Convento do Espinheiro, Historic Hotel & Spa

Breakfast was excellent & the location which was so close to the historic town centre. The gardens & landscape was serene & beautiful.

The main star here is the absolutely gorgeous property itself, both the architecture and history of the converted convent and the immaculate landscaping of the grounds. The breakfast was served at the main restaurant, and it was excellent. We also booked one dinner at the main restaurant, which was also very good. But perhaps the most pleasant surprises were: (1) dinner at the wine bar with seating outside in the courtyard of the former cloisters, and (2) the elaborately decorated convent chapel, which in some respects was better even than the main cathedral in the nearby town of Evora.

The front desk staff was polite and friendly, but it seemed like they endlessly rotated and our request for bookings of nearby winery tours seemed to fall between the cracks. That required several follow-ups, but ultimately it worked out. Because the modern add-on hotel structure is low profile (just two floors), the corridors of guest rooms is extraordinarily long. Our guest room was at the very end of that corridor, making it quite a hike to the restaurants and main lobby area. The interior design of the guest room was not our style and did not seem up to the standard of the rest of the property. Finally, our room inexplicably lacked a mini-bar or fridge. But those were all nits. They did not significantly impact our enjoyment of our stay.

Location and the hotel, easy to find place to stay quite, very close to Évora, breakfast was excellent

For a 5 start hotel service offered must be improved.

The food provided at breakfast was excellent. The bed was very comfortable. The room was very clean.

We booked a deluxe room in the historic convent but were given a deluxe room in the modern section. Our allocated room was the furthest possible distance from reception and the convent possible downstairs with a view of some grass and an old wall with peeling paint. On querying with reception they first told us that was the only room available but then said that they could show us two available rooms of the type we had booked and we could change but in their opinion they had given us an upgrade. I did look and the historic room was exactly as I had envisaged in an historic setting but was made to feel as if I was just a complainer and should be happy with the other room. In retrospect I should have been more assertive and requested the move before we unpacked. The ‘upgrade’ room was not soundproof , had an offensive painting right next to the bed, mosquitos were in the room, no tea or access to hot water and the coffee was €2 per pod with the tiniest cups. Breakfast was satisfactory and I’m a lovely room but marred by the high number of servers who snatched plates and cups from the table too quickly, at one stage removing half finished plate while we went to get a coffee top up. All this ruined the expected experience in an historic convent