Detailed Review
Built in the 19th century for an aristocratic Portuguese family, this magnificent stately home has been recreated as a truly luxurious hotel. Located on a hilltop, overlooking the Tagus River, in the heart of Lisbon, the hotel is set in lush gardens dotted with streams and waterfalls.
The hotel is well equipped with a renowned restaurant, Ristorante Hotel Cipriani serving superb Italian & Venetian cuisine, and the poolside Pavilhão restaurant and bar and the Rio Tejo bar with indoor and outdoor seating. There are outdoor and indoor heated swimming pools, a fitness center with sauna, steam room, gym, and massage on request. Golf Tennis and Horse riding are available nearby.
Press Quotes
“Perched on a hilltop overlooking the Tejo River, the luxurious Lapa Palace is resplendent with gardens, streams and waterfalls. The deluxe guest rooms and suites are individually designed with elegant furnishings.” Washington Post 07
“The Lapa Palace, a much-expanded, puce-coloured 19th-century mansion, is indisputably Lisbon’s most indulgent hotel. It’s built into the hillside in the city’s poshest district, Lapa, a 10-minute taxi ride from the centre. Most bedrooms have big balconies and fantastic views of the Tagus over the hotel’s extensive gardens (complete with a giant ficus, palms, fountains and a heated swimming pool). Standard rooms occupy a new wing, more expensive and individual rooms - maybe with a four-poster or wood panelling - are in the original building. Expect first-rate buffet breakfasts and outstanding, unstuffy service." Telegraph 05
Independent Reviews
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"A glamorous mansion that has provided a home-from-home to celebrities and royalty alike, Lapa Palace is utter Lisbon luxury."
This is an elegant, refined grande dame in a 19th-century palace. Rooms are of variable size, and better in the old building. The gardens are beautiful.
Lapa Palace
By Sue Carpenter
Set amid the quiet cobbled streets of the residential embassy district, this resplendent 1870 mansion was bought by the Orient-Express group in 1998 and revamped with the kind of glitz and gleam that appeals to European royalty, Rod Stewart, Sting, Cher, Bono, John Malkovich and Catherine Deneuve and Paul McCartney and family (who felt so at home that they stayed on an extra couple of nights).
There’s a buzz about the public spaces, which appeal to both residents and outside guests who like to feel in with the in crowd – the Cipriani has been voted by Zagat as best restaurant in Lisbon for its contemporary Italian and Portuguese cuisine, Bar Rio Tejo is akin to an English tea room specialising in 50 varieties of tea and summer tea cocktails, and there’s a reading room with blackamoors and sofas for you to sink into with your glossy mag.
The hotel’s appeal spreads from businessmen and politicos to well groomed tourists and their kids, who like the chic resort feel within a city setting. The lush gardens, complete with pond, waterfall and swimming pool, mean you can flop on a sun-lounger after a hard day’s sightseeing – or alternatively head into the swanky new Wellness Centre for a massage, work-out, steam bath, sauna or beauty treatment with La Prairie products.
The rooms
The 109 rooms include 22 individually decorated rooms and suites in the original palace, 14 rooms in the Italianate villa (formerly the stables), some with their own mini gardens, and standard rooms in the 1992 garden wing. Basic rooms are, as you would expect, very comfortable and well appointed with terraces or balconies, while the deluxe rooms and suites are more romantic, many with restored antiques from the original palace. The Tower Room is the one honeymooners go for, with its pop-up TV at the end of the bed, Jacuzzi for two, and a private turret, where you can dine al fresco with a panorama of the city. The Royal Suite is the prettiest, in pastel rococo style.
All rooms have safes, two telephone lines, high-speed internet et al, while the marble bathrooms have double sinks, separate shower and bath and either Helleboro or La Prairie toiletries.
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A Travel + Leisure 2006 World's Best - Top 100 hotels Europe
