The Pergola Boutique Hotel

There’s a sweet story behind the Pergola, a 15-room boutique hotel a short stroll from the beach in the fishing village of Cascais. In 1925, a local businessman purchased a pair of side-by-side chalets with a French-style garden in the middle, then renovated them and gifted them to his two daughters. They remained in the family until the mid-1980s, when one of the chalets was turned into the town’s very first hotel.

Many of the chalet’s original features remain — cool stone floors, hand-painted tiles, a grand iron staircase — and the historic garden beside it, lovingly tended by one of the daughters for decades, is still one of the property’s finest assets. Meanwhile the guest rooms are both quaint and modern, bright white with a single accent wall or headboard in bold Portuguese patterns. They’re all full of natural light, with high ceilings, decorative crown molding, and parquet floors. Deluxe rooms have spacious vintage-looking bathrooms and private balconies overlooking the gardens, where an exquisitely presented breakfast is served each morning.