If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR110.38), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Cooking, culture and nature take centre stage at Octant Santiago, a gastronomic getaway that combines contemporary architecture with agrarian surroundings in Portugal’s Alentejo region. As well as being easy on the eyes – the contemporary white building is surrounded by lush green gardens and evergreen trees – it’s easy on the wallet, too, and a great choice for foodie families. Tapping effortlessly into the experiential travel trend, the hotel can arrange for you to get muddy on local farms and hands-on in its communal kitchen (but won’t mind a bit if you opt for just getting lightly bronzed by the pool).
Noon. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Both can be flexible, subject to availability.
Prices
Double rooms from £103.00 (€117), including tax at 6 per cent.
More details
Rates include a daily buffet breakfast of cheese, cold cuts, jams, fruits and cakes – almost all the items you’ll see are home-made or sourced from within a 20-mile radius.
Also
There’s a boutique grocery on-site selling regional delicacies, so you can recreate your favourite Alentejan dishes at home.
Hotel closed
Octant Santiago closes annually from 2 to 31 January.
At the hotel
Food market, gym, chef’s garden, on-site parking. In rooms: canvas bags, sun hats and free WiFi.
Our favourite rooms
All the rooms look out over the castle-crowned hilltop town of Santiago do Cacém and are decorated in bright whites and light blues for a breezy, beachy feel. We have a soft spot for the Sunset Rooms – their grassy private terraces have chairs and a parasol, perfect for soaking up the last of the evening light, local wine in hand.
Poolside
You’ll find cool breezes out by the unheated, family-friendly pool in the toasty summer months. The pool is closed during the winter (from November to early April).
Spa
There’s no spa on-site, but massages are available in your room on request.
Packing tips
Bring your sportiest wardrobe and things to get muddy in, so you’re ready for visits to nearby farms, sublime surf spots and twisty trails.
Also
The petite gym has a little of everything you need – TRX ropes, a treadmill, a stationary bike and free weights – so you can squeeze in an effective workout between meals.
All ages are welcome; cots are available on request, meals can be adapted for little Smiths’ tastebuds and adventures can be tailored to suit the whole family.
Sustainability efforts
You bet – it even has a certification for responsible tourism. Over 80 per cent of hotel staff are hired from the surrounding area and all food is locally sourced, organic, fair-trade or free-range. The hotel uses earth-friendly cleaning products, has bid farewell to single-use plastics and has installed energy- and water-saving measures.
Grab a spot on the long communal dining table, the best seat in the house for chef watching.
Dress Code
From Lycra to pressed linens, anything goes – though you won’t regret a forgiving waistband.
Hotel restaurant
Chef Daniel Censi reigns at À Terra, the hotel’s sprawling open-plan restaurant and main gathering hub. You can watch his team of chefs at work in the open kitchen – there are even TV screens showing a close-up of their handiwork, so each meal is also a live demonstration. The thoughtful Mediterranean menu is a celebration of the slow cooking methods, ingredients and history of the region – many of the flavour-packed dishes are authentically cooked in a wood oven or over a barbecue. Though the dishes change constantly according to the harvest, you can count on plenty of locally produced cheese and pork, variations on Açorda (an Alentejan stew), fresh fish, clams and oysters from the nearby Atlantic shores and aromatic herbs from the chef’s garden just outside.
Hotel bar
There’s no separate bar, but the restaurant does a fine line in local wines – be sure to order a glass of Castelão Branco, a white wine made by the Herdade do Cebolal estate half an hour away. For something stronger, try one of the signature or classic cocktails. We loved the Cheirinho, made with local brandy, coconut, orange, honey and home-made bitters.
Last orders
Breakfast is from 8am to 11am; lunch is from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, and dinner is from 7.30pm to 10.30pm.
Room service
A limited room-service menu of wood-oven-cooked pizzas, hamburgers, soups and salads is available during restaurant opening hours.
The hotel occupies a modernist white block just minutes from the heart of Santiago do Cacém, a historic hilltop town in Portugal’s rural Alentejo region. Here, you’re just 20 minutes by car from some of Europe’s finest (and most deserted) beaches.
Planes
Lisbon Airport is the closest, an hour and a half’s drive from the hotel; hotel transfers are available for €150 each way. Faro Airport is slightly further, two hours’ drive away.
Automobiles
With so much to explore, hiring a car makes a lot of sense. Most of the major rental firms are available at Lisbon Airport. When you arrive, the hotel has free parking on-site.
Worth getting out of bed for
Up and at ’em – Octant Santiago is all about getting out of your room and plugged into the local experiences. Silvestre, the canny concierge, can match you with your perfect Alentejan activity. You’ll be pleased to hear that food is never far away, though – whether it’s a hardy hike, horseback ride, jeep tour or electric-bike excursion, they all have obligatory snack stops built in. Water babies will find lots to do on the wild Atlantic coast, just 20 kilometres from the hotel – surfing, paddleboarding and scuba diving are all on tap.
You can also learn the fascinating stories behind the sustainable farms, distilleries and vineyards that surround the hotel on tours, picnics and tastings.
And when you’re tuckered out, find your Zen in one of the cabanas by the outdoor pool, lapping and napping till your next meal.
Local restaurants
The closest town, Santiago do Cacém, is a sleepy place with not much nightlife, so we suggest staying at the hotel to eat. When the food is this good, looking for other places is practically a sin anyway.
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 epicurean escape in Portugal and unpacked their local treats and trail shoes, a full account of their break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Octant Santiago in Alentejo…
If the thought of sleeping until noon and being waited on hand and foot makes you feel a bit icky, you’ll like the sound of Octant Santiago, a revved-up and action-packed spot in a beautiful corner of Alentejo that goes large on local experiences and easy on your credit card. It’s not that you won’t relax here – there are evergreen gardens, a cabana-ringed outdoor pool and bright, beachy bedrooms – it’s just that sloth isn’t really its watchword. There’s just too much to do: farms to visit, deserted beaches to discover and hiking trails to conquer. You’ll be bright-eyed and ravenous at the end of the day, with stories to swap over mouth-watering Mediterranean dishes at À Terra. And, in the morning, just saunter up to Silvestre, the wizard-like concierge, tell him your wish (windsurfing, mountain-biking, wine tasting…) and he’ll conjure another day of Alentejo adventure from his enviable Rolodex of partners-in-fun. Get out there, tiger.
