Pousada da Serra da Estrela – Historic Hotel

After Gym Hotel races behaviour, the police led us to this hotel and it was a great place to stay. Our other commitments didnt provide the opportunity to extend our stay. The employees were friendly and helpful. We promised to visit the ancient city again.

The Pousada Serra da Estrela is a fairy-tale hotel in the middle of the mountains with magnificient views towards Covilha. We had a splendid stay in this magnificient hotel. The rooms are wide and comfortable, the people at the reception desk are very helpful (special mention for Xavier Pérez), and the people at the bar are also kind and ready to help. Breakfasts are superb. Nothing wrong about this magnificient place.

We like a quiet hotel but this place is dead. It's an interesting building and well preserved, but...... We had a good balcony with a stunning view but don't assume - most rooms have no outside space whatsoever. The flashy electric blinds were fine but the electric curtains on the other windows/doors were jammed shut. Reported, but no change in the week we were here. The little tables are a joke - tiny drawers with too little storage. We are in Portugal for 2 weeks so we have a lot of luggage. The restaurant is expensive and our first dinner was very good. The menu is not huge and it was the same every single day. I ordered cheese in filo pastry with salad and the cheese was wrapped in greaseproof paper inside the pastry. Not a small amount but a big sheet of paper. 2 courses and a single glass of wine = €82. There were no refreshments near the outdoor poolside, despite a stand marked "Bar". My husband went to reception (c150m) and was told the bar would be opened. Back he came (150m). 40minutes later he returned to reception (150m) to be told that the bar would not be opened and he should carry 2 coffees 150m back, down steps and across the undulating gardens. He is 74 years old. The weather wasn't great and there is NOTHING to do. A few books on the shelves, 3 in English, no board games, no evening entertainment at all. Nowhere to walk to in safety, not even the tatty-looking cafe a few hundred yards up the road. Almost all the personnel were friendly and polite but it was obvious that the hotel is woefully understaffed. There is seldom anyone present behind the bar during the evening. I even saw one frustrated guest help himself! And diabetics like me beware, the only sugar-free mixer is Coca-Cola, so good luck getting to sleep full of caffeine. There are several families here so be prepared for children running around the dining room shouting and screaming, even at 9pm. I found an emergency exit door locked and pointed this out to the duty manager. He argued that this was not an emergency exit - until I pointed the signs out to him 🙄. Assumption: English tourist = stupid. We have stayed at 2 Pestana hotels before and are members of their Vacation Club. We are supposed to expect 5* VIP treatment - certainly not here. We are trying to arrange an early departure but even that is fraught with Pestana red tape. If you come here, expect to do a lot of waiting around, walking indoors, and thumb twiddling!

Our second visit. We enjoyed this pousada and liked the relaxed feel of the place when we stayed in 2021. The grounds are beautiful and the rooms are nice. Whilst the hotel is still very good, the people are friendly and courteous, it is on the cusp of becoming a little too 'official' with bureaucratic paperwork and policies which could be off-putting for guests . For example, the €25 per pet, per night charge does not come with a pet bed, pet food, treats etc (like most competitors provide, may I add) but with a 2 page document full of rules, warnings and guidelines- talk about over the top! It literally just needs to be: Please pick up after your dog, please supervise your dog and please use a lead when using the grounds. The gym is okay, but very VERY dated. Oh, and the flush in the toilet in our bedroom wouldn't stop flushing water after the button had been pressed- perhaps if staff were to spend more time attending and maintaining rooms, rather than creating and providing guests with paperwork, these types of things could be better rectified. Overall, a good place to stay, just needs a little less 'management' and bureaucracy

We had a great stay, beautiful hotel and very well maintained. Awesome views which changed daily due to cloud formations. .Rooms, food, pool, sauna - all was fantastic. Close to Ski resort, had snowed enough to play in but not enough to ski.. :)

Amazing experience. The staff were very attentive and friendly, the room was very comfortable, the food was wonderful, and the landscape was breathtaking. My family and I loved this hotel and had a very special Christmas there. I definitely recommend it!

We arrived and had a very frendly greeting at Reception, The receptionist spoke perfect English. We chose to eat lunch in the bar and we were all delighted with our choicess, my daughter loved her toastie (especially the bread) and I was recommended and really liked the mountain chese. The hotel is very beautiful, with a restored lift and all the rooms have scenic views. We sat by the outsode pool and some of us swam; we then went in and had a Turkish bath and swam in the indoor pool. We took a short drve ard to the mountain tops and short wallks The buffet super had an enormous choice of food, It was the frist time we had come across bapa camello. Breakfast was also generous with a wide selection of favourites. It is an iconic thirties buiding in a stunning setting with polite, friendly and fluent-English-speaking staff. We ike the Spanich Paradors and thought the Pestana Pousadas would be an equivalent experience in Portugal. Please provide the name of the staff member who provided exceptional service and a brief description of action. Vitor Nunez - friendly, chatty; made us laugh (in a nice way); explained some Portuguese pronunciations.