The Visionaire Apartments

Portugal’s rebirth as an international travel hotspot is of quite recent vintage, but the Visionare Apartments would like to remind you that Lisbon has been a cosmopolitan nexus since the sixteenth century. It’s this era of exploration and global trade that the Visionaire seeks to evoke, taking its stylistic inspiration from a traditional merchant’s house, and incorporating influences from every port that Portuguese ships visited, from Cape Verde to Goa to Tokyo.

The location, right on the Praça da Figueira, is impressively central, but thanks to some judicious soundproofing, the apartments themselves feel like something of a refuge. They’re minimalist in style, but warmed by traditional textures and craftsmanship, and come with plenty of conveniences, from wi-fi and Bluetooth audio to fully equipped (if compact) kitchens.

Public spaces are of secondary importance in an apartment hotel, but this one exceeds expecations with a cozy library overlooking Figueira Square. Less photogenic, but for some travelers even more important, is the hotel’s laundry room. There are hotels with more extensive services, of course, and there are apartments in town that are even more laissez-faire — for many visitors, though, the Visionaire is the happy medium.