Pousada do Marvao – Hotel Santa Maria

Stayed in Marvao in May, 2014. Neat old town in the mountains. Pousada was great. It did rain and it was windy, but we saw the castle and everything before the rain. It was great except somewhat hard to find even with GPS. So make sure you have GPS. Great view from the longe area as well as the restaurant. Food was very good. Our room was large and nice with twin beds.

After our very nice holidays in Portugal we want to thank you for the perfect bookings and the very nice stays we had in your Pousada's. Many thanks! It was great to find everywhere the information we wanted to get and the hospitality from all your staff in all pousada's. Special thanks for the Pousada in Marvao for the (special) early breakfast!

We stayed in lovely Marvao in September 2012. We found the Pousada to be a wonderful place to stay, with a very warm staff. The young blond girl at the desk was especially helpful (Was her name Frida? She was from Portalegre) Our room was small but adequate. The terrace had a terrific view. Wifi worked fine and we were given a 3 day password when we complained that the one we were originally given expired after 90 minutes. Breakfast was unexpectably ample, and was self service, fortunately. We ate in the restaurant the first night and found the service to be terribly slow-all we had was a bottle of wine and two appetizers, which took 90 minutes in an almost empty room! The lounge areas were comfortable and scenic. Besides Marvao, we saw a bit of Castelo de Vide on the way in, and went Portalegre for a short visit. Castelo de Vide is a very well kept medieval town with many restaurants. Portalegre is more modern. There we ate lunch at a homey local place called A Capela, after the street it's on, near the center of the old town. Delicious, friendly and cheap.

I first visited the formerly charming Pousada de Marvao twenty years ago. I was very much surprised when last summer we went back to Santa María and found that the lovely convent that used to room the pousada had been expanded into another building across the street. The new rooms totally lack the atmosphere I found years ago. Carpets and blankets in the room were dirty. In spite I claimed to the concierge nobody acted against. The common areas, particularly the windows in the living room, were dirty. Wi-fi had a ridiculous range. Breakfast was really modest. Overall not a value for our money. What a pity.