Where to stay in Coimbra

Neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood guidance for Coimbra, Portugal: which areas suit which travellers, what they cost, and the stays we list in each.

Celas (2) — Hospitals, big houses, quietly bourgeois Avenida Dias da Silva's old mansions, the sixteenth-century Mosteiro de Celas and the Penedo da Saudade viewpoint.
Baixa (2) — Flat, commercial, tiled, everyday-busy Stay off Rua Ferreira Borges and Santa Cruz, the Mercado D. Pedro V and most of the tascas are eight flat minutes away.
Praça da República (2) — Student bars, wide leafy streets Sleep around the praça and you are between the Jardim da Sereia, the Botanic Garden and the flattest way up into the Alta.
Santa Clara (2) — Left bank, green, spacious, calm Base near Rossio de Santa Clara for Portugal dos Pequenitos, then cross the Pedro e Inês footbridge into town.
Solum (1) — Modern, practical, stadium-and-mall Alma Shopping, the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra and good bakeries, with parks breaking up the blocks.
Alta & Universidade (3) — Medieval, vertical, student-haunted, UNESCO Base near Couraça dos Apóstolos and you are at the Porta Férrea in five minutes, then down Quebra-Costas for dinner.

Quinta das Lágrimas — Santa Clara ($$). Eighteenth-century palace, ten acres of gardens, and Arcadas
Sapientia Boutique Hotel — Alta & Universidade ($). Boutique rooms and a roof terrace over the old town
Hotel Astoria — Baixa ($). Riverside Art Deco landmark — charm over polish
Hotel Oslo Coimbra — Baixa ($). Flat-footed Baixa base with a rooftop bar
Baixa apartments — Baixa ($). Flat, central and self-caterable: market, tascas and the bridge inside eight minutes
Santa Clara houses — Santa Clara ($). Space, parking and river views a family actually needs, ten minutes from the centre