Arca Nova Guest House & Hostel

Front lobby, not pretty. Kitchen smells greet you at the front door. The room was clean, yet I was apprehensive. It was chaos at the front desk when I checked in. What I did like was the free taxi in the morning that brings you to a boat, 6 Euro, that ferries you to Spain to transport you to Spain. I worried about bed bugs but I didn't need to.

Nicht zu empfehlen. Insekten und Bettwanzen!

Tratándose de un lugar con tanta afluencia de gente deberían de asegurarse muy bien de desinfectar todo bien y de las plagas. Había chinches en la cama y tanto yo como mi compañero hemos cogido chinches en este hostal. El personal de allí es muy agradable pero deberían de controlar estas cosas. Camas número 9 y 10

Pues pille chinches en el albergue, con eso lo digo todo. En si el albergue no es culpable, pero sí que tiene que responsabilizarse de que las camas estén limpias y claramente no lo hicieron. Tengo el cuerpo lleno de picaduras y realmente se responsabilizaron 0 de la situación.

Habían chinches en mi cama, CUIDADO! Me picaron todo el cuerpo, horrible Habían chinches en mi cama, CUIDADO! Me picaron todo el cuerpo, horrible

I booked a private room based on the positive reviews and the Clean & Safety Certificate issued by Tourism Portugal. I can confirm, this place is neither clean nor safe. Safe: Upon arrival I was greeted by a very arrogant old man who spoke and treated me like a five-year old. The guy was so peculiar, opinionated and constantly in the mood for arguing. Honestly this is not what you want after a long day of walking. He didn't help me with my backpack and was clearly annoyed that I was wearing my face covering. I felt so unwelcome and was not really in the mood for that. Having walked a particular long and difficult day on the Camino I didn’t appreciate his attitude at all. He didn’t wear a face covering and spoke poor English, even though I apologised for not speaking Portuguese. His demanding tone continued telling me that my breakfast was at 8am. I politely replied that I want to take a train at 7:50am and would need breakfast before that, which seemed to be a huge hassle. I’m a pilgrim, what do you expect? It was a huge deal to get me a bottle of water, orange juice and a banana. The orange juice was in a Tetra-Pak, enough said! When I left the next day, the “reception” wasn’t even occupied, so I didn’t get a stamp for my Credential. I need no memory of this rubbish and horrible place! Clean: My private room was small with outdated broken furniture. The room wasn’t cleaned at all. Broken furniture, a used spoon in one of the drawers, the bedsheets weren’t changed from the previous person, lots of hair on the bed and in the bathroom, yellow stained pillows, an old shower. This place was filthy and disgusting, do check for bedbugs! Luckily the towels were clean, but anything else wasn’t. The bed was disgusting and children-sized so very uncomfortable for me to sleep in. What a horrible place, luckily I left with the first sunlight. Would never in a million years stay here again.