Pousada Convento de Beja – Historic Hotel

We really enjoyed our stay. The facility is beautiful, the staff friendly and helpful and the site peaceful. The breakfast buffet was very nice. We didn’t try the restaurant for dinner, maybe next time! The review needs to have a minimum of 200 characters. I guess I’m not very wordy.

The building and location score highly. And the garden is pleasant, though the swimming pool is spoilt by having steps and a sloping floor on two adjacent sides so it is impossible to swim from end to end without hitting the bottom as you approach a sidewall. The dinner was poor. After enjoying a delicious, traditionally prepared 'gazpacho' on arrival at lunchtime, I couldn't resist ordering the same again. Except it was different: this time it was a bowl of watery, olive-oily liquid full of minutely diced veg. Horrible. As if the chef had forgotten to liquidise the dish which was, apparently, in the Alentejano style. Left uneaten. So, on to the main course: fillet steak. I chewed my first mouthful, and chewed, and chewed. And gave up. I hid it under the accompanying 'sweet' potato mash - which was bitter and uneatable. The ice cream for dessert was good! Apart from the gastronomic disappointment, the bedroom too left something to be desired. The bathroom was tired, the wired-in hairdryer cut out every few seconds (we were given a replacement plug-in one), and the fixed overhead shower didn't work so we had to shower by holding the flexible shower in one hand instead: not comfortable at all. In the bedroom proper, the electric sockets were virtually all at floor level - not convenient for our travel kettle for wake-up coffee (as there are no coffee-making facilities provided), and we had to have someone come to switch off wall lights because we hadn't spotted the switches on the side of a small bedside table, hidden hard up against the mattress. Which reminds me: the pillows were poor, one flat and empty, the other too big and hard. The mattress was too hard for my arthritic hips too. But everywhere was clean, and the staff were friendly and helpful. Apart from the food (constantly criticised in reviews: can't something be done?), my criticisms are minor irritants, really. Sort out the food and I'd put up with the irritants on another visit.

The suite was large with a large bathroom. The air-conditioning could be better. The cleaning staff and reception staff were lovely and helpful. The staff serving breakfast struggled to understand Portuguese. One of the staff at the bar made some weird/unwelcome comments. The water in the pool was dirty with lots of air in suspension. If you subtract the quality of the water and some failures from the staff the place is fine.

This pousada has good and bad points. Extremely difficult to find when we arrived at night. Few signs, and the town pretty much deserted. Having got there, liked the secure parking. The building is amazing, the pool area very good. Now the bad - our shower tricked water, the grab rail was falling off the wall. Asked for that to be sorted, the shower was. We like to play card type games in the evening after dinner but where - there was a card table in what should have been a bar but isn’t, and the room was being painted, so we tried the table in the cloister, too dark, we tried an empty table in the dining room but Miss Grumpy said no, we tried using the sofas in the unused cavernous area you walk through as you go from car park to reception but that hurt my back. The card table came back in use later in the week. It was hot, I went to the dining room to order drinks. Miss Grumpy on again - we do not deliver to the card room so I waited and took them myself. Pool has some service and most of the time someone does appear from time to time unless Miss Grumpy is on when you have to hunt for her inside the dining room. Apart from breakfast and afternoon at the pool you never see a soul either staff or guests. They have kept staff to a minimum which means centring everything on the dining room. Our rooms were not serviced until late afternoon which is really too late. Though the breakfast was ok it did not meet the breakfast we had at the Viana pousada. Central location is good. The bedrooms felt what they are - nuns cells. I would not return here

Beautiful hotel stunning building so many unusual seating areas. Restaurant was so lovely we ate in the hotel to enjoy it which we rarely do. Staff were helpful and friendly. Great location as a base to do the town and visit surrounding area.

This converted convent is a wonderplace to stay, and right in the heart of Beja. The room was very quiet; the breakfast was wonderful. Our only complaints are that the bed is extremely hard, and the room smells like an old hospital room.