floors with great views and the great roof terrace.Services - bed and breakfast, half board was unfortunately not possible to reserve.We would not describe the hotel as a 5 star hotel, we did not necessarily know the Portuguese standards, but it was our first and certainly not :-) the last trip to that country.During the week the hotel was mostly used by businessmen, (we had mostly an exotic status with our child ) on weekends for "city-trip tourists" with all languages.

From the airport it was best to take a taxi (about € 15 - 18). The hotel was located about 15 minutes away in the middle of a residential area.Quote catalog description: "This exclusive beach hotel was located in the tourist center of Oporto, and a few minutes walk from downtown. In the near vicinity a variety of shopping possibilities awaited, as well as numerous restaurants, diverse bars, cafés and other entertainment possibilities and exciting nightlife. " (End quote catalog description)??? Thus in our opinion, probably a different hotel was described!The location was an ideal starting point for beach and city excursions. We were 3 days in the city and 3 days traveling the beach road. (Walking and by bus)The lines 200 and 207 stopped in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. One ticket cost 1.45 € and was about 10 minutes ride. (Both into town and toward the beach)For bus and especially tram - hand out, otherwise sometimes left out, as we were!Caution!!! If anyone wanted to go down to the river (the tram line 500 or trolley 1 drove there) after the sweet blue tiled decorated church on the right and after the mini-market, towards right (down). Whoever liked to go left after the church, it was not nice and we did not feel comfortable.It was clear to us after the first day that we did not need a rental car for Porto, as city and beach were easily accessible by bus.

Size of the bathroom

4.0

Cleanliness & linen change

5.0

Room amenities (TV, balcony, safe, etc.)

2.0

Size of the room

3.0

Atmosphere & furnishings

3.0

Quality of food and drinks

3.0

Overall cleanliness in the restaurant and in the dining areas

5.0

Variety of food and drinks

3.0

Competence (handling complaints)

4.0

Reception, check-in & check-out

5.0

Friendliness and helpfulness

6.0

Staff's knowledge of foreign language

6.0

Overall condition of the pool area

3.0

Leisure activities (e.g. sauna, tennis, entertainment, etc.)

1.0

Family friendliness

6.0

Condition of the Hotel

3.0

General cleanliness of the different areas

5.0

Proximity to shopping areas

1.0

Restaurants & bars in the area

1.0

Transportation connection and available excursions

2.0

Other leisure activities available

1.0