i would love to share a few pictures of a magical place we stayed in whilst in portugal. we were here just for one night, it was right after our wedding weekend, so it felt perfect to wind down and have some rest and relax before heading to italy for our honeymoon (see how happy james looked!).

we arrived late at night and in the morning had breakfast with an amazing view – what a surprise!

quinta da romaneira is one of the oldest wineries in the douro valley, a unesco world heritage site in the north of portugal, and  the oldest demarcated wine region in the world.

it specializes in port and table wines – the hotel, encompassing two guest houses overlooking the douro river, is owned by the winery and  managed by hotel des reves.

the hotels doesn’t have a restaurant or an a la carte menu – we simply say what meal we want and where we chose to have it – and will be surprised by the chef’d choice at our favorite location.

since we just had one day, and were driving back to lisbon after lunch, we chose to take  tour of the douro valley – and get to see all the douro wineries from our boat, i highly recommend it! we totally missed out on the wine tasting and tour of the winery…

the rooms throughout the guest houses – the herbs room, the library – all had different scents matching the ambiance.

the food was delicious (and the wine!!), the service very friendly and attentive, the views were stunning, but the interior design was what really impressed me. i find most hotels have an hotel-look to them, not always cozy and personalized. here, on the contrary, i felt like i was at some cool friend’s house – and could spend days relaxing and reading in these living rooms with a view to the vineyards!

see more picures.

quinta da romaneira‘s website.

other places i stayed and liked.

ps – for another great post on the douro valley and quinta da romaneira, check kriss koeller‘s blog!