First, you can check this hotel prices here.

Location

Novotel Lisboa is an  hotel located in the José Malhoa street, between the Sete Rios area (where you can find the city Zoo) and the Praça de Espanha. This area has a lot of hotels of bank headquarters, and it’s a quite modern part of the city, with high and modern buildings. Still it’s a nice place to stay, with great transportation to get to and from the airport, to Sintra or to Lisbon downtown area.

You can check it’s location on Google Maps.

From and To The Airport

The AeroShuttle has two bus stops at Av. José Malhoa, which is the street where the hotel is located.

Transportation

The hotel has a good access to public transportation. The street where the hotel is located is only served by buses (Carris), but you have a train station close by (Sete Rios) and two subway stations at the each end on the street (Jardim Zoologico and Praça de Espanha). The Sete Rios train station provides direct trains to Sintra, the south margin of the Tagus river or Oriente, from where you can take long course trains to the North of the country.

Getting To…

• Downtown – You can get to downtown using the subway. Take the blue line in Jardim Zoologico or Praça de Espanha, taking the Baixa-Chiado direction and exiting the subway in the station with the same name. If you share my opinion and prefer to avoid subways (sorry but dirty underground walls are not my scene), you can take the 205 bus (Cais do Sodré direction)  and exit on the Rossio square.You have to take that bus on Av. Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, which is a parallel to the José Malhoa one.
• Belém Area – The quickest way should be to take the train in Sete Rios to Alcantara-Terra, and from there take another train to Belém. Using the same line you can also reach Cascais and Estoril.
• Sintra – You have direct trains from the Sete Rios train station.

Surroundings

It’s an office and hotel street, but still with a lot of commerce. Don’t expect to find here souvenirs or postcards, since this is not a tourist district.

On a short walking distance you can find the Twin Tower shopping center, which is not a big place to shop but it’s close by. Also very close, you can find the El Corte Ingles shopping. Close by you also have the Zoo (Sete Rios direction) and the Caloust Gulbenkian museum, one of Lisbon finest art collections (close to Praça de Espanha). On the José Malhoa street you can also find the Mesquita de Lisboa, the principal muslim temple in Lisbon.

This is a safe neighborhood, so security shouldn’t be a problem.

Would I Stay There?

Yes. The only downside of this location is that it is not on the downtown area, which is more touristic and has a more lively nightlife, specially after dinner time. Still, using the bus, subway or even a taxi can take you from a place to the other in less than 20 minutes.

You can check this hotel prices here.

Location

VIP Zurique is a big hotel located in the Entrecampos area. This area is one of the most active parts of the city during the daytime, being the close-by Avenida da Républica and Avenida 5 de Outubro two of most lively streets in town, filled with office and government buildings. This is Lisbon “second downtown” area, providing it with a lot of transportation and a nice sense of safety.

You can check it’s location on Google Maps.

From and To The Airport

The AeroBus bus stops at Av. Da Républica, which is close to the hotel.

Transportation

This is one great location in terms of public transportation. The hotel is close to the Entrecampos train station (too close?), that provides direct trains to Sintra, the south margin of the Tagus river or Oriente, from where you can take long course trains to the North of the country.

There are two main subway stations, Entrecampos (entrance on the train station) and Campo Pequeno. Avenida da Républica is well served with Carris buses.

Getting To…

• Downtown – You can get to downtown using the subway. Take the yellow line to Marques de Pombal and there change to the blue line, taking the Baixa-Chiado direction and exiting the subway in the station with the same name. If you share my opinion and prefer to avoid subways (sorry but dirty underground walls are not my scene), you can take the 745 bus (Est. Sta. Apolonia direction)  and exit on the Rossio square.
• Belém Area – The quickest way should be to take the train to Alcantara-Terra, and from there take another train to Belém. Using the same line you can also reach Cascais and Estoril. If you are a bus guy, take the 727 bus (Restelo direction) and exit on the Belém area.
• Sintra – You have direct trains from the Entrecampos train station.

Surroundings

Being a busy area means that you can find a lot of commerce in this surroundings. Still don’t expect to find here souvenirs or postcards, since this is not a tourist district.

On a short walking distance you can find the Campo Pequeno building, Lisbon bullfighting area and now also a shopping center where you can find shops and fast food restaurants. Close by you also have the Nossa de Senhora de Fátima church and the Caloust Gulbenkian museum, one of Lisbon finest art collections.

