Alentejo, Portugal

Octant Santiago

Price per night from$158.14

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 (EUR140.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Octant Santiago Photos

Style

Apron escapades

Setting

Between serra and sea

Explore

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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. Tapping effortlessly into the experiential travel trend, the hotel can arrange for you to get muddy on local farms (but won’t mind a bit if you opt for just getting lightly bronzed by the pool).

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A bottle of sparkling wine

Facilities

Photos Octant Santiago facilities

Need to know

Rooms

32, including one suite.

Check–Out

Noon. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Both can be flexible, subject to availability.

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.

Pet‐friendly

Small pets (under 10kg) are welcome. There’s a charge of €40 a night; beds and bowls are available on request. See more pet-friendly hotels in Alentejo.

Children

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.

Food and Drink

Photos Octant Santiago food and drink

Top Table

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

The chefs at À Terra, the hotel’s sprawling open-plan restaurant and main gathering hub, 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.

Location

Photos Octant Santiago location
Address
Octant Santiago
Rua Cidade de Beja
Santiago do Cacém
7540-163
Portugal

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.

Reviews

Photos Octant Santiago 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 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.

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Price per night from $158.14

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