L'AND Vineyards Relais & Châteaux

Time was, travelers knew Portugal’s Alentejo wine region, if they knew it at all, as a sort of poor man’s Tuscany. (Well, not poor, exactly, but you get the idea.) Increasingly we’ve seen stylish country inns popping up in Portugal to rival those in Italy, but L’AND Vineyards – Relais & Châteaux represents something in another league entirely — a striking work of modern hotel architecture on par with some of the world’s recent best, with a winery, a fine restaurant, a café and lounge deck over the lake, and a set of high-design suites with retractable roofs thrown in for good measure.

Designed by architect Marcio Kogan of the MK27 Studio in São Paulo, the hotel is a sort of independent, Brazilian late-modernist take on the Aman concept — minimalist aesthetics in a stunning and unspoiled setting. This particular stunning and unspoiled setting comprises some six acres of vineyards, woodlands and gently rolling hills. Évora’s iconic medieval hilltop castle is just off in the distance, on view from some of the suites.

The best views of all, though, are of something older still: the stars. Twenty-one of the hotel’s thirty-five suites and 7 Lake Villas have roofs that open to the sky, and in a region with remarkably little light pollution, the night skies are indeed spectacular. Even the suites whose roofs are stuck in place, though, have plenty to recommend them — a hundred and twenty square meters of space, to begin with, including outdoor terraces with fireplaces, private patios, custom-made king beds and lots of luxurious little details like heated floors and Egyptian cotton linens. Some of them add plunge pools to the mix as well. All of them are as eye-pleasing as can be, sustainably built from local stone, slate and wood.

How to get there:
L’AND Vineyards is located 65 miles, less than an hour’s drive, from Lisbon’s Portela Airport (LIS).