Address: Rua Camilo Castelo Branco 24, 1150-084 Lisbon, Portugal

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I loved my stay at Locke de Santa Joana recently and am excited to share the details with you as part of my bespoke travel on a budget series.

I arrived in Lisbon for the Amazon Influencer Summit 2026, which is a really exciting event and I was so happy to have been invited. Normally I would be really detailed in my hotel research, but the agency who work with Amazon took care of the bookings and they did a great job.

I decided to stay a day extra either side so I could create some content, visit Lisbon and just get a better feel for the city, because otherwise you can fly in and out for these events and not actually see anything.

I actually ended up staying for five nights because of flight disruption, which gave me plenty of time to get a proper feel for the hotel, the facilities, the location and the service.

Locke de Santa Joana hotel at a glance

Stayed: 5 nights

Room type: LOK Studio

Pool: Yes

Breakfast: Available from €19 if booked the day before, €23.50

Best for: City breaks, longer stays and people who like stylish interiors

Would I stay again? Yes

Checking in and arriving at the hotel

I got a Bolt taxi from the airport to the hotel.

Bolt is the equivalent of Uber in Europe, but I find it much more affordable. So my first saving tip is to download the Bolt app. They actually had some discount codes advertised at the airport for first-time users. If you don’t already have the Bolt app and download it when you’re there, I think the code was something like Hello Lisbon and it was around 75% off the first trip, so look out for that!

The Bolt cost about €10 or €11 and dropped me off at the hotel. There are two entrances though, so this is something to be careful of.

I was dropped off at the back entrance, which brings you into a courtyard where the pool, bar and restaurants are. If you’ve never been there before it’s actually really confusing because you then don’t know how to get to reception and the signs are in Portuguese.

If possible, I’d suggest getting dropped off at the front of the hotel so you can walk straight into reception and check in.

If you get dropped off at the back entrance, walk across the courtyard, go into the building, turn left and then right, catch the lift up to level zero and that’s where reception is.

My room: the Locke Studio

My initial impressions of the hotel were that it’s really stylish, it’s very consistent throughout and the rooms are very nicely designed but quite compact.

I stayed in the LOK Studio, which is basically a bedroom with a small apartment kitchenette style area on the other side of a lovely archway and then a very small compact bathroom with a shower.

It’s all been impeccably designed and styled and it’s got real Soho House vibes to me.

I really like the style, but it is a lot of furniture in a small space.

I cracked the end of my toe open on the very large sturdy wooden bed frame because there’s not much room to manoeuvre around.

I ended up hitting my head on the tiny cupboard next to the bed where the safe’s kept because again you’re really having to sort of get into a tiny space.

If you’ve got the budget, I’d recommend getting the room up from the basic LOK Studio and I think you’ll appreciate the extra space.

However, if you’re there for one night or two nights and budget is the main priority, the rooms are fantastically designed, very well equipped and perfectly adequate.

The bathroom was very stylish and cleverly designed and they did well to fit everything into such a small space but it didnt have great light for make-up and felt very small.

Not a complaint, but something to be aware of if you are planning which room to book.

Don’t make the same mistake I did with the lifts

The lifts are actually quite confusing because, as I discovered on the first night coming back to my room after a couple of Aperol Spritzes, expecting to be able to get in one lift on the ground floor and then head up to the second floor where my room was, that isn’t actually possible for certain room numbers.

You have to take note immediately of what letter block you’re in as well as what level and what room number.

I was in B225 and that meant you had to go from the ground floor up to level zero and then change, walk across reception and get in the main lifts to go up to level two.

Make sure you have a look first at exactly which block you’re in, what number, check it on the map and then plan a route for the correct lifts as it can be quite confusing.

breakfast and whether it’s worth paying for

I was keen to keep the trip as affordable as possible, so for the extra nights that I booked tagged onto each side of the event stay, I didn’t order breakfast with the room.

If you decide you want breakfast, they do a deal where as long as you reserve a spot the day before, you pay a reduced rate of €19 rather than €23.50.

I then had breakfast included with my stay on the other two nights and ended up having three breakfasts in total, so I can give an accurate review.

The restaurant where you eat breakfast is beautifully, beautifully decorated.

