Opened in 2009, the Douro41 hotel and spa went through several incarnations before its original architect João Serodio was tapped to work on a spruce-up prior to its recent reopening.
Taking nothing away from the Portuguese architect’s handsome plan of low slung sun-burnt brick buildings, the star attraction is the 62-room property’s setting – literally, on the edge of the Douro (the ‘41’ in the hotel’s name apparently references the river’s kilometre length) in the midst of the region’s fabled swathe of vineyards and tree-cloaked hills.
Whether the timber deck of the al fresco pool, restaurant or spa, which also features an indoor lap pool, every vantage point in the resort opens out to that view. And as evening falls, Lisbon-based interior designer Cristina Jorge de Carvalho’s warm almost Nordic interiors of grey and slate hues, blond timber floors and austere furniture turn into a quiet, stylish retreat that leads directly to the dining room.
Here, Ricardo Lourenço channels a lustrous career in some of Paris’s best kitchens – among them, Le Cinq, Ledoyen, and La Tour d’Argent – into a Gallic-influenced menu of reimagined Portuguese standards such as a goat’s cheese crème brulée paired with macerated grapes, and chestnut cream, and a crowd-pleaser of baby goat roasted in the wood oven with stuffed potatoes and onions.
ADDRESS
EN 222, Km 41
Vista Alegre
-
This fun and free-spirited photography exhibition offers a chromatic view on the world‘Chromotherapia’ at Villa Medici in Rome, explores how we view colour as a way of therapy, and how it has shaped photography over the last century (until 9 June 2025)
-
Bike maker Canyon goes custom with a new service offering unique artist-designed framesMyCanyon is a new design service from the German racing bike specialists, with contributions from artists Elena Salmistraro and Felipe Pantone and bespoke technical specifications
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Granger Hotel: an intimate, maximalist charmer in San DiegoSet in the historic Gaslamp Quarter, Granger Hotel is an oasis of design blending history with modernity
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: meet the travel winners transcending destinationsDiscover the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025 travel winners – the year’s places to stay, dine, drink and join – and watch our video to find out why they won
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Find serenity at Casa Fortunato, a Portuguese bolthole filled with lightDesign-savvy duo Antonio Falcáo Costa Lopes and Filipa Fortunato chose Alcácer do Sal as the perfect setting for the second iteration of their original Casa Fortunato
-
Lisbon hotel Locke de Santa Joana wins Wallpaper* Design Award 2025Born from the restoration of an old convent, Locke de Santa Joana receives our Best Opening award for its design inventiveness and sunny disposition
-
The Rebello is a chic hotel with an industrial past on Porto’s riversideTransforming industrial buildings on the Douro river, The Rebello is a new hotel ‘with an old soul’
-
Modern, earthy lodges await at Lavandeira Douro Nature & WellnessLavandeira Douro Nature & Wellness in Portugal boasts off-track luxury cabins by FCC Architectura
-
The Algarve welcomes Austa, an all-day kitchen in touch with its heritageFrom breakfast to dinner, Austa embraces honest eating and local community
-
Marqí hotel brings a minimalist 1970s feel to Portugal’s Sintra coastDanish duo Mikkel Kristensen and architect Mikas Emil’s mansion conversion offers dreamy, cinematic escapism at Marqí, a secluded boutique hotel
