Pousada Mosteiro Crato

We stayed at the Pousada Mosteiro Crato during the International Ballon Festival in the Alentejo region and it was a wonderful experience. The Monastery has been beautifully converted to a hotel but in keeping with the historic nature of the building. The staff was friendly and spoke fluent English. The food in the restaurant was 5-star quality.

A very welcoming place. Great pousada to stay in. Luxurious, clean, well priced. Food was great both the breakfasts and the dinner. This is one of the best pousadas we have stayed in and we would have liked to stay longer. We love staying in historic buildings and loved expoling the monastery.

This is our second visit. The hotel is very nice, rooms quite big and everything was impecably clean. The reception, Joao, was very friendly and helpfull. Breakfast was good value. The sraff at the restaurant, Lucy and João were absolutely fantastic. My daughter woke up late for breakfast, and when I ask for just a cup of coffee, they told my daughter to come up for the breakfast and brought everything she wanted to eat. Dinner was also very good. A very special place to spend some quality time with family.

Fantastic everything. Room, Service,etc. The Monastery it's very beautifull. Swimming pool and SPA in good conditions. Peacefull ambience. To repeat.

Truly outstanding experience, beautiful place and impeccable team to host us. The restaurant was fantastic for both breakfast and dinner. Lots of things to do in the surroundings, visit Alter, Marvão, Castelo de vide and Portalegre.

We had an enjoyable four nights at the hotel staying in what is the new wing. Lovely view over fields with sheep and goats and hence very quiet which was what we wanted. The bed was large and very comfortable and the room was clean. Staff were friendly and spoke good English. The breakfast buffet was expansive and decent quality. There are a few things that could be done to make the stay more enjoyable though. First, the wood floor in the lobby area of the room was loose and creaked every time we walked on it. It was odd that this hadn't been attended to. Second, the provision of a kettle with tea, coffee and cups would make a big difference. When you arrive back after a day out it really is nice to be able to make a cup of tea and relax. Instead, it was necessary to go to the bar and either wait to be served or find a member of staff to take the order. Yes, the hotel gets the revenue from selling you the drink but relative to the goodwill created by putting a kettle in the room it's minimal. Third, the food in the restaurant for dinner was fine, not spectacular. However, there seemed to be a bizarre approach in that we were given the menu, the order taken (including the drinks order) and bread and olives arrive but no drinks! Half an hour later I had to find the waitress to ask where my wife's G&T was. The response was that "The staff are busy." This was repeated the second night albeit with a shorter wait. In any restaurant or hotel I've been in the drinks are normally served first. Strange. The above may seem trivial but they detracted from an otherwise enjoyable stay and suggests a hotel that needs to work a bit harder on the basics. Would we come back? Probably not.