Mama Shelter Lisboa

The Mama Shelter brand may no longer be the brash upstart it once was, but its hotels continue in the playfully confrontational style that marked their revolutionary debut, right down to the superhero masks that adorn the bedside lamps. But Mama Shelter Lisboa — set, fittingly, in the Portuguese capital’s French quarter — is no carbon copy of its elder sisters; rather, it’s tailored to its setting, applying local crafts, artworks, and materials to the brash and glamorous Mama Shelter aesthetic.

Its rooms, for the most part, are more crash pads than pleasure palaces, and start out smallish — this is meant to be one of the city’s most accessible, attainable boutique-hotel experiences, and while the necessary comforts are present, they naturally stop short of grand-hotel luxury. A stylish place to sleep, and perhaps to entertain a guest, is all they’re meant to be.

And the public spaces, though they’re similarly low-frills, are nevertheless high in fun. There’s a restaurant serving pizza and Portuguese and French favorites, a bar with a tropical vibe and DJ sets accompanying the craft cocktails, and a rooftop lounge with inspiring views of the Tagus River and the surrounding city.