5 of Portugal's best wildlife-watching destinations, from the Algarve to Lisbon

For generations, designers have adopted towns, villages, and other enclaves as second homes and visited them again and again, imprinting a touch of their own sensibility on their chosen place—and importing something of its essence into their own work. It’s the kind of symbiosis that Coco Chanel and Le Corbusier, who summered in neighboring homes, enjoyed with the Cote d’Azur’s Rouquebrune Cap-Martine, or Yves Saint Laurent with Marrakech and Tangier. More recently, Christian Louboutin popularized the Portuguese village of Melides, eventually opening Vermelho Hotel there earlier this year. Here, five designers on the places they go, and why they continue to be pulled back.

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Autumn is the perfect season to discover Algarve with its favourable temperatures, making it ideal for exploring the region. Blessed with a stunning coastline, as well as hilly and softly contoured mainland, this part of Portugal offers fantastic hiking trails to suit all ages.

Porto, a coastal city in the northwest of Portugal, has long been relegated to Lisbon’s shadow, but it’s finally commanding global attention for its culinary offerings. 

Once associated with cheap package deals and a hedonistic party scene, recent steps have pivoted Mallorca into a luxury destination with an emphasis on cultural and sustainable travel. Late nights in Magaluf are slipping out of fashion in favor of catching the sunrise over UNESCO-listed mountains. Horseback wine tours, vintage train journeys, and sea kayaking excursions offer a far more memorable experience than the booze cruises that once orbited the island’s coastline. Venturing beyond the high-rise resorts, rural and oceanside Airbnbs in Mallorca, Spain, bring tourists even closer to the raw beauty of the Mediterranean island.

“Home sales to Americans in Europe keep growing”; “The number of Americans living in European countries is increasing”; “Americans relocating to Europe is a trend.”

In our Simple Pleasure series, our writers show you how you can enjoy a fun and easy-going activity in their city without breaking the bank. Here, Austin Bush explains why a stroll through Lisbon is a great (and free) way to understand the city.

To give civilisation the slip, head north to Serra da Estrela Natural Park, where the country’s tallest mountains punch above valleys that echo with goat and sheep bells. At Senses on the banks of the Mondego River, you can camp under the fruit trees or glamp in a bell tent, safari lodge or yurt. Wild swim in the river with the otters and hike into granite heights, returning to eat at the farm-to-fork restaurant. By night the Milky Way shimmers in some of the country’s darkest skies. Pitches from €15 (£13), tents from €45 (£39), B&B. 

A former fishing village that’s become one of the most posh spots in Portugal, Comporta is still gathering steam. Between the rice fields, cork forests, and long white beaches, there has been a slew of new openings this year, as well as upgrades to existing properties (and some that needed no changes at all) and lots of construction in the works. Here’s what’s worth a look—especially now that the peak summertime crowds have started to head home.

J2 adventures is designed to meet the needs of families and groups by integrating thematic, custom-designed excursions around specialized topics and interest areas.

Salgados Golf Course is an 18-hole par-72 layout originally designed by Pedro Vasconcelos in 1994 and renovated by renowned landscape architect Álvaro Mano in 2012.

The cities in Europe with the largest pipelines at Q2 are led by London, with 82 projects/14,767 rooms, and Istanbul, with record project counts of 42 projects/7,222 rooms. Following are Lisbon, with 37 projects/4,262 rooms, Dublin, with 32 projects/6,173 rooms, then Dusseldorf, Germany with 31 projects/5,669 rooms.