Douro Valley, Portugal

Monverde Wine Experience Hotel

Price per night from$142.23

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 (EUR137.67), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Wine, dine, recline

Setting

Vinho Verde country

Monverde Wine Experience Hotel pleases the senses as effortlessly as a glass of crisp white. Resting along the Vinho Verde route in Minho, this arcadian retreat draws oenophiles for its well-aged setting and very own vineyard (making close-to-bed tastings all the more tantalising). But vintage bottles aren’t all that gets a luxurious lay down; each tricked-out room honours the region’s rolling-hills scenery and serenity. This pick gets full marks on our scorecards.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of locally produced wine

Facilities

Photos Monverde Wine Experience Hotel facilities

Need to know

Rooms

46, including 12 suites.

Check–Out

Noon; check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include a buffet breakfast. Vegan and gluten free options are also available, on request.

Also

One Prestige Room has been adapted for wheelchair-users, and all of the communal areas (including the vineyards) are accessible for guests with limited mobility.

At the hotel

Golf course nearby, on-site vineyards, wine cellar and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, minibar, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, hairdryer, bathrobes, slippers and Damana or Vinésime bath products.

Our favourite rooms

The Classic Rooms are on the cosier side, but win big for their original, exposed brick walls and secluded setting. The Prestige Rooms give you direct access to the vineyards, but if your palate requires something stronger, we’d go with the Wine Experience Suite for its private bottle-filled cellar.

Poolside

Pick to paddle in any of the hotel’s three pools (open from 10am to 7.30pm): two are outside (one is adults-only, the other welcomes little ones) and the third is set inside the spa, primed for post-treatment soaks. At the outdoor pools during summer month, a seasonal bar is at hand for alfresco thirst-quenchers.

Spa

The Douro Valley’s all-encompassing serenity is matched at the Wine Experience Spa — a calming space in the hotel’s main house. Bespoke treatments focus on the healing benefits of grape-seed oil, harvested by hand from the hotel’s vineyards and made into hydrating moisturisers and scrubs. There’s also a Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room to bolster the restorative line-up.

Packing tips

As long as you’ve a thirst for tastings, you’ll be good to go. Oh, and perhaps your favourite corkscrew for any labels you might want to spend the evening sampling a casa undisturbed…

Also

There’s a small gym at the hotel, too, for any fitness buffs craving a workout.

Pet‐friendly

As long as your fluffy friend weighs under 20 kilogrammes, he’s welcome to join you for €20 a night in the Classic and Prestige rooms, or the Wine Experience Suite. See more pet-friendly hotels in Douro Valley.

Children

Little Smiths are welcome; all rooms can accommodate a single rollaway at extra cost or a free baby cot, but this wine-focused retreat is better suited to over-18s.

Sustainability efforts

As a Biosphere-certified hotel, Monverde prioritises Earth-kind measures wherever they can. The restaurant focuses on provenance, sourcing its ingredients from local suppliers, and there’s minimal waste throughout. The hotel’s organised activities are also aimed to encourage exploring the natural surroundings and visiting locally owned businesses to reinvest into the region.

Food and Drink

Photos Monverde Wine Experience Hotel food and drink

Top Table

Take your tastings at one of the alfresco tables, watching over the hotel’s vineyards.

Dress Code

Don earthy tones and heritage fabrics for an elevated country style.

Hotel restaurant

The Minho region’s rich, natural landscapes are celebrated by head chef Carlos Silva at Monverde restaurant. Each fish-based dish is made with the morning’s catch, crisp crusts crafted from the Valley’s famed cornbread, and vegetables are all grown locally. Find your favourites among the à la carte options or plump for a four- or five-course tasting menu. Naturally, everything comes with wine pairings, too, deftly picked by your in-house sommeliers.

Hotel bar

Set just above the restaurant, the hotel’s Wine Bar wears its name proudly: the walls are filled with a hearty list of labels from local vineyard, Quinta da Lixa, and there are in-house experts on hand to suggest glasses. If you’ve a taste for something stronger, barkeeps are equally skilled at shaking up whatever cocktail you may be craving. In summer, a seasonal bar serves cooling tipples —  hard or soft — by the pool. 

Last orders

Breakfast hours are 8am until 11am; lunch is served from 12.30pm to 3pm, and dinner from 7.30pm to 11.30pm. The bar pours drinks between 11am and midnight.

Room service

You can order a selection of dishes for in-room dining between 12.30pm and 11pm.

Location

Photos Monverde Wine Experience Hotel location
Address
Monverde Wine Experience Hotel
Quinta de Sanguinhedo 166 Castanheiro Redondo
Telões
4600-761
Portugal

You’ll find Monverde Wine Experience Hotel in the northern Minho region, resting along the 200-kilometre Vinho Verde route, in the small Portuguese town of Amarante.

Planes

Porto’s Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport is around 45 minutes from the hotel by car, and has frequent routes between most international hubs. Private transfers are available on request, from €130 one-way.

Automobiles

If you’re planning on exploring more of the Douro Valley, a car will come in handy. There’s free parking (with electric vehicle chargers) at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

Courtesy of its rolling vineyards, Monverde is designed for all sorts of wine-focused forays. Private tastings and picnics are available without leaving the hotel’s estate, or you can head out to any of the time-honoured wineries along the 200-kilometre Vinho Verde stretch. Quinta da Aveleda and Quinta da Lixa are popular picks you may wish to start with.

Once your tasting fix is filled, there’s plenty of other spots to explore around the region. Stay close and wander around the mediaeval town of Amarante, which is also the starting point for the 30-kilometre Ecopista do Tâmega walking and cycling trail. The cities of Braga and Guimarães are slightly further away, but worth the visit for their 15th- and 13th-century castles. If you’d rather grab a snapshot of Minho’s architecture, walk one of the Rota do Românico’s self-guided circuits. There are train and boat tours around the Douro Valley, and mixed-ability hikes through the Peneda-Gerês National Park, too.

Local restaurants

Set steps from the Ponte de São Gonçalo bridge in Amarante, Pobre Tolo plates its regional, farm-fresh fare against views of the River Tâmega. An arcadian charm envelops the rustic interiors at Restaurante Pena, where menus pay homage to artist Amadeo de Souza Cardoso’s travels. Elevated around-the-world classics include beef wellington paired with creamy mash, mushroom risotto and a parmesan-topped carpaccio.

Reviews

Photos Monverde Wine Experience Hotel reviews

Anonymous review

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 winery-wrapped hotel in Amarante and unpacked their corkscrews and tasting sheets, a full account of their idyllic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Monverde Wine Experience Hotel in the Douro Valley…

As its name implies, Monverde Wine Experience Hotel is a rural escape rooted in viniculture. Set near the small town of Amarante, along the region’s Vinho Verde trail, the hotel’s outbuildings are scattered across its 30-acre estate, most lovingly converted from old Portuguese homes and modernised with a stone and fluted pine-wood facade. Designer Paulo Lobo was called in to take charge of the interiors, fusing sleek finishes and vast, view-framing windows with one-off statement artworks that reference the region’s natural landscapes.

But the terroir guides more than just interiors; alfresco activities are led just as much by the harvest. Days are spent drinking up the views, with private tastings that put local labels in the limelight, and evenings are a flavour-filled ode to Minho’s produce. For anyone looking to venture beyond the vineyards, there’s a soothing spa, and the Douro Valley’s hiking, biking and rail routes are your all-natural antidote to any over-indulgence…

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Price per night from $138.10