Douro Scala

I’ve never been so confused and lost in a hotel until this stay. I was unable to figure out how to find reception or my room or get anywhere! Part of the reason is because no staff member initially explained how to get to my room—taking one elevator down then going across a hallway and taking another elevator up. It’s a crazy hotel design. I felt like the hotel was understaffed during my visit. I stayed as a part of a tour group. The restaurant food was fantastic. The presentation was beautiful. Don’t skip dessert; it was fabulous. Our tour guide interpreted from Portuguese to English so we did not have the problems with the staff members as other reviewers have mentioned. Breakfast lay out was very nice. The grounds are beautiful. My room overlooked the valley and the pool. It had a small balcony. I opened the sliding glass door in the morning, and I listen to the sounds of birds. It was very calm and peaceful. The Jacuzzi was not heated. That was a big disappointment. The indoor pool was a great warm temperature – it might’ve been warmer than the Jacuzzi. The interior pool area is all black, and it is difficult to swim for exercise because you can’t see when the wall is coming up. It feels like you’re in a burnt out building. I don’t know why they selected that color scheme. It is very dark. The gym was very minimal with only a few pieces of equipment. See my photo. There is a small museum on the grounds but it’s all in Portuguese. All the television channels were in Portuguese. The Internet worked well. As others have mentioned, the room layout is very odd. It is always damp because your shower and bathtub are kind of near the bed with no separation. I did not see any mold in my room as other reviewers reported. The room was large but a big portion was unusable at the entrance separated by a wooden slat wall. There is no reading light above the bed so reading before sleep is impossible. There is no make up mirror, and the hairdryer is a basic model, which takes a very long time to actually dry your hair. There were no areas to hang your bathing suit to dry . This was extremely frustrating since the hotel has two pools. I wasn’t here long enough to go exploring, but I could see an old church up the hill. This hotel is OK for one or two nights if you get a good rate.

It’s a very relaxing environment in addition to the spectacular scenery! And the hotel staff are very attentive.

We spend 2 nights at this beautiful hotel. The location, the rooms and the inside pool are amazing. But there are some things that just don’t fit in a 5* hotel: Staff: only one member of the staff was apparently qualified to work here, is name is Joel. All the others were either unfriendly or not qualified to do his job. Restaurant: besides of the fact that there is no big variety, meals are expensive; wines are ok; staff at the restaurant don’t know how to present themselves and serve food; I wonder if they ever had been trained for working in a restaurant. Other things we claim and hope that the management can improve: water temperature in the outside pool is too cold, not enough sunshade, only few drinks in the bar, snooker room dirt… Resume: we expected much more for this type of hotel; it looks like a good 4* but with amazing location: in the middle of the wine yards.

Love the dinner and breakfast. Room layout is nice too.

I stayed 3 nights in this hotel with a walking group (Exodus). The location amidst vineyards is attractive but about 30 mins drive to the nearest town. Reception staff mostly spoke no English and were pretty unhelpful. The overall impression in the new wing where our rooms were was of an old people's home. The first room I was given was a disabled room with grubby tiles all down one wall, a disabled toilet and shower with no bath. I asked to move and was given a slightly better room with a bath but the decor was all dark brown and dark green so very dismal. Only the toilet was partitioned off from the room so it would certainly not be suitable for sharing with someone you didn't know very well. The long corridors (ramps) to the rooms are floored in stained grey plastic: very institutional. The old building was attractive and the restaurant was OK.

For less than 100€ per night, I think it was very well priced. It does not have a direct view over Douro river from the pool, but the river is very nearby. For lunch and dinner, we went to Mesao Frio and Regua (both 15 min by car) and we found very good restaurants. The pool is nice and the service was good a well. It's not a 5-star hotel, but it's for a rural hotel, so the classification is different. The vineyards are very nice to walk into and we took excellent pictures of the Douro river and valley.

My husband and I spent 3 nights in this hotel. We meant to have a romantic vacation, away from the kids. Upon arrival, we were pleased with the place. The views are amazing, the hotel is different and mixes old with new. The room was nice, not a 5 star room, but pleasant enough. We also enjoyed the dinner, food was great. The problem with this hotel was the service. We had some disappointing experiences that managed to downgrade the whole experience. 1 - there was no one to accompany us to our room upon arrival. 2- the bathtub and shower had mold. 3- I mentioned several times that my husband’s birthday was during our stay, and nothing was arranged by the hotel. 4- we were told we would have a welcome gift in our room, that turned out to be a water bottle and 2 oranges… 5 - when we asked for more shower gel to the cleaning ladies, we were looked with suspicion, almost like we were lying about not having any in our basket. And then the cleaning lady just suddenly commanded us to put on the face mask. That was our first really bad experience. 6 - the breakfast is until 11 am. But when we showed up at 10h30, there was already little food and the empty trays are not being refilled. If you stayed until after 11, you had the distinct feeling you were very unwelcome. 7 - on our last morning, we asked an employee for 2 cappuccinos from the expresso machine, and that was when we were faced in full with the lack of proper training. The reply we got was more proper from a corner bar than from a 5 star hotel. Not to mention we could hear the employees discussing private matters while we were eating. It was like we weren’t even there. 8 - the check out is to pay and leave. There was no “how was your stay”, nothing. To finish, I would say this hotel would be more deserving of a 3/4 star rating than a 5 star. The service we got was definitely not a 5 star service. The 3 stars I am giving are due to the place and dinner food.