These Are the Best Hotels in Portugal Right Now, From a Wine Country Retreat to a Chic City Escape

Time to start planning your next trip.

Portugal has seen some great hotel openings recently, from design-forward stays in Lisbon to colorful seaside escapes in Melides. Here, we've gathered four of the best new boutique hotels across the country. What do all of these highly personal properties all have in common? A deep-rooted love of home and hospitality.

The Private Escape

Conceived by architect Manuel Aires Mateus, Pa.te.os is a quartet of minimalist geometric vacation homes tucked at the end of a country road in the Alentejo. Filled with natural light, the interiors were designed to emphasize the outdoors: floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors offer views of the low-lying Arrábida hills and the Atlantic shimmering on the horizon, while the surrounding landscape, with its gnarled oak trees and abundant vegetation, makes the place seem breathtakingly wild. Each of the four exclusive-use houses comes with breakfast service and a triangular infinity pool — but for ocean swimming, the town of Comporta and its pristine beaches are a 30-minute drive away.

The City Retreat

Overlooking Lisbon’s verdant Jardim das Amoreiras — named for the mulberry trees that line the park — Hotel das Amoreiras marries the unpretentious gentility of a Portuguese country home with an ideal heart-of-the-city location. The hues of the neighboring garden inspired the olive, ocher, and mahogany palette of the property’s 19 rooms and suites, which were designed by husband-and-wife owners Pedro Oliveira and Alicia Valero. The building was constructed in the 18th century as a silk factory; the couple oversaw its transformation and curated a lively mix of artwork, including paintings and prints by Maurice Barraud, Alberto Giacometti, and Manolo Valdés.

The Pastoral Estate

Herdade da Malhadinha Nova sits on more than 1,000 rugged acres in the Alentejo that are covered with vineyards, olive and cork trees, vegetable gardens, and grazing pastures for Alentejana cows, Iberian black pigs, and merino sheep. The Soares family, which owns the property, opened their first accommodations on the site in 2008. In 2020, they commissioned architect Joana Raposo to transform the ruins of former agricultural buildings into four distinct guest structures. Each has its own personality: Casa das Artes e Ofícios (Arts and Crafts House), for instance, features an installation of woven willow lamps made by artisans in the nearby city of Beja, while the soaring white walls and terra-cotta floors of Casa do Ancoradouro (Mooring House) were inspired by the region’s architecture and red-clay soil. Though it’s tempting to kick back in the sun — each villa comes with its own pool — don’t miss out on activities like horseback riding through the vineyards and stomping grapes during the August harvest.

The Fashionable Stay

Legendary shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who has owned homes in Lisbon and Comporta since the 1990s, opened his first hospitality project this summer in the quiet seaside village of Melides. The name, Vermelho, means red in Portuguese — a cheeky nod to Louboutin’s crimson-bottomed high heels. The color is found throughout the hotel, from the bar’s glossy tiled floors to an embroidered-velvet Henri Samuel sofa. Other design touches include hand-painted frescoes, wood floors with intricate inlays, and North African and European antiques. Each room — there are just 13 — is different, so the place feels like an eclectic home that could only have been conceived by Louboutin.

A version of this story first appeared in the September 2023 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "Passion Projects."

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