Need to know
Rooms
Four villas.
Check–Out
Noon. Earliest check-in, 2pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability; however, there are no early check-ins before 6am or late check-outs after 3pm.
More details
Rates include breakfast, a welcome basket of Portuguese goodies, homemade cookies, all laundry except dry-cleaning, daily seasonal fruit basket and handmade beach bag.
Also
Unfortunately, this hotel is not suitable for guests with limited mobility.
Hotel closed
The hotel closes annually from early January to early February (dates change each year).
At the hotel
Herb gardens, vineyards, gym and free WiFi throughout. In houses: Bang & Olufsen speaker, air-conditioning, underfloor heating, wood-burning fireplace, air-purity control system, mosquito nets, Le Creuset and Smeg kitchen applications, wine fridge with a curated selection of bottles, yoga mats, beach bags and umbrellas, Lyn Harris home fragrance, personalised bathrobes and Aesop bath products. Houses 1, 2 and 4 each have their own honesty bar, too.
Our favourite rooms
The feels-like-home sweetness of Pa.te.os cuts through the Brutalism of its extraordinary architecture (designed by Manuel Aires Mateus); imagine percolating a morning cuppa in a James Turrell installation, or tucking into a tray of homemade biscuits while lost in a Richard Serra sculpture. The four symmetrical houses are monuments writ large on the landscape, but with plenty humanity: heated floors (warmed up before guests arrive on chilly days), floating fireplaces, cosy Scandi furnishings, handwoven linens, and even fresh herb-garden clippings for teas. And, outdoors and indoors seamlessly become one here; updating Islamic dar-style houses, and living up to the hotel’s name, patios are a central theme, with window walls opening up to make the whole living room a patio. There are skylights in cubicles and intimate alfresco showers, all-natural materials and earthy hues, and Lyn Harris’ (of Miller Harris perfume fame) custom scent is the essence of Alentejo’s landscape.
Poolside
Aesthetes will feel immense satisfaction on inspecting the pool – open to all guests – whose angles sit flush with the houses surrounding it and come to a point at a particularly agreeable panorama.
Spa
The hotel’s spa is an intimate space, helmed by an experienced team of masseurs who have over two decades of restorative experience to tout. Therapies focus on hot stone healing, aromatherapy and deep tissue treatments, and there’s a cold plunge nearby for detoxifying dunks and Alentejo’s striking scenery as your soothing backdrop. An in-house yoga master hosts classes for all levels, and sound healing or meditation sessions can be arranged should your breathwork require some regulating. Even workouts are all the more picturesque, with an alfresco LifeStation gym.
Packing tips
Outdoorsiness is the whole point here, so bring shoes that can handle rough terrain, a wardrobe that’s not too precious and cover-ups for sudden chills. And, the architecture begs to be photographed with more than a phone camera, so bag your DSLR if you have one.
Also
Touches such as the custom scent by Lyn Harris (of Miller Harris fame), the natural art by Lisboan creative Olga Sanina, and the jars of clippings for herbal teas in your room are just some of the ways in which Pa.te.os brings the outdoors in.
Children
Pa.te.os is for over-sevens only, which helps when it comes to keeping the peace. However, children of all ages are allowed during any exclusive-use stays.
Sustainability efforts
The hotel’s love for the land is one for the ages, largely because their efforts have ensured the sprawling Alentejo plot will stay a natural beauty for years to come. Property-developer owners Sofia and Miguel Charters picked this particular Serra da Grândola hillside due to their connection with the land, spending childhood summers here, and want guests to embrace that communion too. Whether you’re throwing open the sliding full-window walls, peering over the pool’s surrogate horizon, or looking up through your shower’s skylight, you’re fully immersed in the untouched rusticity. Building was done with as little intervention as possible, with paths on the property made using natural stone and a traditional method. Only three materials were used in construction: slate that surfaced while tilling the hotel vineyards (which now run on a hydroponic system), concrete and wood, of which many furnishings are made; linens are organic. Indigenous trees were planted to offset construction carbon, the hotel is 95 per cent plastic free, water is filtered and reused, energy closely managed and composting duly carried out. In the grounds, wastewater is being used to create a new lake and 50 bird houses have been installed; and the hotel’s beach bags and towels have been sewn and embroidered as part of an empowerment initiative providing work to Bangladeshi women. Plus, they’ve chosen DeLonghi coffee machines to cut down on discarded aluminium.
