Tivoli Palácio de Seteais

There’s seemingly no end of small-scale, hyper-modern boutique hotels cropping up all over Portugal. But that’s not the only thing driving the renewed interest in this side of the Iberian peninsula. Here you’ll also find gems like the Tivoli Palácio de Seteais, an 18th-century palace that was converted into a luxury hotel in the Fifties, and whose present incarnation, after a top-to-bottom restoration, it evokes all kinds of good old days, from the aristocratic circumstances of its birth to the jet-set era that opened it to the public.

With just 29 rooms and one suite, the Palácio de Seteais offers generous spaces — perhaps the greatest benefit of a palace hotel is that it isn’t as “efficiently” laid out as a modern business hotel. They’re all charmingly residential in style, with plenty of lounge space, and the Nespresso machines are a welcome modern touch.

The Seteais Restaurant offers an impossibly opulent fine dining experience, and the bar is similarly genteel, as you’d expect from a hotel of the Palácio’s standing. Considerably above and beyond what you’d expect, however, is the spa — not some desultory treatment room, it’s a full-on Anantara experience. While it may not exactly be quintessentially local, one doesn’t argue with the Thai spa giant.