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ACCOMMODATION IN PORTUGAL
There's a very wide range of accommodation available
in Portugal, ranging from deluxe hotels and restored
palaces to small family-owned hostels and spacious
self-catering apartments overlooking the sea.
Rooms are also available in castles, private manor
houses and other historic buildings.
According to local law, accommodation in Portugal
is divided into the following categories: hotel,
private
guest house, motel,
pousada,
aparthotel,
quality
inn, tourist
apartment, tourist
village, rural
hotel and boarding
house, and each category has its own criteria
regarding stars, standards and facilities on offer.
Hotels in Portugal are classified with
5 stars (luxury), 4 stars (comfortable), 3 stars
(mid-range), 2 stars (inexpensive) and 1 star
(basic).
Aparthotels and tourist apartments
are similarly graded minus a one star category,
while tourist villages carry three, four
or five stars according to Portuguese law. Motels
carry either two or three stars.
More modest accommodation can be found in Portugal’s
wide selection of boarding houses, known
in Portuguese as pensões or residenciais.
Also included in this category are albergarias,
which are similar in style to estalagens
but usually found in towns or cities.
Visitors looking for something more traditional
should consider Portugal’s best-known hotel
product, the Pousada network, which is run by
the state-owned operating company, Enatur. Each
property is set in a historic building or a typically
Portuguese regional-style building.
Quality Inns (called estalagens)
also cater for the upmarket traveller. Estalagens
are fine hotels attributed with either four or
five stars, often housed in an old building and
set in a picturesque rural location.
The ever-growing private guesthouse network
comprises a wide selection of properties ranging
from converted stately buildings and manor houses
to farmhouses and simple family homes.
Each year, leading Portuguese travel publisher
Maisturismo S.A. produces the Portugal Hotel
Guide, an up-to-date listing of all the various
types of accommodation available in Portugal,
including the islands of Madeira and the Azores.
Featuring more than 2,000 establishments around
the country, it is without doubt the most comprehensive
source of hotel information for people planning
a trip to Portugal.
Also available is aCD-ROM version of the Portugal
Hotel Guide, which provides full information
in English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Copies can be ordered free of charge by e-mail
to info@maisturismo.pt.
Furthermore, an online edition of the Portugal
Hotel Guide is also accessible in five languages
on the Internet at www.maisturismo.com,
now powered by the Nethotels real-time reservations
system.
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