Hotel Mar Bravo

A hotel on the beach square itself

The Hotel Mar Bravo is on Praça Sousa Oliveira, the square that opens onto the seafront promenade in the centre of the Praia, Nazaré's lower district. You step out of the door and in a minute you are on the sand. It is a small hotel, of 16 rooms, with its own fish and seafood restaurant on the ground floor, which is almost as well known in the town as the hotel. It is run by the company Araújo & Santos and is entered in the national tourism register under number 397.

The rooms

All are doubles, with a double or twin bed depending on availability, and their own bathroom with a shower or bath. What changes between them is the view. The best have two balconies, one facing the beach and another with a side view of the Atlantic. Others have a private balcony facing the sea and the headland of the Sítio, others a balcony with a side view, and the simplest, a window with a side sea view and plenty of light. Buffet breakfast is included in all rates. An extra bed or cot can be requested, although they do not fit in every room: say so when you book.

The restaurant

The Mar Bravo restaurant is open every day from 12:00 to 22:30, for non-guests too. It has a glassed-in dining room facing the beach and a tank with live shellfish. The menu is fish by weight (sea bass, sole, gilthead bream, grouper), shellfish, rice dishes and cataplanas for one or two people, seafood açorda and sardines in season. You have its listing in the where-to-eat section for Nazaré.

Getting there and parking

From Lisbon, along the A8, in a little over an hour and a half. The hotel lists parking among its services, but the website does not say where or how much it costs: ask when you book, because in summer parking in the Praia is difficult. Without a car, the bus from Lisbon drops you in the town and the hotel is a few minutes' walk away.

What is nearby

The town beach is in front. The funicular to the Sítio leaves a few streets away, and from the top you continue on foot to the São Miguel Arcanjo fort, above Praia do Norte. The town's surf school is on the same promenade.