Hotel Moliceiro

Aveiro is built on a lagoon and threaded with canals, which is why it gets called the Venice of Portugal rather too often. What is true is that the moliceiros, the long painted boats once used to harvest seaweed for fertiliser, still run along the central canal, and the town has a concentration of Art Nouveau buildings that repays a slow walk.

The Hotel Moliceiro sits directly on that central canal, and most of its rooms look at it.

There are 49 in total: 32 standards, nine deluxe, three superior, three suites and two adapted for wheelchair users. The distinction that matters is the decoration. Standard rooms are modern, warm and unfussy. The superior and deluxe categories are individually themed, each designed around a different scenario, and they are considerably more theatrical. Whether that appeals is a matter of taste, and the photographs will tell you quickly. All the suites have canal views and balconies with a table and two chairs.

The service is old-fashioned in a way that has kept the hotel's reputation high for years: a welcome drink at check-in, tea and biscuits brought to the room in the evening, a substantial buffet breakfast made with seasonal ingredients, and a front desk that will organise the boat trips.

The position is central, so the canal, the fish market, the Art Nouveau museum and the restaurants are all on foot. Costa Nova, with its striped wooden houses, and Barra beach are around ten minutes by car. Porto is an hour north, Coimbra about forty-five minutes south.