Evidencia Light Sta. Catarina Hotel

Reviewed by EuroCheapo.com Editors email this page

The Evidencia Light Sta. Catarina Hotel is a sort of hostel-hotel hybrid, offering rooms that are equal parts stripped and hip. It's an interesting do-it-yourself budget travel experiment.

First, a bit of explaining is in order: It seems that the Evidencia hotel chain swept into an old Chiado pension with a mission to think “outside the hotel room.” They yanked most of the amenities out of the rooms, replacing them with stylistic touches meant to attract a young clientele.

For example, the walls in the 16 private rooms are painted a steel gray, accented with silkscreened lime-green hipster graphics and silhouettes. Carpets are striped, while bare mattresses are green—you make your own bed (sheets included). There are no TVs or telephones to be found. Private baths are unsurprisingly simple, equipped with small corner showers and boxy sinks.

Three levels up the spiral staircase (no elevator), the air-conditioned hostel room offers 14 beds (not bunks) and two gender-segregated bathrooms. An attached terrace gives the dormers a cool place to chill.

The Sta. Catarina “shoots for the hip” in the ground-floor cocktail bar, TV room and outdoor courtyard. Free Wi-Fi is offered in the bar (open five nights a week, weekends until 1 a.m.). An Internet station is also available for a steep €7.50 an hour.

The hostel-hotel is located on the quiet-ish Rua Dr. Luis de Almeida e Albuquerque, about a five-minute walk from Metro Chiado.

» Tom Meyers

Note: This hotel was visited by a EuroCheapo editor. This review is based on cleanliness, location, price and overall quality. EuroCheapo did not charge this hotel to be listed.