Vila Gale Opera
Urban regeneration is in the blood of renowned Portuguese architect Manuel Salgado. He helped to transform Lisbon’s Olivais docklands into the celebrated Expo ’98 World’s Fair, and designed and constructed the Centro Cultural de Belem: a modern-day monument which holds its own with ease against the grand Manueline architecture of the Jeronimos Monastery.
His most-recent project, the four-star Vila Gale Opera hotel, is a key component in the regeneration of the once-industrial Santo Amaro dock. It’s a big hotel – over two-hundred and fifty rooms spread across eight stories. Yet despite its size, it’s still dwarfed by its closest neighbour: the iconic Ponte de 25 Abril Bridge which spans the River Tagus from Alcantara on the north bank to Almada on the south.
The interior décor is as contemporary as the hotel’s exterior, with its black anodised steel and light concrete. Vile Gale always adopt a theme for their hotels and the clue here is in the title: Portugal’s rich operatic and classical music heritage is celebrated in pictures throughout the guest rooms, the indoor pool, the Fidelio bar and Falstaff restaurant. The theme doesn’t extend to the roof terrace – however, the sweeping view across the Tagus, with the Ponte de 25 Abril towering above, is incomparable.
The nearby Alcantara Mar station provides a quick connection to districtes of Bairro Alto, Chiado and downtown Lisbon, and historic Belem is a quick train ride to the west. In the evenings, it’s a short walk to the LX Factory – another former industrial complex whose textile factories have been repurposed as independent shops, restaurants and café bars – and the new river front bars of the Doca de Santo Amaro marina are just across the Avenida Brasilla.
