Inspira Santa Marta Hotel

After long days of backpacking around Europe, the Inspira Hotel Spa was the perfect way to unwind and rejuvenate for the rest of our travels. The spa was an absolute oasis! Our entire experience with Inspira was a dream. We started in the jacuzzi, with the options of going into the steam sauna and/​or dry sauna. The attendant told us to go enjoy and she’d come retrieve us when is was time for our massage. The massage was incredible. Both Vera and Raquel were very comforting and responsive to the specific muscles we wanted worked. The had the best pressure and my entire body felt amazing afterwards. The ambiance was soothing, from the décor to the music and lighting. And as an added bonus, they offered tea and cookies at the end and said to take as much time as we’d like in the lounge. The whole experience was so calming and relaxing. Thank you Vera and Raquel!

Das neue und moderne Hotel Inspira Santa Marta hat mich begeistert! Baukonzept, Essen, Barrierefreiheit, Nachhaltigkeit und Betreuung — alles war großartig. Es ist nahe der Avenida da Liberdade und somit günstig in einem der Stadtzentren von Lissabon, nicht weit vom Rossio-​Platz, gelegen.
Hinter der für Lissabonner Verhältnisse normalen Stadtpalais-​Fassade verbirgt sich eine Eingangshalle mit zauberhafter Athmosphäre. Die moderne Konstruktion aus Holz und Glas lässt den Trubel der Stadt in Sekunden vergessen: Lichtdurchflutet, hell und freundlich empfängt uns der Raum, mit bunten Möbeln, Orchideen und friedlicher Ruhe.
Am besten ist der Service: Egal ob es um die passendsten Fortbewegungsmöglichkeiten, Restauranttips oder sogar die Organisation eines barrierefreien Fado-​Abends mit ausgezeichneter Musik und kulinarischen Genüssen geht — immer weiß jemand Rat. Wir fühlen uns ganz wunderbar betreut und machen eifrig von den Vorschlägen des Teams Gebrauch. Sehr angenehm: wenn mal ein Mitarbeiter oder eine Mitarbeiterin nicht weiter weiß, informiert sich derjenige für uns bei den Veranstaltern oder Kollegen werden angerufen und befragt.
Das gesamte Hotel ist nach den Konzepten eines ökologischen Gleichgewichtes und außerdem barrierefrei gebaut. Da macht sich in viel Liebe zum Detail bemerkbar. Alle Ebenen und Zimmer sind Stufenlos erreichbar. Die Gänge sind breit geschnitten. Sogar der Billardsalon, die Seminarräume und der hauseigene Kinosaal der für Veranstaltungen gemietet werden kann sind problemlos zugänglich. Im Kinosaal können die vorderen Sessel alle ausgebaut werden, um für mehrere Rollstühle Platz zu machen. Großartig!
Eine kleine Oase ist natürlich der Wellnessbereich mit Massageräumen, Saunen und Wirlpool und stilvollem Ambiente. Wirklich ein Ort um die Seele baumeln und sich verwöhnen zu lassen.
Ein besonderer Genuss zum Abschluss unseres Hoteltestes, nicht zuletzt auch unter dem Aspekt der Umweltfreundlichkeit, ist das Hotelrestaurant «Open». Hier wird zu allen Tageszeiten mit Produkten aus der Region, oft auch biologisch angebaut, gekocht. Der Chef John Silva schafft es ausgezeichnete Menüs nach portugiesischen Rezepten zu kreieren. Fans der mediterranen Küche werden hier verwöhnt, auch Vegetarier und Menschen, die glutenfrei leben, können hier Kochkunst auf hohem Niveau genießen.
Es versteht sich dass auch das Frühstück dabei ein Genuss ist. Das Buffet ist zwar nicht groß, bietet aber viele Köstlichkeiten. Frische Brötchen, sogar aus Vollkorn, leckere kleine Quiche, süße Gebäckstücke und Obstsalate erwarten die Gäste neben Eierspeisen und Aufschnittplatten.
Insgesamt kann ich das Hotel Inspira Santa Marta wärmstens für einen Besuch in Lissabon empfehlen. Lage, Ausstattung, Service, Nachhaltigkeitskonzept und Speisen sind ausgezeichnet und verdienen die zahlreichen Preise, die sie in den letzten Jahren gewonnen haben!
Wer mehr über das Hotel und die Stadt lesen mag kann dem folgenden Link auf eine Website mit meinen Reiseberichten folgen:

Este hotel é uma referência a nível nacional na hotelaria. A cargo de Nicolas Roucos, o Inspira Santa Marta Hotel tem se apresentado como um hotel de excelência, diferenciador e, por sua vez, inovador. Um dos pilares fundamentais e no qual se baseia a estratégia de negócio é a sustentabilidade e responsabilidade ambiental. A equipa, além de profissional, está atenta aos pormenores e torna a estadia de cada visitante, numa experiência única e memorável. Não é por acaso que o Inspira ganha consecutivamente o prémio de melhor hotel sustentável/​green award e por aí fora…
É sempre um prazer ir ao hotel, nem que seja para tomar um café!

