The Late Birds is a gay guesthouse in a restored 18th-century building on a quiet lane in Bairro Alto, a few streets above the Bica funicular. It has been open for ten years and calls what it does a Gay Urban Resort: a house for gay men where, in its own words, everyone who stays should feel at home even far from home. It says plainly on its own site that gay men are who it is for, and that it wants every guest, man or woman, to be comfortable there.
Rooms come as Terrace Garden and Top Garden rooms and as Superior and Premium suites. They are done in white and wood, with exposed beams, wide plank floors, shuttered windows onto the lane, a sofa, a full-length mirror and an iMac on the desk. Breakfast is a buffet and housekeeping is daily.
The house is built around its garden, which it calls the Bird's Oasis: a UV-treated pool, a sun terrace, cocktails and snacks. Indoors there is a piano bar, a lobby, a lounge and a wellness room. Nothing is allowed naked in the garden, at the pool or on the deck.
The nearest Metro is about seven minutes on foot. The gay beaches on the Caparica side of the river, Praia 19, Praia do Nato and Meco, are around 17 km away.
