Lisbon Calling Review: Budget hotel in Lisbon

I never intended to write a Lisbon Calling review of our accommodation.

We thought it would be a comfortable base to lay our heads and no more but when it exceeded our expectations, I just couldn’t resist sharing it. We all love a hidden gem, right?

Affordable accommodation in Lisbon

Thanks to some temptingly affordable Ryanair flights on Skyscanner – isn’t it always the way? – we’d had the somewhat misguided idea that we’d be able to have a really cheap city break in sunny Portugal. But while we did manage to enjoy our six days in Lisbon on a budget, we initially struggled to find affordable accommodation.

According to Sofia, a local friend of mine, rental prices for locals are sky high too as the compact centre struggles to cope with the huge demand tourism places upon the city.

In my mind, September was out of peak season but apparently the whole of Europe had that idea too because when we started to search for somewhere to stay, the scary stats started to appear at the top of Booking.com. You know, the ones reading “the destination you selected is 90% booked on these dates”. Eek. So, thanks to that, my hopes of booking a cute eco-hotel with a rooftop pool faded pretty quickly. We widened our search criteria and were on the verge of paying way over the odds when we found Lisbon Calling.

Location

Located just behind Avenida da Liberdade, we’d have certainly paid a premium for the upmarket area if we’d decided to blow our budget on a hotel. However, by staying in an apartment, we got a really great day for 86 Euros per night [in 2019 prices! – we all know how much the travel landscape has changed since then].

The owners actually have two properties in the city: as well as Lisbon Calling Rooms where we stayed, the listing also features rooms at Lisbon Calling Hostel. With a combination of shared and double rooms in the hostel, it’s easy to choose your preference based on your travel style.

Lisbon Calling Rooms is a large apartment split into five different rooms, each with its own private bathroom. While we could hear other people moving around in the mornings and evenings, it was rare that we came across anyone in the well-stocked communal kitchen.

As privacy was one of our main concerns when booking into a guesthouse compared to a hotel, this was such a pleasant surprise and we ended up enjoying our stay way more than anticipated.

If you want a whole place to yourself and have a little extra budget, try booking the Studio – with its own private entrance, you won’t feel like you’re in a shared place at all!

Amenities

Despite arriving in the dark after a late (and delayed) flight, it was immediately obvious that it’s a beautiful place to stay; think exposed brick and bright, spacious rooms complete with white shutter. From chatting to the manager Susana, I learned that the team had bought most of the furniture at auctions and upcycled it in such a creative way.

In particular, I couldn’t get enough of the space-saving but hipster looking clothing rails and the headboard crafted from an old door. But they didn’t skimp on the most important essentials: the air con was reliable, the showers powerful and the beds snuggly.

We spent the majority of our stay in Room 4 but switched to Room 3 on our last night as somebody had already booked in for that night. Susana handled the transition really well and we returned from our day trip to Sintra to find our packed up cases already relocated to our new room.

While Room 4 had a bathroom contained within the room, Room 3 has an external bathroom across the hall which is slightly more inconvenient. However, it’s still a private facility – my days of shared bathrooms are well and truly behind me – and it was sparkling clean so for one night, it didn’t make a huge amount of difference.

I sneakily peeked into some of the other rooms as they were being cleaned and I can confirm that they’re all as lovely as each other! In particular, Room 7 is huge with a really good sized bathroom.

There’s nothing worse than checking into somewhere that looks completely different from the pictures but the great photography on their website is genuinely an accurate representation of the facilities in each room so you can book into your favourite!

As I approach my late 20s, I’m starting to feel that the days of dorm bunks, shared bathrooms and stepping over backpacks strewn across the floor are over. But my budget doesn’t always agree and staying somewhere like this felt like a great way to get the best of both worlds. I’d highly recommend staying at Lisbon Calling to anyone looking for somewhere pretty to stay on a budget. Plus, it’s pretty Instagram-friendly which never hurts, right?

Looking for things to do in Lisbon? Read my full post on the best things to do in Lisbon or search for tours and activities on GetYourGuide.

This is a great source of locally run activities where you know you’re booking a reliable, well-reviewed tour for a totally hassle-free experience. It’s particularly great when you want to learn more about the area’s history, as sometimes you just can’t get the information from a destination alone.

Thanks for reading this Lisbon Calling review. Wherever you decide to stay on your Lisbon city break, have a great trip!

How do you like to find reasonably priced accommodation when travelling? I’d love to hear new tips!

Laura x