Mas que hotel espetacular! É verdade que por ter trabalhado toda a minha vida na área da sustentabilidade e dar importância a questões ambientais e de eficiência energética ainda me parece melhor. Mas confiem em mim, já passei lá uma noite recentemente e desde o espetacular hall de entrada até à agua numa garrafa de vidro disponibilizada (para não se usar garrafas de plástico eles filtram água da torneira), tudo é pensado e feito da melhor maneira possível.
Uma nota também para as informações dadas ao balcão sobre sítios de interesse em Lisboa, acho que é imprescindível um hotel ser capaz de disponibilizar este tipo de informações, e o Inspira é!
Recomendo!

We found a deal for this hotel on Jetsetter and it was better than expected!
The Inspira hotel is fairly new and is built with elements of Feng-​shui. It is located about 15 – 20 minutes walking from most of the tourist sites. As soon as you walk into the hotel, you feel at peace with extraordinarily helpful and friendly hotel staff and beautiful modern designs.
We received a free upgrade to a suite and also complimentary champagne!
The suite is huge with a separate living area, sun room with jacuzzi and 2 flat-​screen televisions! 50 square meters! The rate includes tons of freebies as well including free fitness center access, breakfast, wi-​fi, mini bar with beer, waters, and orange juice, a nespresso machine, and tea. All of this is refilled daily FOR FREE!
Breakfast included scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh fruit salad, cereals, yogurts, pastries, breads, meats and cheeses, orange juice and water. The fitness center is small but has enough for basic use. We thought about going to the spa as the prices were quite reasonable but we never ended up going. They had a special for a 50 minute hot stone massage for 49.50 euros.
I cannot say enough about how friendly and kind the staff at this hotel was. From the moment we checked in and through every question or request we had, the hotel staff was so accommodating. Fabulous hotel!

Tolles Boutique-​Hotel!
Sehr gutes Essen und toll eingerichtete Räume (Feng-​Shui Style). Schier endlos hilfsbereites Personal und tolle Lage
Abzug gibt’s für das müffelige Jacuzzi Sauna und Fitnesslandschaft ist sonst 1a

This is a lovely hotel situated on the Rua de Santa Marta, which is a great location, only 10 minutes walk from the centre of the «old» town and with a metro station a couple of minutes away.
The hotel is housed in beautifully renovated listed buildings which have been updated with much care and attention in accordance with the principles of feng shui. The staffs are very welcoming, helpful and have a great command of English which is useful if like me your Portuguese doesn’t run much beyond vino tinto or vino branco.
The public areas on the ground floor are stylish, comfortable and spacious with plenty of sofas and chairs to relax in; there is also a table near the reception desk with a few computers providing free wifi access which is handy if you are travelling without a laptop or an iPad.
The Urban bar is also on the ground floor and is ok. According to the barman Bruno the drink selection is undergoing a rethink at the moment which is a good idea; in my opinion it needs to contain few more of the «classic» cocktails and perhaps another wider choice of wine. During our short visit the only noticeable sign of the revamp was that the price of the Altano branco went up from 3.60 euros to 5 euros a glass.
The hotel restaurant is called Open and is well worth a visit to sample its take on modern Mediterranean cuisine. This is a lovely space, well thought out and nicely furnished. The food and wine are very good and this is reflected in the price you will pay.
On the first floor there is a spa which offers a selection treatments; there is also a gym, steam room, sauna and a «hot tub». We liked stylish wet areas a lot and we spent an hour there most evenings, around 6pm, when we had the place to ourselves. The only downside is the lack of any seating or beds on which to chill after you have got a good sweat on.
Our room was also on the first floor and it was decent size. Nicely furnished it came with a top notch bed, a table for any work you might need to do and a comfy armchair with matching foot stool. The rooms all have a Nespresso coffee machine and a decent selection of herbal tea. There is free mini bar, replenished daily, with contains a couple of Super Bocks, milk, water and a bottle of orange juice. The only really serious downside, if you are staying for more than a night, is the lack of storage/​wardrobe space or even anywhere to hang the complementary white bath robes. Now I’m a pretty minimalist type of guy, and for a girl B was travelling light, but by the third day of our visit our room was looking like a bomb site even after the maid had been in — just nowhere to hang those towels, robes and bathing gear guys!
All in all we liked this hotel a lot. Keep an eye out for a deal and you will find this to be one of the best places to hang your hat in Lisbon without breaking the bank.
We didn’t see any children in the hotel during our visit and I would say this is probably not a great choice for those travelling with babies or ankle biters.