Viana do Castelo, Portugal

Convento de Cabanas

Price per night from$294.18

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR253.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Convento de Cabanas Photos

Style

Brother nature

Setting

Mid-caminho miracle

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Once home to Benedictine monks, Convento de Cabanas still calls to those seeking heavenly hush. The secluded 12th-century monastery in Viana do Castelo district has been diligently restored, atmospheric interiors filled with handpicked antiques and gardens coaxed into flower-filled glory. Afife beach is nearby and workshops with local artisans easily arranged, but leave time to embrace your inner hermit, letting days pass with oak-shaded river swims, spa treatments under the soaring church ceiling and homegrown meals on sun-warmed terraces.

Smith Extra

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A small bottle of local vinho verde and homemade regional treats

Facilities

Photos Convento de Cabanas facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Six suites.

Check–Out

Noon. Check-in is at 3pm, but both are flexible, subject to availability.

More details

Rates include a breakfast spread of freshly baked bread and pastries, local eggs, cured meats and produce picked from the convent’s garden.

Also

The Azalée room has step-free access and a wide-entry, walk-in shower with a custom-made ramp (supplied on request), but the historic architecture and uneven gardens at Convento de Cabanas may make it largely unsuitable if you have limited mobility.

At the hotel

Church, croquet lawn, rose garden, library, beach kit to borrow, paid laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: free glass-bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and Damana bath products.

Our favourite rooms

It’s hard not to feel at home in the convent suites, with the salon, library and kitchen steps away and the river coursing by outside. For a more secluded stay, opt for one of the suites in the cottage — Hortensia’s hammam-style bath is especially enticing. Otherwise, just pick your favourite flower — all suites are named for blooms found in the hotel’s gardens.

Poolside

On sunny afternoons, seek sanctuary at the (seasonal) adults-only heated pool, set in a quiet corner of the gardens where butterflies flit among the hydrangeas and the church spire rises behind the trees.

Spa

There’s no spa, but staff can arrange massages and sound baths in the hush of the convent’s historic church, as well as yoga classes, held in either the gardens, on the terrace or in church.

Packing tips

Centre your holiday playlist around fado superstar Amália Rodrigues — many of her songs draw their lyrics from the poetry of Pedro Homem de Melo, who lived at the Convento for several years.

Also

Careful consideration guided each step of the Convento’s conversion, from the years-long restoration carried out with the University of Porto down to the patterned headboards that Nathalie designed when she couldn’t find any to fit her vision.

Pet‐friendly

Sadly this is not an option for your four-legged friend — no dogs are allowed at Convento de Cabanas. See more pet-friendly hotels in Viana do Castelo.

Children

Welcome. A single sofa-bed can be made up in three rooms (Azalée, Camélia and Capucine) on request. The pool is for adults only.

Sustainability efforts

Convento de Cabanas avoids single-use plastics, and you’ll find full-size bath products in your suite. The kitchens work with ingredients grown in the organic gardens or sourced from local suppliers. Drinking water is drawn from the convent’s spring, wastewater is processed using coconut filter, and rainwater is collected for use in the permaculture gardens with the same system once used by the monks, which was rediscovered during the restoration process.

Food and Drink

Photos Convento de Cabanas food and drink

Top Table

When the weather’s fine, staff can set up a table in the olive grove or flower gardens. For wintertime wooing, snag Magnolia’s romantic window seat for two.

Dress Code

Garb fit for frolicking in the gardens: flowing floral dresses, billowy linen and cashmere knits.

Hotel restaurant

The Convento takes its culinary cue from its own history, adopting the same farm-to-table ethos as the monks who once made their home here. Menus focus on seasonal ingredients, either grown in the organic kitchen garden or sourced from small-scale local producers. 

Magnolia is named for the 300-year-old tree that stands watch over the terrace: on chilly nights, cosy up in the dining room, as candlelight and crackling fire cast shadows on the historic stone walls. 

From April to October, Café de Cabanas opens in a riverside spot right on the Camino. Out on the alfresco terrace, simple, homegrown lunches are soundtracked by babbling water and the happy chatter of pilgrims taking the weight off. 

Breakfast is served in the guest-only Blue Kitchen; tuck in at the communal table or scurry off to the salon with your still-warm pastries. The kitchen stays open all day, so you can help yourself to tea, coffee or homegrown fruit whenever you fancy.

