Imagine Southern Portugal without the high-rise holiday homes or indeed any British tourists. It’s all here to discover, along a wilderness of coastline here on the very last south-western extremity of Europe. These stunning untrammelled white beaches are yet to be known by most travelling Brits.
I picked up a car from Drive On Holidays (www.driveonholidays.com) They have a personal service that allowed me to collect in Faro and drop off in Lisbon, to have English Sat Nav and to register automatically the tolls I passed through.
I left Faro airport to reach the very point where Portugal meets both Spain and the Atlantic to stay at the oldest hotel south of Lisbon, Grand House, Vila Real de Santo António (www.grandhousealgarve.com). A century ago there were rows of canneries here devoted to tuna. This hotel stands out proudly as the only tall building along the waterfront with its glorious frontage resembling a Venetian Gothic Palazzo.
The food included local bread, meat, olive oil, fruit, vegetables, organic tomatoes and creamy curd cheese. My bedroom had dark wood and cast-iron stands, a silvery rug and taupe drapes in a calming, neutral and natural décor and a bathroom with a free-standing bath and antiques suggesting history and luxury.
I drove along the motorway away from the main touristic belt of central Algarve and towards the extremity that is Sagres, before moving up and clinging to the Atlantic coast to an area that attracts the surfing pros to the beaches there. it’s the start of the region called Alentejo, full of flat fields with villages of cobalt blue-trimmed houses with corked-tiled roofs and white-washed walls.
It was a real find to discover deep in the middle of nowhere and half an hour up the coast Herdade do Touril (www.herdadedotouril.com/en/) which had an historic building with Alentejan country architecture and rustically decorated rooms, suites and independent apartments (all handily on the ground floor), a terrace around the pool, bougainvillea in the driveway and a pit fire amid the olive trees.
The whole coastline south of Lisbon, is preserved thanks to a strict government policy enforcing the hotels to be located inland.
Between Costa Vicentina and Comporta I stayed at a glamping boutique Eco Suites Resort (www.reservaalecrim.com) a state-of-the-art enterprise, begun in 2019, with ambitious and expansive plans ahead. I lodged in a treetop pod and viewed the stunning sunset.
At Foggo, I ate a selection of local produce that included pork steak, a platter of Alentejo bread with goat cheese, jam, olives and seasoned lupine beans followed by some delicious ice cream. This ‘slow-food’ concept is in keeping with Alentejo’s reputation for being slow and laid-back.
Next, I headed further north to where, at dawn and dusk, storks rest and nest famously on every available telegraph pole and church steeple and came to Quinta da Comporta (www.quintadacomporta.com) A ‘quinta’ is a country villa or estate. And here I found pool villas and town houses all designed for an authentic wellbeing experience.
Opened in 2019, it has two super-sized ancient rice warehouses. It reminded me of Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire appealing to chic and trendy guests seeking urban comforts in a rural setting. Of the two larger-than-life barns one was to eat in and the other to exercise and be pampered beneath its vertiginous ceiling. The serene setting of the Oryza Spa and Hammam provided a fitting focus for its diet of wellness on offer.
Lit up at night it resembled a Tuscan church one end with its curvaceous façade and a monastic ruin the other with its lack of roof allowing me to savour the breeze and spot the stars snug within the warmth of the outdoor pool. My spa treatment was inspirational as I experienced a defoliating scrub made from rice granules and the massage that followed. Impressive in every sense!
My room had a super-confident natural colour palette with woven baskets on the walls, honey wood, wicker, a sisal rug, stitchwork textiles and funky banana leaf chairs.
I ate one night a mere ten-minute drive away at Sem Porta Restaurant (www.sublimecomporta.pt/restaurant-sem-porta). Set in luxurious surroundings of brick, wood and leather, with frayed rattan lanterns resembling jellyfish and a roaring fire, it’s lit up amongst olive trees in a former mammoth barn.
I reached Lisbon with ease beyond the other side of the river Tagus determined now to share with the British this wilderness of coastline already popular with Germans and French. I must go back whenever but soon!
ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD
Adam had support from www.heathrowexpress.com and www.holidayextras.co.uk 0800 316 5678 (who offer airport lounges at all major UK airports and many international destinations) and was covered by online travel insurance specialist, CoverForYou (www.coverforyou.com, 0207 183 0885)
