If you are looking for another town to explore while visiting Lisbon and the surrounding area, then you may want to consider the town of Batalha. And Villa Batalha Hotel is a wheelchair accessible hotel in Batalha, Portugal that you may want to consider as your accommodation. This is my review of the wheelchair accessibility at Villa Batalha Hotel from my experience as a power wheelchair user.
This hotel stay formed the second part of a six-day press trip organised by Tourism For all and Turismo De Portugal along with a fantastic group of accessible travel bloggers.
Location & Airport Transfers
Villa Batalha Hotel is a four-star hotel located in Central Portugal in a town called Batalha. Lisbon Airport is under two hours away and two hours from Porto airport. However, we did not travel to this hotel from any of those airports. Instead, we travelled from our first hotel Vila Galé Ópera in Lisbon where we had spent two nights at the beginning of our trip.
The location of Villa Batalha provides good walking or rolling distance to some of Batalha’s main points of interest including the Batalha Monastery, which you can spot in the photo above.
We travelled to Batalha in one of Tourism For All’s wheelchair accessible buses. Their transportation accommodates both power and manual wheelchairs comfortably.
Wheelchair Accessible Hotel Room
Like Vila Galé Ópera Hotel, Villa Batalha has a high number of accessible rooms, which accommodated each member of our group.
Our wheelchair accessible room for two nights was room 118. The room featured two twin beds with space underneath for a mobile hoist to roll under.
The twin beds weren’t joined together and had a bedside table placed between them.
There was space for my wheelchair on each side of the beds which enabled us to do wheelchair transfers to and from the bed easily.
The room also featured a desk in the corner and this is where I was able to do my hair and makeup. Despite being positioned near the window, the lighting wasn’t the best for doing my makeup, but the desk height was the only surface area I could reach to do this. However, my knees weren’t able to fit underneath properly.
At the foot of the beds was the flat screen TV mounted on the wall as well as an in-build closet with sliding doors.
Wheelchair Accessible Bathroom
The bathroom was spacious and modern in its design and decor. The roll-in shower was behind a glass partition and there was a shower seat from the hotel placed inside.
The shower seat did not have wheels which wasn’t ideal for me as I can’t walk to get into the shower and it lacked the support that I require when sitting in the shower.
Villa Batalha has a range of shower chairs with more support available so it is best to speak to the staff if you require a different seat. You can see the range of shower chairs in the photo below.
Since we were on the trip with Tourism For All, there was also the option of using something from their range of equipment including different shower chairs.
The shower featured a grab bar as well as a hand-held shower head and controls within reach. Above was an overhead Raindance shower head.
The roll-under bathroom sink ran along the entire wall, which provided plenty of space to place personal belongings. Next to the sink was a wall-mounted hairdryer and a bidet.
The toilet was positioned in the corner with space for only left-hand side transfers. Fixed and pull-down grab bars were situated on both sides of the toilet. The toilet roll holder was within easy reach and a small wooden table was placed to the left of the toilet which may be handy to lay medical equipment or personal care items as well as clothing when getting ready.
Public Areas, Swimming Pool & SPA
The public areas were very spacious and beautifully decorated. I liked the sitting areas positioned next to the floor to ceiling windows which provided a nice spot to sit and enjoy the view.
Villa Batalha hotel has a swimming pool and SPA for hotel guests to use. SPAS are often not accessible, but the massage table in this SPA has a height-adjustable table making it easy to accommodate disabled people.
The hotel is also planning on installing a lift in the swimming pool area as at the time of our visit (October 2019) it was not wheelchair accessible.
Dining in the Restaurant
We ordered room service on our first night at the hotel and then had a group dinner in the hotel restaurant on the second night. There was a lack of vegetarian/vegan options so we had a pasta dish on both nights.
For breakfast, the restaurant was laid out with lots of options and thankfully we were able to find something we could eat. We fuelled up with toast and lots of fruit.
Final Thoughts
Villa Batalha Hotel is a modern wheelchair accessible hotel in Portugal. Its location is perfect for seeing the main sights of Batalha such as the Monastery, but being a small town, the hotel will suit visitors stopping off for a few days to see the main sights or passing through. The wheelchair accessible rooms provided us with a comfortable two-night stay and I had space to manoeuvre around in my wheelchair. The bathroom was also spacious enough for me to move around, but I didn’t like the design of the roll-in shower being behind a glass partition as I felt it was restrictive for getting in and out especially as I require complete assistance for showering.
If the hotel accessibility and location meet your needs/requirements then I would suggest you check out Villa Batalha Hotel if you are looking for a wheelchair accessible hotel in Batalha, Central Portugal.
Stay tuned for more posts on Portugal coming soon!
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Disclaimer: A special thank you to Tourism For all for organising this trip to Portugal. As always, all views and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
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4 Responses
Are there other wheelchair accessible hotels in Lisbon that are centrally located so I could roll from the hotel to cafes, etc.
Hi Kathleen. I’d imagine there are other wheelchair accessible hotels in Lisbon centrally located, but I only stayed at this hotel. I hope you manage to find another hotel a little closer to cafes etc.
Appreciate your info. When I looked at the aerial view of the Vila Gale Opera, I had concerns about being able to wheel to places in close proximity. + info on extremely limited vegan menu since my friend is a vegan.
Appreciate your info. When I looked at the aerial view of the Vila Gale Opera, I had concerns about being able to wheel to places in close proximity. + info on extremely limited vegan menu since my friend is a vegan.