The Valverde Santar Hotel Brings Luxury To Portugal’s Hidden Interior

14.02.2024 - 11:07 / forbes.com

“Old money on steroids.” That’s how the communications director for Portugal’s new Valverde Santar Hotel & Spa describes both the hotel and the small—but rich in history as well as financial spoils—village in central Portugal that surrounds it.

This area, in the Beira region, is one of those gems of Portugal that’s not on the tourist map, but it makes a fine stop in between Lisbon and Porto. It’s near the base of the Serra da Estrela mountain range and is surrounded by the vines of the award-winning wines of the Dão region—a less-visited alternative to the famous Douro Valley. It’s also home to heritage, palaces and aristocratic residences in spades

With that backdrop, Valverde Santar has no bling, but what it displays is not exactly stealth wealth. The aesthetic at the 21-room hotel is 100 percent Portuguese, and it’s impeccably classic. It retains the feeling of the family estate that it was. Known as Casa das Fidalgas—one of Santar’s most important estates with nearly ten acres of vineyards and eight acres of post-Renaissance gardens—it was built in the 17th century by Domingos de Sampaio do Amaral on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter to João de Almeida Castelo Branco.

What follows is a genealogy of important Portuguese family names until 1975, when family member Pedro Brum da Silveira Pinto donated the estate to the representative of the Portuguese royal house, Dom Duarte Pio, and his brother, Dom Miguel de Bragança, Duke of Viseu. While the names may be unfamiliar to international visitors, the point is clear: This property was in the hands of some of the most noble families in the country.

If you like that sort of thing, you’re in luck. Following a sensitive restoration led by José Pedro Vieira and Diogo Rosa Lã from Bastir, the hotel is filled with the original owners’ antiques and collections. There are family portraits and religious images aplenty. Ceilings are elaborately painted. Vintage leather-bound books stand proudly in antique cabinets.

The hotel was accepted into Relais & Chateaux nearly the minute it opened. That’s a testament both to its quality and to its pedigree: It’s a sister property to the Valverde Lisboa Hotel & Garden, which brought a new, discreet style of refined luxury to the Portuguese capital a decade ago. (The group, whose main shareholder is himself from the Beira region, recently announced the acquisition of the sumptuous Palácio de Seteais in Sintra, bringing the growing collection to three.)

While the hotel was designed to be a place to slow down and connect with the countryside—the terrace that’s used for breakfast and afternoon tea is a particularly fine place to do that—it’s also a place to celebrate history. Because the house’s owners always shared