Hotel bar

There’s no separate bar, but the Convento isn’t short of romantic places to pop a cork. Ask for a bottle to be brought out to a blossom-filled bower, take up residence on a river-gazing terrace or settle in the salon for a cosy hearthside nightcap.

Last orders

Magnolia serves lunch from noon to 3pm, Thursday to Saturday, and from 11am on Wednesday and Sunday; dinner is from 7pm to 10pm, Thursday to Saturday. Between April and October, Café de Cabanas is open from 10am to 6pm, Wednesday to Sunday.

Room service

Dishes can be served in your suite whenever the restaurant is open.

Location

Photos Convento de Cabanas location
Address
Convento de Cabanas
Caminho do Barroso 63
Afife
4900-012
Portugal

Edged by the Camino de Santiago, Convento de Cabanas is in the Viana do Castelo district on Portugal’s Costa Verde, near the beach town of Afife and the Spanish border.

Planes

The hotel is around an hour and 15 minutes away from Porto Airport, and the same distance from Vigo Airport, across the Spanish border. Staff can arrange transfers from either on request.

Trains

Direct trains run from Porto’s São Bento station to Afife. From there, it’s under 10 minutes’ drive to the hotel; staff can arrange station transfers on request.

Automobiles

There’s a private carpark at the hotel, with free valet parking on request.

Worth getting out of bed for

If inspiration strikes on your strolls through the gardens, ask about a flower-arranging class with homegrown blooms or a talk on permaculture techniques with the groundskeeping volunteers. A cookery masterclass with the hotel's chef is just as rooted in the local land and traditions. Convento de Cabanas can link you up with some of the region’s skilled craftspeople, too — visit a traditional atelier for a jewellery-making masterclass, try your hand at pottery, or take a trip to Caminha antiques market. And this is, of course, vinho verde country, where a winery tour and tasting is always on the cards.  

On Portugal’s Costa Verde, you have heaps of nature on your doorstep, too. Hikers can head out on a section of the Camino de Santiago, which runs right past the hotel. Listen closely at high tide and you might be able to hear the waves breaking on Praia de Afife, a golden-sand beach that’s a short drive away and known as a stellar surfing spot. And for the intrepidly inclined, staff can arrange guided adventures from horse riding to rafting in the region’s mist-swirled mountains.

Local restaurants

Helmed by a mother and son duo, Restaurante Senhor Bacalhau in Afife takes flavours from traditional home cooking and adds a contemporary spin. If you venture into Viana do Castelo city, stop for lunch at Tasquinha da Linda, a polished seafood restaurant set right on the docks in a converted fishing warehouse.

Local cafés

Sweet treat devotees, make the pilgrimage to Pastelaria Ameadella in Viano do Castelo for their coconutty Pão de Deus buns.

Local bars

In this rural bolthole, a bottle of vinho verde out in the gardens or snuggled up by the salon’s fireplace are likely to be the extent of your evening plans. That said, Viana do Castelo has a handful of petisco bars — at Poço Bar, regional wines are paired with hearty small plates and, sometimes, live fado performances.

Reviews

Photos Convento de Cabanas reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this hallowed hotel in Portugal and unpacked their vinho verde and vellum manuscripts, a full account of their bloom-filled break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Convento de Cabanas in Viana do Castelo…

Convento de Cabanas makes an almighty first impression. Entering through the historic church, past soaring arches and sparkling azulejos, it’s clear why it was love at first sight for owner Nathalie. Following four years of painstaking restoration after Cupid’s arrow struck, she’s turned the abandoned monastery amid the misty greenery of Viana do Castelo into a swoon-worthy boutique hotel.

A stay here, though, feels more like a slow-burn love affair. It starts as you settle into a monastic rhythm — morning river swims, wholesome homegrown meals and hours of quiet contemplation (napping) by the pool. Before long, you find you have a favourite reading spot in the cloister, a sofa by the salon’s hearth that’s yours. Wandering the flower gardens, you realise the only sounds are those that’ve scored life here for centuries — cicadas, the river and the distant sea — and your heart’s been well and truly stolen. First impressions count, but the romance of Convento de Cabanas runs earth-deep and has been hundreds of years in the making.

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Price per night from $290.69

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