Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Not too many years ago, few North American travelers outside of wine aficionados had ever heard of the northern Portuguese city of Porto, let alone traveled up the Douro river upon which it lies, nor into the vineyard-rich Douro Valley. That’s hardly the case today. Having just opened upriver from town in 2021, Vinha Boutique Hotel has instantly upped the Porto and Douro game, for both its design and culinary prowess.
The original manor house at the Vinha Boutique Hotel. Credit: Vinha Boutique Hotel Lying across from Porto on the Douro left bank, the nine-acre Leading Hotels of the World property was built with a 16th-century quinta as its centerpiece — or, as some call it a casa senhorial or palacete . In essence, it’s a rural manor house, now given a very modern warm color that you might call something like dark salmon.
Just behind it, the hotel’s four-story modern addition is a fresh and bold Bauhaus-ish block whose form is said to hint at the wine terraces upriver. The collective work was all the personal project of Joana Poças whose family owns the property. Personal, in that she herself designed the stunning property.
Poças has hit the sweet spot between creating a sophisticated city dwelling crossed with an out-of-town contemplative retreat. The Reserva Bar at Vinha Boutique Hotel. Credit: Vinha Boutique Hotel After you turn left past the subtle check-in desk and go behind a towering fireplace and shelvin.