Pestana Fisherman Village

The fishing village in question, Câmara de Lobos, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, is a western suburb of the city of Funchal, the site of a visit by Ernest Hemingway; the hotel, Pestana Fisherman Village, returns the favor, taking its inspiration from Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” The setting is a picturesque one, a pair of heritage buildings (and a contemporary addition) in the charming seaside town center, and the scale is rather intimate — at 47 rooms, it’s comfortably in boutique-hotel territory.

Rooms are modern in style and function, and feature, above the beds, large-scale graphic reproductions of a handwritten passage from Hemingway. The hotel, however, is more than capable of holding guests’ interest without the literary connection — there’s not much missing from a stylish contemporary hotel in a charming seaside village with a view out to sea from its rooftop terrace.

The hotel’s small size means it’s comparatively light on services — breakfast is the extent of the Pestana Fisherman Village’s restaurant program. The neighboring Pestana property, Churchill Bay, however, serves lunch and dinner in its top-floor restaurant, Pier One, just a two-minute walk down towards the bay.