The Hotel Inglaterra is beautiful, having once been a grand, private residence. It boasts a bar, an infinity pool atop a sunny terrace, balustraded steps sweeping down aside elegant turrets, marble floors, beautiful carved doors, and windows that open to catch the sea breezes.
Sadly, none of this matters when the staff at breakfast is worse than surly, when you're told in a scolding tone that the bar is closed at 5pm and "you need to walk to the beach," when the guest upstairs can be heard banging their doors and dropping shoes, luggage, and it sounded like moving furniture at 1 am and, again, at 7 am the next morning, when housekeeping slams the doors to the room across the hall at 8am, and when the mattress is so hard (yet your bedmate's every movement can be felt) that sleep is nearly impossible. In addition, the drain in the tub was slow enough that water came up to the ankles when showering.
I'm sure that, by October, all of Estoril is tired of tourists; but, such a lovely hotel - and certainly her guests - deserve better.
