Sublime Comporta

Comporta was a rice-growing backwater until relatively recently, and its appeal still rests on what has not been built: miles of Atlantic dune, pine forest and cork oak an hour south of Lisbon. Sublime Comporta sits on a sixty-eight-hectare estate a few kilometres inland at Muda, screened by umbrella pines.

Accommodation is scattered rather than stacked, running from suites and rooms in the main building to cabana suites, bio-pool suites and standalone cabana villas of two to four bedrooms with their own pools. Materials are local and unfussy, all timber, thatch and lime, which is much of the region's aesthetic influence in one place. The property now operates as two complementary wings, Terracotta and Sand.

Food matters here: there is a kitchen garden, a smokehouse, and a restaurant that has become a destination in its own right. The beach is a short drive, and Comporta and Carvalhal villages offer the low-key beach-shack dining the area is known for.