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Concierge.com's insider take:
The debut of the Bairro Alto in 2005, Lisbon's first true boutique hotel, was a telling sign that the city had become a style center in its own right. Fittingly overlooking Camões Square at the precise point where the bohemian Bairro Alto neighborhood meets the trendy Chiado shopping district, the converted 18th-century mansion doesn't entirely abandon tradition; the facade is a classic bright-yellow, while the terrazzo floor in the lobby is inlaid with a marble globe referencing Portugal's epic age of exploration. But the real local buzz focuses on the hotel's embrace of the modern. The street-level Portuguese-contemporary restaurant and the airy bar overlooking the square have become clubhouse central for Lisbon's scene-makers. The sleek sensibility continues upstairs, in the 55 bedrooms that shrink in size on top floors but never feel too cramped, thanks to their brightly colored paneled walls, tailored leather headboards, and slim walnut desks that convert into dressing tables by way of flip-up mirrors. The most unexpected, whimsical touch is the naturalist cameo of songbirds painted on each guest room wall. But the Bairro Alto's best feature is an open-air rooftop café where you can curl up on wicker sofas, eat a smoked salmon sandwich, and gaze out over Lisbon's red-tiled roofs to the Tagus River.
From the readers of Condé Nast Traveler:
(55 rooms)
—2011 Gold List
Overall Score: 91.0
- Design: 92.0
- Food: 85.2
- Location: 92.6
- Rooms: 88.9
- Service: 96.3
View the entire 2011 Gold List of the world's best places to stay ›
Also appeared in the Gold List in 2010, 2009
Subscribe now to Condé Nast Traveler ›From the editors of Condé Nast Traveler:
Hotelier Grace Leo-Andrieu has a talent for turning sows' ears into silk purses. The latest proof is this slick revamp of a formerly frumpy hotel turned office space in Lisbon's buzzy bohemian center. Inside the original 1845 building, the low-key reception desk flanks the vest-pocket restaurant, Flores. The hotel's design incorporates a smart hybrid of Portuguese colonial references, and a pumpin' jumpin' DJ spins tunes at the three-level bar. Despite distant traffic noise—the Praça Luis de Cam›es is one of the city's busiest—this place is all about the pleasures of good-looking surroundings (and staff) and a perfect location. The only false notes are the exorbitant surcharges for Internet and phone use, and the early breakfast hours in a famous late-night city. —2006 Hot ListView the entire Hot List of the travel world's most noteworthy debuts in 2006 ›
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