I was teaching at a summer school held at the Falperra Hotel in early July. The hotel is outside of Braga (about 15-20 minutes by bus or taxi), up in the hills. The location is cool, comfortable and very green, but a bit out of the way if you want more to do -- there's not much in the vicinity apart from the hotel.

We had a comfortable (and big) double room on the top floor, overlooking the pool and gardens out back. It was quiet, except for the barking dogs in the homes nearby. The room was reasonably up-to-date (though without a flat-screen TV, if you care about these kinds of things). The bed was comfortable, and everything in the bathroom worked well. We got very little noise from neighbouring rooms.

The food was excellent. We had all our meals included, and they fed us very well. What I really liked was plenty of fresh fruit at each meal. Everything was presented well, and used good ingredients.

The staff were friendly and helpful; it seems to be a family-run hotel, which led to a very casual and relaxed atmosphere around the place.

We went in to Braga several times while we were there. The bus to the city centre leaves from right outside the hotel and takes 15-20 minutes. From there you can also take a train to Porto.

We found it a very relaxing and comfortable stay; for those of you want to have easier access to restaurants, bars and nightlife, you may want to consider staying in the centre of Braga.

I stayed at the Falperra hotel for three nights while attending a conference at the University. For this reason it turned out not to be ideal as each journey into the city centre or to the conference necessitated a taxi ride costing approximately 10 Euros. The public areas of the hotel are ok, although looking dated, and the pool is great - just wished I'd had more time to spend there - but I was unimpressed with my room. It was fairly basic with cheap-looking fixtures and fittings. On my first day I could not get the air conditioning to work nor get internet access, and although I mentioned this twice to the front desk staff nothing was done about it. There was no iron and ironing board in the room. Perhaps this is normal for hotels in Portugal. There was also no full length mirror. When I visited the pool the towel I was given was a small thin bathroom towel that I had to collect from the front desk. If this is a 'spa' hotel there should be proper towels available at the pool.
Breakfast is good and plentiful.
I would not stay here again if I visited Braga again, mainly because of the distance from the city centre and University. I did not think the price I paid (100 Euros a night) represented good value for money.

While a short drive outside of Braga proper, the Sentir's location in Falperra in the hills is beautiful and near to the shrines and Bom Jesus. The food and accommodation was excellent, four star European style. The hotel has a large pool and spa with a great view. Nice place for a northern Portugal romantic getaway if you don't want to be found.

We loved this hotel. We had planned to go camping but the weather was bad and we found our way via tourist info in Braga to this lovely spot. Beautiful views of the mountains, a nice little indoor pool, good restaurant and above all, really relaxed, friendly staff. Great value for money.