Name: Casa do Forno
Address: São João, Casa do Forno, Idanha-a-Nova, Idanha-a-Nova, Idanha-a-Nova, 6060-501, Portugal
Rating: 9

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

No elevators

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Shower/Bathtub

Shower

Wardrobe/Closet

Linens

Toiletries

Rooms

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

English

Portuguese

Languages Spoken

Free bicycle rental

Billiards

Hiking

Fishing

Sun Deck

Recreation

Swimming pool

Beach facilities

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Fax and copy machine

Business

Cycling

Sports

Playroom

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Casa do Forno

Idanha-a-Nova

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

park access

I spent 3 nights here recently and it was an excellent experience. This is an old village bakery and house, beautifully converted by the owner Joao and his family, so that now it offers modern, tasteful, restful accommodation. The house is furnished with local artefacts and you could spend time just walking around and enjoying the decor. The rooms are spacious and bright, and downstairs there's an excellent sitting room with TV and wi-fi plus a small, charming dining room. Outside there's a small but delightful swimming pool set in a very pretty garden that has big views of the countryside all around and over into Spain - the frontier is just 2 or 3 kilometers away. You can easily park right outside the door in the street.

We had a very good breakfast and delicious dinner prepared by the family. Inexpensive. There is no restaurant in Salvaterra (a pretty village with fine views and a few small shops and bars) and if you stay here you would probably want to have meals at Casa do Forno. 

Joao and his wife speak excellent English and made us very welcome. They could not have done more to make us comfortable. Joao knows the local area extremely well and runs activity trips - birdwatching, flowers, ecology, walking and donkey trekking etc.

I would recommend Casa do Forno without hesitation.

Delightful experience

We planned our trip to Portugal looking for somewhere "new" that we hadn't been.  We prefer to explore new places and cultures, not necessarily the typical tourist spots.  That being said, we followed up our trip to Castelo Branco with a few days of beach relaxation in the Algarve (where we were clearly tourists!).

We wanted to find somewhere in Portugal where our youngest son (eleven) could learn a bit about geology.  He has always had an interest in rocks, fossils, and the like, so we thought we would try to find a place where we could spend a day or so volunteering on a geology project, while getting some local culture as well.  I was able to locate Geopark Naturtejo, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a gentleman named Carlos Carvalho, who was more than appy to oblige. The park itself was just amazing, and is worth investigating.  Carlos and his assistant, Vania (sp?), were wonderful guides.  Our older son (thirteen) was diagnosed with Lyme disease shortly before the trip, and was very limited with respect to his mobility.  Carlos was very understanding, and tailored our day of volunteer work to meet our son's needs.

(--)

Carlos suggested Casa do Forno, and we proceded to book two rooms, including meals.  We thought the rates were more than reasonable, and upon checkout, were very pleased.  The hotel was run by a young couple, Joao and Rita, who as of this writing, should be new parents!  Joao's parents and grandfather were staying at the inn while we were there, so it was a true family affair.  We were there mid-week, and were the only guests at the time.  It was truly like staying in somebody's home.

(--)

The rooms were simple, but very nice and clean.  We had our own key to the inn, so we could come and go as we pleased.  Salvaterra do Extremo is a small, sleepy town, very relaxing.  The day we arrived, Joao (and his grandfather!) took us on a hike for about a mile to a beautiful gorge on the Spain border, where we could see the remains of an old castle, and could also see vultures (with 2.5 meter wingspans) nested in the cliffs.  Joao offered to take us on the hike just to show us the beautiful landscape.

We were only at the inn for a couple of days/nights, but wish we could have stayed longer.  There is a lovely swimming pool for use of the guests, and the boys loved having a private pool.  It was quite hot, so it was very nice at the end of the day.  Joao and his family cooked the meals at dinner, which were decided by us.  One night we had pizza, and the other was grilled lamb - both fantastic!  We would eat each night in the backyard with both families together, under lovely olive trees.

The inn also operates a small bakery, which provides breads, etc. to the local marketplace.  Joao was kind enough to give me a tour one night while the bread was baking - it was a great experience.  You can imagine how good the breads served with meals are at the inn!

Overall, we had a fabulous experience at Casa do Forno.  We really felt that we experienced Portugal as it should be seen.  Wonderful people, food, wine, and scenery.  Salvaterra do Extremo is a little off the beaten track, but well worth the time!  I highly recommend to all!

Fantastic Experience, Hoping to Go Back Again Soon!!!

     We booked 2 nights at Casa Do Forno on booking.com, we have used this web site many times in the past without a problem. We checked the reviews on booking.com and all were positive so we booked. Casa Do Forno is located in a small village. It was a 3.5 hr drive from the Portuguese coast. There are no restaurants or bars (we realised this when booking), as a result we prepared by purchasing food and drinks for our stay. 
     The room was advertised as having microwave, refrigerator, full bathroom (inc bath) and a balcony. When we arrived and we're taken to the room, we immediately discovered it had none of the promised facilities. The room was absolutely bare it contained a double bed and a wardrobe there was a TV the size of an iPad mounted on the wall. No chairs no bedside tables no laps absolutely no furniture at all (except a bed and wardrobe) the room looked nothing like the rooms depicted on the booking.com site. The room had no microwave, no balcony, no refrigerator, and no bath.
     We confronted the owner who threw his arms in the air and said " the rooms no have microwave, fridge, bath or balcony, that booking.com they're crazy". We explained that we had food and drinks that would need refrigeration, in a nutshell he explained that would not be possible. He said that his wife was very tired as they had been busy and that she might be able to make us something to eat the following evening (not sure what we were supposed to do the fist night or for lunch the following day on the hope that his wife felt rested enough to maybe prepare us a meal) and that if we liked he would sell us cold drinks. This didn't really suit us as we had pictured in our minds some thing a little different. We explained that the accommodation wasn't as advertised and that it didn't suit, he stated that we would be charged whether we stayed or not. Unhappy we left and sought alternate accommodation several hours drive away. We found the host to be less than helpful, and expected us to just suck it up! As we didn't stay and the host cancelled our booking we were unable to share our experience on the booking.com site, so a lesson for young punters the worst experiences of all (where people reject the accommodation) will not be able to be posted to the booking.com page. Hence the sporadic good reviews goodness knows how many people have driven vast distances only to arrive and drive off!

Casa do Forno

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