Hotels near Chaves

I love Chaves, small ancient town which has a river going through it with its own Roman bridge going across it… wonderful restaurants, the food is amazing here in the north of Portugal! Amazing places to stay with fabulous Portuguese restaurants! You’re also close to one of the nicest wine regions in the world! If you drive go trough Régua up the Douro where the grapes are grown! Unbelievable gorgeous, truly stunning

The bridge that dates from Roman times and is normally shown in photos is the interesting bit of Chaves. The rest is tired and seems to have suffered economically. The last place we stayed was Guimares. I'd stay 2 days there and not stay in Chaves next time. That said, apparently there are quite a lot of historical Catholic things here, but not my scene at all.

We really, really liked Chaves. We stayed in the Castelo Hotel which is superb, excellent room - with tea and coffee making facilities! We felt we got a lot of hotel for our money. Very clean and comfortable with excellent staff, helpful and friendly. The castle (museum admission price €1, well worth it just for the views from the top) and its immediate neighbourhood is close by and pleasant to stroll around. An easy walk down to the river brings you to the Roman bridge, a perfect place to sit in the sun and lose an afternoon over a beer or two. Our first evening meal we had at Taska das Caldas and wished we’d spent our second evening there, too. It’s “characterful”, an “experience” but in a good way! Very friendly host greeted us with a white port, then, because we couldn’t decide on starters, brought lots of lovely taster sized portions. The mains were excellent. No room for dessert we just finished with coffee and were bombarded with shots of various águardentes. Didn’t half sleep well! The only disappointment was wanting to walk round the park only to find it closed for works.

The city is amazing. It has grown so much since I last been there some 30 years ago. The thermae museum is for free and it's very informative, restaurants are abundant and serve great food. Bars ensure some nightlife and the river has many options of entertainment. The kid's park on the main square near the Tamega is of superb quality