During our week stay, there were many quiet moments accompanied by faded music in the background — I couldn’t help but feel I was in a recording studio in the hills of California or in some lonely hall at Rick Rubins house, pouring myself a drink, while the Chili Peppers cut their first album.
In the spring of 2022 I booked the Mouco hotel on a whim.
Visiting Porto with family for the first time, we had no idea where to stay.
While scrolling Booking.com we saw the hotel was available and near to the train station. It was only upon arrival that we realized what a gem we'd found.
At the time, Mouco was still a young hotel having only opened less than a year prior. But as I write this review a year since our visit, I can assure you that it’s left us with memories and it’s one of our favorite places in Porto.
A little about the hotel
'Mouco Hotel - Stay, Listen & Play' opened in early 2021 in the Bonfim neighborhood of Porto, is a relaxing refuge from the city center positioned perfectly between the center of Porto and the Campanha train station — that you are likely to have arrived from if you are traveling from Lisbon.
Beyond the music offerings, Mouco Hotel features a saltwater pool and outdoor spaces, providing an ideal retreat during warm weather. The hotel's 62 rooms are thoughtfully designed for music lovers, offering a space where creativity and cultural sharing are promoted. Mouco Hotel invites guests to embrace its holistic approach to hospitality and discover how it is much more than the sum of its parts.
The Mouco hotel has received an impressive amount of coverage in the short two years since it’s founding, but the quote that I most agree with is from the Telegraph describing the hotel as, “A slice of Californian cool slightly removed from the heart” of Porto. Just a 20 minute walk into the city center, the Mouco hotel is definitely a 'slice of California cool' and is a unique destination for music lovers, encouraging you to rent vinyl players and acoustic guitars to your room and putting on incredibly lineup of concerts throughout the year.
Upon our stay we saw Adam Green live as he kicked off his “Engine of Paradise” tour at the Mouco, along with many other fantastic talents. This is perhaps one of the greatest parts about the hotel all together as it creates a hub for live events in the city; and tickets are open to the public — even those not staying at the hotel.
A final thought
To characterize the hotel in our own words— We found the hotel to be whimsical and warm. Due to the irregular layout of the hotel, one can enjoy a sense of privacy as though they were in a villa or a scene from ‘A Bigger Splash.’ During our week-long stay, there were many quiet moments accompanied by faded music in the background. I couldn’t help but feel I was in a recording studio in the California hills or in some quiet hall at Rick Rubins house, pouring myself a drink, while the Chili Peppers cut their first album.