Convento do Espinheiro, Historic Hotel & Spa

For an introduction to Portugal’s Alentejo region, Convento do Espinheiro could hardly be more perfect. Set on 23 acres of stress-meltingly beautiful countryside at the edge of Évora, the region’s tiny, frozen-in-time capital city, the hotel is like a synthesis of everything that makes Alentejo so irresistible — a bucolic setting, incredible food, layer upon layer of history and a contagious local mellowness that seems to just saturate everything. It’s all been given new life as a result of the region’s rediscovery by the world’s most tuned-in travelers, and so you find Convento do Espinheiro, a gorgeous old convent from Portugal’s 15th-century golden age, looking as fresh as ever after the three-year renovation that turned it into a hotel.

The rooms here fall into two categories, traditional opulence and contemporary opulence. In the former, the color scheme alone — red and gold — offers some indication of what you’re in for, and the point is driven home by details like the ornately carved headboards and drapes you can practically swim in. The contemporary rooms are no less lavish; the designers just take their cues from the likes of Phillippe Starck (whose lighting replaces chandeliers) instead of Portugal’s 15th-century royal court. Either way, you’ve got long views of the green hills beyond your terrace, plus a bathroom that looks like a marble quarry.

Those guest rooms, however, are only a place to snooze. The grounds of the hotel, a patchwork of gardens and courtyards and hedges and lawns, invite easy, protracted strolls; the pools beg for long afternoons in a sun-lounger; and pleasantly drawn-out meals are activities unto themselves. Whether you choose to eat in the courtyard used by the Moors as a meditation area, the kitchen where monks prepared banquets for royal families, beneath the arches of the Gothic cistern, or surrounded by an olive grove at the side of the pool, you’ll eat well. The chefs have a knack for taking Alentejo’s rustic cuisine and elevating it with fine dining splurges, as in chestnut soup with pheasant tartar, foie gras, lemon and thyme.

Then of course there’s Évora itself, a town that’s not so much dotted with as just plain made out of Roman ruins, Baroque churches, Moorish fortifications and Renaissance palaces. And while Évora is the largest of them, picturesque towns are sprinkled liberally throughout the surrounding countryside; the others just trade density of historic architecture for an easy, undeniable quaintness. To drive between them, stopping in for an informal tasting at one of the area’s several excellent wineries, is about as arduous as it’s likely to get during a visit.

How to get there:
Convento do Espinheiro, Historic Hotel & Spa is located 130.0 km/80.78 miles from Lisbon International Airport.