Rural Legends

Portugal is one of the world’s hottest destinations. There are lots of reasons why. Our favorite is the number of thrilling new hotels opening throughout the country’s less populated areas.

Not so long ago Portugal was under the travel radar. How quickly things change. Over the past couple of decades the country has grown into one of the world’s most desirable destinations. There are plenty of explanations for its relatively sudden popularity, from cost competitiveness to a stable political situation to all those glorious beaches and surf breaks, but the one we care about most is the explosion of unique hotels.

Hotels throughout Portugal are leading the way when it comes to innovative design — and not just in larger cities like Lisbon and Porto. Singular hospitality voices are singing out all over the mainland coast and countryside of this relatively small nation, creating accommodations with truly cutting-edge concepts and designs to rival anywhere else in the world.

View our entire hotel selection for Portugal

Conversas de Alpendre

Vila Nova de Cacela, Portugal

The combination of design-hotel good looks and family-inn friendliness is a tough pairing to deliver, but that’s a nutshell description of Conversas de Alpendre. Set in the countryside of the Eastern Algarve, it’s not just family-owned but family-run and family-made — with locally crafted artisanal elements that include the unique Tree House suite, standing 20 feet above the ground, resulting in a panoramic view.

São Lourenço do Barrocal

Monsaraz, Portugal

São Lourenço do Barrocal is a 200-year-old, 2,000-acre agricultural estate in the spectacular Alentejo countryside. The estate is still an organic farm, producing wine, fruits, and other foodstuffs, but much of its infrastructure has been put to new use as a tranquil, stylish luxury boutique hotel — barns, outbuildings, even the stables and an olive press have been transformed for guest stays.

Martinhal Family Resort

Sagres, Portugal

There’s plenty of space on the Algarve coast for every kind of hotel to host the millions of sun-seekers that descend upon the beaches during the summer. It makes perfect sense, then, for a place like Martinhal to contain multitudes; an ambitious offering of varied guest-room styles with the facilities and amenities of a massive luxury resort, and a place well-suited to families traveling with young children.

Noah Surf House

A-dos-Cunhados, Portugal

Noah Surf House in Santa Cruz sounds like the purest essence of California — and it is, in spite of the fact that it’s not on the Pacific, but the Atlantic coast of Portugal. It’s everything you’d want from a hip, laid-back, bohemian boutique surf hotel, plus a generous helping of the ultra-sleek modernist architecture and design that has somehow become the new standard among Portuguese hotels.

Areias do Seixo Charm Hotel & Residences

Póvoa de Penafirme, Portugal

Areias do Seixo is the kind of place that hosts a nightly communal bonfire on its wild — and wildly pretty — stretch of coast north of Lisbon. But although the wine does flow freely, given the vast expanse of farmland and ocean and dunes that’s shared by just thirteen rooms, it’s a comfortable, low-key affair, about as private a social gathering as one can have in the company of strangers.

Spatia Comporta

Grândola, Portugal

Comporta is known for its splendidly empty beaches and its upscale hospitality. Spatia Comporta is set just outside of town, amidst pine forests and rice fields, a few minutes from the beaches, and offers a generous measure of seclusion: just four villas divided into ten rooms, on a private estate surrounding a pair of perfectly lovely outdoor pools (one for kids, one adults-only).

Almalusa Comporta

Comporta, Portugal

The village of Comporta is where you’ll find AlmaLusa Comporta, the country cousin of the capital’s stylish AlmaLusa Baixa/Chiado. In a region almost exclusively known for high-end luxury hospitality, AlmaLusa is remarkable for delivering a stylish and thoroughly relaxing experience at a price that doesn’t exclude the vast majority of travelers who might be in the market for such a thing.

Ecorkhotel Évora

Évora, Portugal

Every corner of Portugal seems to be experiencing a travel boom, and Évora, in the inland region of Alentejo, is no exception. Just outside the city of Évora itself, you’ll find the Ecorkhotel, a sustainable, energy-efficient boutique-style escape made up of cube-like contemporary villas, divided into 56 spacious suites complete with private terraces overlooking the Alentejo countryside.

Villa Extramuros

Arraiolos, Portugal

While the design of Villa Extramuros might seem at odds with the natural landscape of Arraiolos, there’s nothing over-the-top about this hotel. With just five guest rooms and a sleek, down-to-earth aesthetic, Extramuros is a minimalist getaway surrounded by olive groves and oak forests that invite a late-afternoon wander. So sleep in, feast on a leisurely breakfast, and catch a few rays beside the infinity pool.

Pedras Salgadas Spa & Nature Park

Bornes de Aguiar, Portugal

Situated in a nature reserve, Pedras Salgadas Spa & Nature Park is more or less exactly what it sounds like — plus a hotel. Architect Luis Rebelo de Andrade designed these strikingly modern eco-houses to be built from prefabricated modules, resulting in accommodations which, though they bear a resemblance, are all subtly different, largely due to their differing orientations to the site. 

Pa.te.os

Melides, Portugal

Pa.te.os is a celebration of indoor-outdoor living. It’s no ordinary hotel but a collection of four modernist concrete houses designed by architect Manuel Aires Mateus, set just inland from Melides, on the Alentejo coast. They’re built around loosely enclosed courtyards, and the rooms are separated from their outdoor counterparts by fully retractable glass walls.

Casa de São Lourenço

Serra da Estrela Mountains, Portugal

To create the impressive piece of architecture that is Casa de São Lourenço, studios P-06 and Site Specific have grafted an ultra-modern concrete structure onto a classically styled Forties mountain inn high up in the Serra da Estrela mountains. Here the views of the Glacier Valley are the main attraction, and the hotel’s full-length windows make the most of the building’s privileged position.

Luz Charming Houses

Fátima, Portugal

Luz Houses is like a small village within a village, with several terra-cotta buildings set in a wooded landscape of fruit and olive trees. The property’s centerpiece is the Mother House, a rustic-chic-meets-industrial-cool communal space complete with terrace and honesty bar, cozy fireplace-warmed lounge spaces, even a small grocery store stocking locally produced and artisanal food and drink.

Villa Epicurea

Sesimbra, Portugal

Villa Epicurea is a stunning boutique-sized eco-resort in Serra da Arrábida, just south of Lisbon, featuring an organic restaurant and excursions to nearby wineries and nature reserves. It’s tiny, with just three suites in the main lodge and a pair of cozy “eco-villas” that each sleep up to four. They’re thoughtfully comfortable and are all oriented outward, with views of the landscape from their balconies or terraces.

Wine House Hotel

Lamego, Portugal

Quinta da Pacheca Wine House Hotel is an 18th-century manor house on a working Douro Valley winery that combines classic charm with contemporary interior design and up-to-date boutique-era comforts. Along with traditional hotel rooms you’ll find two rows of pod-like cabins made from decommissioned wine barrels, just big enough for a cozy bedroom and bathroom and an outdoor terrace overlooking the vineyards.