Raw Culture Bairro Alto

For the May bank holiday, Mr Smith and I decided on a city jaunt to the Portuguese capital, in giddy anticipation of pasteis de nata-induced carb slumps and meandering mooches along cobbled streets, peppered with plenty of blue-tiled Insta-worthy moments. May is one of the best times of year to visit Lisbon: the city is pretty much sunny all year round but reaches goldilocks celsius (mid-20s) in May, with the added boon that the streets aren’t yet overrun by summer tourists. 

We settled on Raw Culture Bairro Alto as our perch for two nights. An unassuming art-gallery-come-aparthotel, this former Portuguese printworks has been transformed into a crashpad for creatives and design lovers by its owners. Tucked into a back street in Bairro Alto, its discreet grey facade means you could easily wander right past and miss its artistic treasures entirely. 

Retaining some of the industrial features from the building’s typesetting days, the ground floor is a cool, contemporary space that could just as readily have been transplanted from a cosmopolitan city such as New York: expect plenty of polished concrete surfaces, bold artworks and neon signage, and a sprawling lounge with sculptural furniture that turns into a bar by evening, which is the sunset cue for locals to venture through the doors and join guests. 

The hotel’s gallery hosts a calendar of exhibitions that rotate quarterly, meaning each visit, should you decide to return, brings fresh art inspo. Despite being an open door gallery, the hotel is peacefully quiet; this isn’t the kind of place many stumble across – even in such a central spot in Bairro Alto – and frankly, this is just what we liked about it.

Upstairs to the bedrooms, which are luxurious lofts, each radiating from the building’s central spiral staircase. Each loft is generous in size and unique in design. As with the hotel’s communal spaces downstairs, pared-back interiors bring together a simple backdrop of exposed timbers and polished concrete with show-stopping contemporary art and covetable design pieces – some from owner José Oliveira’s private collection. 

Our room was easily bigger than most one-bed apartments in London, and thoughtfully kitted out with more polished concrete and grey tones, offset by unique artworks and mid-century furniture. There was even a gleaming kitchen area along with a marble-top dining table, and plenty of earthy tones to bring some colour to the grey. A separate lounge area with squashy leather sofas (ideal for plonking ourselves on, after long days racking up our step count), and a TV were also there for the taking, although the small screen got short shrift from us, its appeal eclipsed by some of Lisbon’s best sights being literally on our doorstep. 

Generous windows meant that the apartment was filled with natural light, and having a bathroom each was the ultimate luxury. A stocked minibar and a few free snacks were waiting for us on arrival, and we were also encouraged to claim a free drink at the bar (we didn’t need to be told twice).

It was the perfect start to our first night, but given that the hotel is right in the heart of the buzzy Bairro Alto neighbourhood, it’s a dream base from which to dip into some of the city’s other favoured drinking holes. It’s also a lively base: the street on which the hotel sits transforms into a busy thoroughfare come evening – great for soaking up the atmosphere and good news for night owls; less great if you’re a light sleeper (although there is double glazing and two sets of shutters in all lofts). 

Breakfast the next morning was a generous continental spread of meats, cheeses, and pastries – ideal fodder to fuel our on-foot foray around the city. From Bairro Alto, most of the major neighbourhoods are within easy walking distance, so long as you can cope with a little gradient now and again – plus pitstops for syrupy, short coffees and ambrosial pasteis de nata are recommended. 

The vibe at Raw Culture is as laid-back and hands off as you want it to be; you won’t be bothered by staff throughout your stay unless you need something from them, but they were all incredibly friendly whenever we spoke to them. It felt more like we were staying in someone’s private home than a hotel – a private home where we had an entire wing of the house to ourselves, and our hosts magically restored our loft to its original spick-and-span state at pleasingly regular intervals. 

On our final morning, we had to peel ourselves away from our loft and towards checkout. These apartment-style stays are comfortable enough to prompt considerations of moving in permanently, and we certainly found ourselves wishing that we could call one of these cool, designer pads home. Perhaps it was the total lack of pretension, perhaps it was the hotel’s covetable co-ords in the heart of the city, but two nights at Raw Culture certainly left us wanting more. It turns out that this former printworks was just our type…