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Reviews of Bussaco Palace Hotel

5 out of 5
Bussaco Palace Hotel
Mata do Bussaco, Luso, Mealhada

Reviews

8.4

Very good

Rating 10 - Excellent. 347 out of 787 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 265 out of 787 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 109 out of 787 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 43 out of 787 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 23 out of 787 reviews" "

8.4/10

Cleanliness

8.6/10

Staff & service

8.2/10

Amenities

7.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Christopher

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Overall amazing stay, can’t wait to come again!
Stayed 1 night in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Eleanor

Travelled with partner, Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful facility and the staff was very friendly & response.
Stayed 1 night in May 2024

8/10 Good

Daniel, Redlands

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities
This property is amazing historic hotel. The facilities are aging and when you stay here to understand, they have been here more than 100 years. Female staff we encountered were exceptionally helpful. The male waiters and bartenders, not nearly as much the grounds are pretty and very likable not missed.
Stayed 2 nights in May 2024

4/10 Poor

Michael

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
The rooms are in an abysmal state - such a beautiful property and the hotel does not live up to its potential.
Stayed 1 night in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

William, Georgetown

Travelled with group
Liked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
Wonderful historic property
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Thomas, Wakefield

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Spectacular, historic palace hotel on grounds of a royal arboretum and garden. Service and food excellent, including their own brand wines.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Larelle

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
This hotel is in a historic property, but I’ve stated in historic properties before and had much better experiences. The rooms were clean, and the bathrooms were nice. However basic amenities such as Wi-Fi and a mini fridge were lacking (don’t worry, they can forward your mail). Paint on the window frames of our room was peeling, and many areas of the hotel looked run down. Same for the grounds. Lovely from a distance but weedy, with overgrown or dead plants on closer inspection. We were asked to make a reservation for dinner when we checked in as if they fill up the dining room every night. Hardly any guests attended dinner, and the dinner food was expensive and subpar. Would not recommend. Fortunately the breakfast was very nice. Overall felt as if they were trying to maintain an air of expensive exclusivity, but they fell down on several points.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

Katheryn

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
If you want to say you stay in a beautiful palace in Portugal then I would recommend this unique opportunity. However, if you don't wish to feel shamed or made to feel oppressed and bad about yourself then I don't recommend it. We visited from Canada and had an issue with booking our toddler son. The check-in person was rude, impatient and accusatory for our mistake. He refused to listen to anything we had to say and made us feel like common thieves trying to snuggle a child in who we were holding at check-in. He overcharged us for the child and then proceeded to reprimand us and make me feel demeaned as a mother. We understand occupancy and occupancy charges, and for a "five star" I would expect more tact and customer service vs personal attacks. The rooms are ok. It is outdated but you are paying for authenticity and the experience. At breakfast the one staff person was incredibly hostile and rude. They ran out of all kinds of food and noone dared to mention it or else she would snap at you and ask if you "did not like the food that was there." Overall we did not have a relaxing time as the ambiance and feel of the place is not filled with positive vibes and joy. Perhaps this is ok for a certain generation and style of traveler but to keep this place alive I think some of the backdoor thinking may need to be refurbished instead of the rooms. I took a star off for breakfast and one for service.

6/10 Okay

Timothy

Travelled with partner
Sad to see such a wonderful property so run down. The gardens are barely cared for and overgrown with weeds. I stayed here more than 30 years ago and it is now just a shadow of its former self.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2024

6/10 Okay

KRISTINA

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Dining service is terrible AND WAY OVERPRICED. I would give it a 5star had i not eaten there or dealt with the bar manager. Very arrogant attitude.
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Third time here in 2 years. We love the Palace and love their staff
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

4/10 Poor

Eduardo

Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

6/10 Okay

KRISTINA

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service
All was great except the OVERPRICED restaurant and SNOTTY Bar tender. Highly recommend to not eat at the restaurant. TO expensive and MR snobby bar tender seemed to make sure the waiters were not smiling or friendly
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

KRISTINA

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It is a great experience to stay at this palace. The checkin agents great. NOTE. the restaurant is WAY over priced and the staff I would say they think its a Michelin star but its not close. We had to preorder dinner and still took near an hour. Staff unfriendly and I can NOT STATE how over priced. I found after their is a cafe close that I would have chosen. DO NOT EAT IN THE RESTAURANT. you will overpay get bad service and not great. Sad as the place and the property to explore is amazing. The restaurant left a really negative impact on us.