It’s separated into different sections. You’ve got a very light, airy, high-ceilinged space with lots of natural light and plants and greenery.

Then you’ve also got a darker snug-style restaurant area with deep colours on the walls, less natural light and a much cosier feel.

The food was really good.

There’s a good selection of pastries, hot and cold meats and cheeses and the cooked breakfast if you want it.

There’s a coffee machine. I’m never a fan of the coffee in Europe unless you’re in Rome. That’s the only place we’ve so far had a good coffee because they use that UHT milk which I always think tastes a bit sour.

The pastries are amazing.

One of the things you have to try when you’re here in Lisbon is pastel de nata, the little Portuguese custard tarts, and they are amazing.

My favourite money-saving tip at the hotel

If you don’t want to spend €19 on breakfast, I found a good deal.

In the main reception area on level zero there’s a little café by the exit doors.

They serve coffees and pastries, cold drinks and they also do a great deal where you can buy a large focaccia sandwich with a selection of fillings, a pastel de nata and a coffee and it only costs €10.

I recommend doing that as a money-saving tip while you’re staying here because actually you could do that for lunch, or you could eat the sandwich over a couple of days because you have a fridge in your room.

Saving money on food and drinks

The other tip I recommend is to walk out of the hotel and take a four-minute walk around the corner to the little mini supermarket and pick up some water.

The water is drinkable in Portugal. It’s highly chlorinated but apparently safe. I didn’t really fancy drinking it because apparently it doesn’t taste very nice.

I bought bottled water really affordably.

That’s another really positive thing from this trip that I’ve noticed.

The food and drink and generally the living expenses in Portugal, certainly Lisbon, are surprisingly affordable considering you’re in the capital city.

I stocked up on things like olives and there was a brilliant €3.49 bottle of sparkling wine which tasted like champagne.

It was amazing and so much better than you could imagine getting in the UK for the equivalent price.

Definitely stock up because there’s such good facilities in the room that you can prepare food and even wash your clothes, so you don’t have to buy overpriced stuff if you don’t want to.

the pool, bar and outdoor areas

The pool area is very nicely designed and laid out.

However, the pool is quite small for the size of the hotel.

It’s an enormous hotel with a lot of rooms and the pool is very small and shallow.

I was really looking forward to swimming because I swim at home every day, but it’s not a swimming-lengths kind of pool.

It’s a dipping-your-feet-in-on-a-boiling-hot-day kind of pool.

There’s a bar next door where you can order pizzas and drinks to have at the sun loungers.

There’s also a restaurant adjacent where you can sit in the evening and it has a whole selection of really delicious food, so that’s good if you don’t want to venture out too much.

The staff at Locke de Santa Joana were fantastic

The staff were so friendly and helpful.

I’d emailed in advance of arrival because I had several stays across several bookings and I thought it might be easier for them if I stayed in one room.

They had managed to arrange that.

I just had to go down and refresh the room card on the mornings where the stay should have changed onto a different booking, but that was super easy because you go out that way in the morning anyway.

Then when the strikes happened and my flight was cancelled, they were so helpful because the hotel was almost full.

They managed not only to let me extend my stay but also stay in the same room and they offered such a competitive rate, less in fact than I’d paid originally through the third-party booking sites.

Definitely can’t say enough good things about the lovely staff.

Location

The final point to mention is the location of the hotel.

I found it to be in such a good spot.

For the event we were at the Convento do Beato convention centre, which was a coach ride away, but for sightseeing on the days where we weren’t at the event it was brilliant.

You could just walk out of the hotel and we did a fantastic walking tour around Lisbon for two or three hours and got to see so much on foot, so it is a great spot.

Then it’s a short Uber ride away to the coast or the main station by the coast.

There’s food markets, Pink Street and lots of other things to do nearby, which I’ll include in my Lisbon guide.

Definitely a great location for the hotel.

Would I stay here again?

Yes.

The stylish interiors, great location, helpful staff and surprisingly affordable food and drink options nearby made this a really enjoyable base for exploring Lisbon.

The rooms are compact, the lift system takes a bit of getting used to and the pool isn’t one for serious swimmers, but overall I’d happily stay here again.

Where next?

Looking for more hotel reviews? read about my budget travel to Rome or Malta or why not check out some of my London days out