Porto Istana Vacations from $1,307

As someone who has travelled to over 41 countries and stayed everywhere from some of the world’s finest luxury hotels, including Four Seasons, to simple three-star properties, I can confidently say that a hotel’s star rating is never what defines a great stay it’s the service. Unfortunately, my experience at Santa Pedra was one of the worst I’ve had. From the moment I arrived, I was disappointed. The property has stairs throughout, yet there was no offer of assistance with luggage, despite this being a basic level of hospitality that many hotels provide. The rooms are incredibly poorly soundproofed. Every morning I was woken by noise from surrounding rooms, and on arrival I was greeted by loud drilling and construction work taking place on the property. I had not been informed prior to my stay that these works were occurring. I was initially told it would only be for one day, however the same loud banging and disruption continued each morning. The staff carrying out the work were also extremely loud and showed little consideration for guests trying to enjoy their stay. The service throughout my stay was equally disappointing. Staff were dismissive when asked simple questions, and despite requesting an iron on four separate occasions, it was never delivered to my room. Sadly, this stay fell well below expectations. I will not be returning,I will be sharing my bad experience at Santa Pedra to my audience of more than 120,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok @regardingcindy

Very clean hotel. The staff were really nice. The beds are really hard though. But otherwise a very quiet area.

Only problem is that uber/taxi is difficult to get an d the property is in a beautiful location but a bit remote