Portugal’s Casa Palmela Is The Ultimate Country House Hotel

07.05.2024 - 18:05 / forbes.com

There are European country house hotels, and then there is Casa Palmela, about a 45-minute drive south of Lisbon. Located a couple of miles beyond the sleepy port city of Setubal, it’s surrounded by lush countryside covered in vineyards and dotted with cork trees. A very long and grand walled driveway takes you into a spacious courtyard, letting you know in all its 17th-century splendor that you have arrived.

Mornings are magical at Casa Palmela. On a recent visit, the days began with a hearty choir of birdsong in the so-called “broccoli” pines, monkey puzzle trees, and cork trees surrounding the estate. Set within the verdant green mountains of Arrábida Natural Park, it is surrounded by vineyards tended by Fonseca, the 100-pound gorilla of Portuguese winemaking, whose headquarters lies a couple of miles down the road. There are endless rows of Syrah and Muscatel grapes, olive trees, and wisteria vines.

Casa Palmela is an elegant, quiet, and stately home from 1640, owned by the same family since 1826, the descendants of Bernardo Sousa and María Luisa Holstein, the Duke and Duchess of Palmela. The 170-acre estate is one of the few private properties within the national park, where construction has been banned since 1975. The 17th-century manor house was transformed into a 21-room luxury hotel in 2016. There’s a good chance that Salvador Holstein, part of the extended family, will welcome you and perhaps share a glass of Moscatel de Setubal, locally produced and the least known of Portugal’s estimable fortified wines (the better-known ones being Port and Maderia).

The house boasts original stone floors, whitewashed stone walls, family artworks and furniture, 18th-century tiles, and even a tiny chapel. It is a bit like a living museum. Yet it’s also friendly and welcoming, exhibiting the touch of the extended family that owns it. These traits don’t always merge when you’re talking about European country house hotels, many of which now have corporate owners. It’s a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, but that’s the only thing remotely corporate about it. This is a family business.

“This was my grandparents' room,” said Holstein, welcoming me into a large room with views of the Arrábida Mountains and a private balcony, an ideal place to greet the morning birdsong. Other rooms in converted outbuildings offer multiple bedrooms and kitchens, suitable for families or an extended stay. The rooms have been modernized without losing their considerable charm.

There are two pools, one for adults only. The hotel has a large organic garden and raises chickens and ducks. The morning rooster call was a welcome reminder that we were in the country.

Dinner at Zimbral restaurant had a welcome formality (the