10/10 Excellent

Huong, Raleigh

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Michele

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful old palace steeped in olde world history. Not in it's full garden glory in winter but still stunning. Beautiful tiles, paintings, sumptuous lounges and dining area..needs some money to restore the exterior to its full glory ,but a quirky place to stay....so well looked after by the staff... Delicious breakfast and dinner. There is a history packed convent next door and many forest walks to enjoy.service was superb.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2024

8/10 Good

Alvaro

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Palace Stay
Fantastic Place that could need some updating. Go for the palace and the fantastic park/grounds. Do not go for modern amenities. The beauty of the place makes up for stuff like peeling wallpaper and weak showers. Great experience.
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Steve

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Paul

Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2023

6/10 Okay

Kristina

Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Naomi

Travelled with group
Liked: Amenities
This was a beautiful property. Enjoyed our stay.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Mark, Twin Falls

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Property is a bit hard to get to but worth it. Location is absolutely beautiful and quiet. Only critique is the rooms are a little out dated.... Which was still considering it's a Palace!! Breakfast was pretty good as well.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

6/10 Okay

Ray

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Although the property was gorgeous and the staff were great they say there is internet, there is Not. Told us we had to be in the lobby, we stood beside their computer and still no signal. No usb port in the room. No TV other than BBC. Just silence. But you can explore the lovely walking paths in the forest.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Christina

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The hotel is an old palace. It is absolutely gorgeous!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Dieter

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Generally, nice location, well maintained grounds.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Armen

Liked: Staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Maureen

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Trip highpoint
I hope to return, staying longer than one night next time. Unforgettable experience where all workers, some third generation, were there to please. The building could be upgraded a bit, for sure, but the experience was unsurpassed!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Eai Nean

Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Levi

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Very unique. Room wasn’t great, but everything else was.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Irina

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice experience to live in castle
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

6/10 Okay

patrik

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Amenities
There are things to like about the palace and other things to be aware of which may dissuade you. The good parts are that it is a very unique and beautiful place with some magnificent old charm. The building itself is beautiful and highly ornamented. It was built for the rich and famous in the gilded age so there is some cool history here. However, it is also a bit scruffy and worn. And understaffed. Feels like they are trying to save money on the staff and make up for the relative affordability of the room by changing a lot for everything else. The place is old and it shows. No WiFi in the room. Only in a small area next to the lobby. The shower in our room had very low water flow. The breakfast was ok - we had better at other hotels in Portugal that were around the same price or less. But it was an interesting experience to stay at a historic place like this. I think it’s very expensive to maintain an old property like this and they probably save by not hiring enough staff or invest in maintenance as much as they should to make sure it meets the needs of their guests. I really want to like this place but it did not live up to my expectations.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Tatiana

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Palace and hotel
We stayed one night, good breakfast, spacious room but really needs an upgrade, the Palace is beautiful outside, nice garden and trails nearby, the best thing was gorgeous restaurant terrace!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

pilar, san ysidro

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Muy amable el personal y el lugar muy recomendable
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

6/10 Okay

Mikhail, Studio City

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
This is a 5 star review because staff of this hotel went above and beyond when we arrived. My wife had a business conference and we were hoping that she could take it from our room. However, we were informed that WiFi is only available in the lobby and none of the rooms have any connections. We settled in the lobby with a laptop just to find out that none of our devises can connect. The young lady at the reception was trying to help us, even offering to use her cell phone as a hot spot, but nothing helped. She called for help and assistant manager Joao Roque came to the rescue letting us to connect to their businesses WiFi and power outlet. This really saved our day and took care of our immediate business needs. Thank you!!! In retrospect, the hotel is advertised as having free WiFi so we relied on this. Had we known that there is no WiFi in rooms, we would made different arrangements and connected from somewhere else. I wish the hotel had a better description of what to expect. The hotel is used to be a summer residence of Portuguese kings so you are really staying in a palace. This is very cool. You find a lot of original things and interiors. I could not believe we arrived to a hotel and thought it was a museum even though you park right in front of it and walk into the reception like a museum. We had a dinner at the hotel which was pricey and food was mediocre, although you get to sit down and eat in a royal (presumably) room. Interesting experience indeed.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

James

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful place and people.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Naomy

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing historical site!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
An amazing place deep in the woods - Staff is over the top helpful. Parking is simple.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023

8/10 Good

Graham

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
It's wonderful property. Nothing better than sitting in the bar enjoying a glass of wine. Wifi is very spotty, so if you need to be connected, make sure you can connect on your own data plan.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

CONSTANCE, COMMERCE

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Jessica

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
The property was amazing! Our room wasn't as amazing but regardless, I do not regret staying at this property
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

David

Travelled with partner
Liked: Amenities
It was beautiful, more than we expected! Dinner wasn’t the best but ok!
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

6/10 Okay

Igor

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Glenn

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Sharon

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Fire the Chef. The dinner was abysmal.
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Paul

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Artem, Richmond Hill

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Perfect place to get a fun and feel like royalty
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

8/10 Good

Ed

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Beautiful place should be seen, down side no A/C or fan, when it’s in high 90- 100 degrees is a problem for some people
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Chrissy

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Every one of the staff members were extremely professional, helpful, and friendly. The hotel is gorgeous and a very unique place to stay. The dining room is stunning, and the food was good. You can walk around beautiful gardens and trails, but there's about a 20-30 minute drive to get anywhere from the property.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Karin

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Elizabeth

Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023