As stated before this is a safe neighborhood, so security shouldn’t be a problem.

Would I Stay There?

Yes. The only downside of this location is that it is not on the downtown area, which is more touristic and has a more lively nightlife, specially after dinner time. Still, using the bus, subway or even a taxi can take you from a place to the other in less than 20 minutes.

I made my choice, based on a couple of user reviews, but even tough, I as totally insecure about my decision. What a shot in the dark! I ended up booking a small hotel in a distant Amsterdam suburb. In the end, it was not a bad experience after all, but it could have been. As this is always a risk you travel to a country that you don’t know and of which none of your contacts has an well informed opinion.

So, I’ll start a new topic in this blog, where I will try to produce some hotel reviews, not as if it is seen from the inside, but seeing it from the outside, analyzing it’s location, surroundings and transportation available. So if you are visiting Lisbon and feel like choosing an hotel will be a shot in the dark, search the blog, maybe I’ve talked about it. If I didn’t, well, just leave a comment and I’ll try to make a post of it as soon as it is possible.

For a typical scenario of a couple with a small tent, you’ll have to pay, per day a total amount of 19€ in the High Season to 13.10€ in the Low Season.

High Season is called to the months of July and August and the New Year Season, between 29 of December and 1 of January 2009.

Intermediate Season is called to the months May, June, September and October and also the Carnival and Easter days.

Low Season is everyday that doesn’t fit in any of the previous seasons.

You can find below a more detailed price list of the park. You can also find on this post, information regarding public transportation serving the camping park.

Users

Tents

Caravans and Motor Caravans

Vehicles

Bungalows

Equipped Bay

When I started to research for this post, I got a scared : there are only two bus routes that stop at the camping park door, and at first sight this seemed to be a problem that could make the camping park away from everywhere. But I was wrong. The routes that stop in the camping gates are well planned to cover most of the city and it’s surrounding. Let’s see :

Bus 750 (Algés – Oriente)

Starts at 05:35 and stops at 01:00. When taking this bus to get to town you’ll always have to take the Oriente direction. Has the following main stops:

• Benfica (12 minutes) – This stop in right in the middle of urban neighborhood Benfica and the only point of interest is the connection to Sintra Train Line, from where you can get to Sintra.
• Campo Grande (more 17 minutes) – Again not a big place for sightseeing, but a good connection to the city subway.
• Airport (more 8 minutes) – Well, if you are coming or going by plane, you should consider this option.
• Gare do Oriente (more 15 minutes) – Nice if you traveling by train or long distance buses that start from here. Also is close the modern area of Parque das Nações where you can do a lot of sightseeing.

Bus 714 (Outorela – Praça da Figueira)

Starts at 05:00 and stops at 00:48. When taking this bus to get to town you’ll always have to take the Praça da Figueira direction. Has the following main stops:

• Belém (10 minutes) – One of the city most attractive places, where you can see Belém Tower or the Jeronimos Monastery. You can also take the Cascais Train here, that may lead you to Cascais, Estoril or Carcavelos beaches.
• Alcântara (10 minutes) – It’s where the Docas night clubs are located, in a nice river side location below 25 of April bridge.
• Praça da Figueira (15 minutes) – Terminal stop right in the middle of downtown. Before this one you also have Praça do Comércio or Cais do Sodré, all of them good places to start exploring the downtown area.

• Decide what kind of place you want (it could be a hotel room, an apart-hotel, a rented apartment or rural house, an hostel or camping site)
• Search for discounts (for the same hotel, prices may vary from web site to web site)
• Location (How will I get there in the first place, how far away it is to all I want to see, how much time and money will I spend on transportation, is it a safe area at night)
• User Reviews (It’s a 4 star hotel, but what do people who have been there say about the place? They say it’s a 5m walk to the nearest subway station, but maybe it’s 20m walk through the middle of nowhere)
• Extras (Pool, SPA, child facilities, disability issues, meals included)

Since I live in Lisbon, it’s hard for me to have an opinion to give you about the local hotels. As you can imagine, I’ve never spent a night in any of them. So you’ll not find here any price, discount and my review about any hotels. But I’ll be more than happy to have your review on our comments, so please feel free to post them here. On the other end, I’ll try to post as much information about hotel location as I can. From my experience this could be the info that can help you make the final decision.  I’ll do it area by area, with no special order. If you are staying at one hotel and need the info quickly, post a comment. We’ll get there first, rest assured.