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.

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.