The apartment is very well situated, just outside a pedestrianized area, where many shops and cafes are located. It is on a lively street. Around the corner is Bolhao Market, which is a bit touristy but offers nice stands with fresh seafood and other stuff that can be enjoyed there or taken back to the apartment.Easy reach of Metro (5 minutes from Bolhao station) and bus lines, including the #502 bus, which brings you straight to Matosinhos, just outside the city on the coast.There are little things that could be improved, like a rail for towels, that are missing. But overall it is a great little flat in a very good location. The Douro river is around a 15-minute walk along some nice streets and squares.

Paula was there to greet us and give us ideas about what to see and do. She was very helpful. The apartment is big enough and modestly furnished. Our only complaint was that there was no toilet paper on our arrival. Not a big deal but inconvenient.

Host is wonderful

This unit is all about location; fantastic. The unit itself was just OK. Very clean, very comfortable bed. Window curtains were obviously an afterthought and didn’t fit. Poor instructions for washer. But much more critically, there were no towel racks and nowhere to hang towels being used (except the floor I guess). Access to and from unit itself was fine, but to and from the building was extremely poor. The keys provided did not work well, and did not control the building deadbolt. I was locked inside the building one morning until another resident unlocked the deadbolt which then allowed me to exit. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had stayed out late past the building lockup. Zero provision for early check-in or even dropping off bags - didn’t seem to be any reason why not but perhaps there was and I just wasn’t aware. Response from host’s rep was very slow - several hours to a day as it was clear the rep had many other properties or jobs keeping him busy. While affordable, there are many, many other options in the Santa Catarina area.