Herdade da Matinha Country House & Restaurant

In a better world, a tasteful little family-run guest house in the countryside would be commonplace, its hundreds of acres of gentle hills and pastures a perfectly natural setting for twenty sunny rooms and a small kitchen turning out farm-fresh meals. But spend enough time chasing this sort of thing and you quickly discover that the simple life — at least the fantasy version on offer at Herdade da Matinha — is fleetingly rare indeed, at any price, let alone one so reasonable.

The hotel centers around the kitchen, where guests can often be found mingling with their hosts and cooks — that is to say, trying to sneak a taste of what the next meal will hold. With flavors rooted in the surrounding Alentejo region, whose very topography seems to render delicious everything that touches it, what the next meal holds is always something good. The first thing you’re likely to taste in the morning is a glass of orange juice, squeezed from oranges and tangerines plucked from trees in the garden moments before, and truly, that’s just the beginning. The kitchen is nearly always humming, and with enough dedication to culinary leisure a guest could probably let all the meals run together into one long, happy stupor.

Of course all that delicious food has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere turns out to be a bucolic expanse of Portuguese countryside. It begs to be explored. Resident horses are the transportation method of choice, taking riders up into the hills, through the surrounding farmland, or out to the beach for a picnic and a swim.

The rooms are simple, but comfy and bright, each with an original painting by one of the hotel’s owners. It’s the kind of homey touch that pervades Herdade da Matinha, and it only works because of the hotelier’s restraint. Staying here feels like visiting urbane friends at their home in the country — a place to slow down, eat well and rest easy.

How to get there:
Herdade da Matinha Country House & Restaurant is located 170 km from Lisbon International Airport.

Booking Details: Herdade da Matinha Country House & Restaurant requires additional information from guests to ensure the best stay possible. As such, reservations can only be confirmed through our customer service team. Contact us for assistance. Rates begin at 130 EUR per night.