The Editory Boulevard Aliados
(Ring)mastered the art
Between Aliados and Almada
Ladies and gents, step right up for the night of your life at the Editory Boulevard Aliados. Ride the giant duckie in the rooftop pool, gasp and blush at saucy and surreal artworks, and catch the whole show in the ‘big top’ bar. This bold Porto stay certainly does bring the ‘ooh and aah’ moments, with – aptly named – design studio Ding Dong utterly disregarding accepted uses for colour and material, to mix and match black-and-white-chevron flooring, leopard-print carpet as wallpaper, sculptures that look like punched Playdough and a whole colour wheel of paints. The chef’s in on the fun, the crowd is game, and you’re sandwiched between two very cool streets – so, roll right on up.
Facilities
Rooms
68, including two suites.
Checkout
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More Details
Rates don’t include breakfast (from €20).
Also
The hotel has adapted rooms with widened doors (available on request), and an elevator, for guests with mobility issues.
Fitness Center
Free Internet Access
Laundry
Pool
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
At the Hotel
Roof terrace, lobby lounge, gym, concierge, charged laundry service, free high-speed WiFi. In rooms: 49-inch LCD TV with Chromecast streaming, Bluetooth speaker, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, free bottled water, air-conditioning, bathrobes and slippers, pillows menu, soundproofing, and Castelbel and Claus bath products.
Our Favourite Rooms
Purposefully styled to – slightly – dial down the Pop brights and signature ‘neon lobster’ hue of the Editory Boulevard Aliados’s public spaces, rooms here tend to have more pastels and gently patterned wallpapers. All have oxblood-painted window frames, vintage accents (painted ceilings, wood panelling), and eye-catching touches such as scallop-edged lamps, velvet headboards and the odd retro rotary phone. Views switch between Avenida dos Aliados and Rua do Almada – the former is probably the prettier – and we do love the suite for its freestanding cherry-red bath tub, handsomely pinstriped living space and dog portraits on the walls.
Poolside
The heated open-air pool is inlaid into the hotel’s interior roof terrace. It’s lined in black stone, large enough for laps and is buffered by plants, but we’re most interested in the giant rubber-duckie inflatables you can bask on. The chessboard terrace to one side has loungers and alfresco dining tables, plus a pergola for shade in summer and to hang heaters in winter.
Spa
There’s no spa but the hotel’s small gym is accessible with your room key 24 hours a day. Even here, the designers have worked their magic, adding two-toned mirrors for buffness-admiring and botanical-print wallpaper for a sense of serenity.
Packing Tips
You know those swimsuits with cut-outs in places that seem to defy the laws of physics and feel unfathomable to get into? The Editory Boulevard Aliados’s pool is the place to give those a go.
Also
The hotel’s artwork has been well considered by Ding Dong design studio, with João Galrão’s avant-garde sculptures, Sofia Torres’ murals and Mónica Menez’s photography.
Children
On the one hand, design studio Ding Dong have made this stay as playful and colourful as possible, with a vague circus theme. On the other, the artwork is slightly naughty in places. Kids can stay, but adults will probably have more fun.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
Sit nose-to-window in the bar watching the hip young Portuense parade by.
Dress Code
The restaurant’s name does mean ‘illicit’ – surely an open invitation to dine in something daring.
Hotel Restaurant
Ilícito restaurant feels so wrong, yet so right – after all, they do make the bold moves of bringing together black-and-white-chevron flooring, floral sofas, leopard-print carpet on the walls, velvet banquettes, and a pink João Galrão sculpture that looks endearingly like chewed bubblegum. Vaguely erotic artwork adds some spice to proceedings and chef André Silva (previously awarded with Michelin stars and more) brings the rest of the ingredients. You can go à la carte, but the tasting menus that play out in acts are more fun – take the ‘juggler’ with salmon, scallops and roasted mango; ray in a coconutty curry sauce; and a dessert of purple sweet potato, carrot and chocolate dirt. Or the ‘contortionist’, with mind-bending combos of lobster barbecue chicken, truffle and popcorn in a foie-gras sauce; or brill with lemon purée and caviar in a veal jus.
Hotel Bar
Roll-up, roll-up for the Editory’s circus-themed bar, whose shopfront style window facing Rua do Almada makes it feel all the more performative, and offers fantastic people watching alongside classic cocktails. Portuguese artist Sofia Torres brings the spectacle with two vast red-curtain-framed murals depicting cymbal-clashing monkeys, carousel horses, showgirls and tigers doing tricks – and look up to the ceiling for something saucier. Add a trippy Twin Peaks-esque black-and-white floor, a be-skirted bar counter a sawn-in-half woman might spring from whole, and cocktails that’ll make you scream for more, and you have quite the extravaganza.
Last Orders
Breakfast is from 7.30am to 10.30am, lunch from 12.30pm to 4pm and dinner from 7.30pm to 10pm.
Room Service
Dine in-room from 7am to 10.30pm.
Planes
Porto’s Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport is an easy 20-minute drive from the hotel. The hotel can help to arrange private transfers on request (costs vary depending on the number of guests and luggage). Road-trippers could fly into Huberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, a three-hour drive away.
Trains
The Aliados Metro stop is just a few steps away, and will whisk you north to south across the Douro River. Main station Campanhã – itself a destination for its blue-and-white azulejo-tiled interior – is around a 15-minute drive away; direct trains from Lisbon stop here (around a three-hour journey).
Automobiles
With various public-transport options and picturesque avenidas to stomp up and down, Porto is best explored car-free. However, the city is ideal for a multi-stop trip, with Valença an hour away, Lisbon three hours away, Comporta four hours away, and the Algarve around six hours by car.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
At the Editory, you’re sandwiched between the Rua do Almada and its rabble of balcony-fronted and Azulejo-tiled façades, and Avenida dos Aliados, Porto’s major artery, which is so grand, even its McDonalds has a glamorous art deco frontage (it was once the Café Imperial). First, make a beeline for the Câmara Municipal do Porto, to get the lay of the land from the top of its bell tower. Orient yourself ornately with stops at the Clérigos Church (another view-blessed spot), the 12th-century cathedral, exquisitely manicured Palácio de Cristal gardens, former stock exchange Palácio da Bolsa, and Livraria Lello – a dream of a bookshop with stained-glass ceilings, art nouveau flourishes and criss-crossing staircases. Then, shake off the frills and flounces at strikingly modern Rem Koolhaas-designed Casa da Música, a concert hall with diverse programming, and Fundação de Serralves, whose clean-cut geometric structure houses big-idea artworks. Amble along to seafront Foz do Duoro for sandy praias and antique fortresses. Then hop on a cruise along the River Douro, the gateway to Portugal’s fruitful wine region. Other more active ways of getting to know the city include bike or helicopter tours, a ride on the Gaia Cable Car, or a vertiginous trip up the Funicular dos Guindais, which gives a dramatic aspect of the Dom Luís I Bridge. Immerse yourself in the buzz of Bolhão Market, munch your way through the street eats of Bom Sucesso Market, and fix yourself a picnic – with the prettiest of packaging – with stops at old-school grocery stores Casa Oriental and A Pérola do Bolhão. And, lest we forget Portugal’s thirst for football, you can get that back-of-the-net boost with lessons at the One Troia José Mourinho Training Centre.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
