A Luxury Honeymoon in Spain & Portugal: Extraordinary Places to Stay
A case from our Desk in Portugal & Spain
Accommodation is an essential part of any journey. Many of the briefs we receive, particularly from travel advisors who know their clients exceptionally well, focus heavily on where their travellers will stay.
From our experience, 3 criteria tend to sit at the heart of those conversations: overall quality, location and character.
But occasionally, accommodation becomes much more than a beautiful place from which to explore a destination or somewhere comfortable to return to at the end of the day.
Sometimes, the places you sleep become one of the main reasons for taking the journey in the first place. This honeymoon was one of those trips.
Working with a trusted travel advisor in Florida, we were asked to create a honeymoon that would make Spain and Portugal feel completely unexpected and that would eventually combine Spain and Portugal through a series of remarkable, highly contrasting stays. Without forgetting that the trip was a luxury honeymoon.
We could not simply add glamping options just because they were original or different. Originality alone was therefore not enough; it needed to be combined with a genuine sense of luxury and a concept that was fully aligned with our clients’ expectations.
The Brief
The couple had been considering Spain for some time. They loved the destination and thought it was beautiful, but they were not convinced it would feel original enough for such an important trip.
Spain did make it onto their shortlist of 3 possible destinations, but there was a condition: if they were going to choose it, the journey had to break a few rules.
They wanted to stay in 10 different accommodations. Ten places that felt fundamentally different from one another: buildings with a previous life, historic properties, unusual locations, adventurous stays, a few classics and some places that would simply make them say “we’ve never stayed anywhere like this before.”
At the same time, the itinerary still needed to include some of Spain’s and Portugal´s essential highlights, leave room to slow down and enjoy the journey, and finish with several days of genuine relaxation by the sea.
There were a few more parameters.
The couple already knew Barcelona. They had 14 days in total, 4 of which needed to be devoted to relaxation, and they preferred to leave Andalucía for a future cultural trip. And they wanted to combine Spain and Portugal.
The challenge was clear: create a honeymoon in which the accommodation itself became part of the story, without allowing the story to become a collection of hotels.
The Challenge
The challenge was clear: create a honeymoon in which the accommodation itself became part of the story, without allowing the story to become a collection of hotels.
"Once I got down to work, I thought it would be very straightforward. We work with incredible hotels, so I would simply select the hotels and slot them into one of our model itineraries… But I quickly realised it wasn’t going to be quite that simple. The idea was not to repeat two palaces, or two castles, or two design hotels. One property. One style. And then ten of them, combining them into the perfect itinerary for the occasion. I called João, my colleague in Porto, and together we put together an initial list of more than 30 options. From that point on, “weaving” the journey together became much easier.”
The difficult part was deciding which unusual hotels belong together. The contrast had to feel natural. There was another challenge: quality control. Some of the properties that best answered the brief were not hotels regularly requested by our clients. Reviews alone are not enough for us when we are selecting accommodation for a honeymoon.
Our research goes considerably further. We look at the property in detail, speak directly with hotels, ask questions about how they handle specific requests and, importantly, assess how they respond before a client ever arrives.
A beautiful room is one thing. Knowing that the people behind it understand the level of attention the occasion requires is another.
The Journey
We will not go into every detail of the itinerary here. Instead, these are some of the stays we selected, and what each one brought to the journey.
Madrid — a historic building above the Plaza Mayor
The journey began in Madrid at Pestana Collection Plaza Mayor, right in the heart of the historic centre. The Pestana Plaza Mayor occupies two historic buildings: the Casa de la Carnicería, originally used for the storage and distribution of meat, and a former fire station.
The setting immediately established the tone: a historic building in one of the city’s most iconic locations, with a rooftop pool overlooking Madrid and an atmosphere that allowed the couple to be in the middle of the city while still having somewhere to retreat.
A former military hospital. Parador de la Granja
From Madrid, the route moved towards Ribera del Duero and Segovia, with a night in La Granja de San Ildefonso.
Here, we chose a Parador housed in a former military hospital, close to the royal palace and gardens that have earned La Granja its nickname as the “Spanish Versailles.”
The character changed completely. From the energy of central Madrid to the quiet grandeur of a historic royal setting.
A Castle near Toledo
The journey continued through Ávila and Toledo before reaching Oropesa. The accommodation was, quite simply, a castle. For a honeymoon, some choices need very little explanation.
Sleeping within historic walls after a day exploring some of central Spain’s great cities created exactly the kind of contrast the original brief was asking for.
Cáceres — contemporary luxury inside a historic city
In Cáceres, we deliberately changed direction again.
Atrio offered a very different interpretation of history: a contemporary, highly sophisticated hotel integrated into the historic centre of Cáceres. Our customers had an amazing dinner at the Atrio Michelin-star restaurant and then stayed here.
Rather than recreating the past, the architecture plays with it.
The result is an extraordinary juxtaposition of Extremadura’s monumental surroundings with contemporary design and one of Spain’s most celebrated gastronomic addresses.
This was precisely the kind of contrast we were looking for.
The Douro — sleeping inside a wine barrel
Then came Portugal. In the Douro Valley, the couple stayed at Quinta da Pacheca, in one of its iconic Wine Barrels.
Yes, a giant wine barrel.
But the point was not simply to find something quirky. The stay made sense because it connected the accommodation directly to the landscape and culture of the Douro: vineyards, wine, nature and the traditions of one of Portugal’s great wine regions.
It was unusual, but not gimmicky.
And that distinction matters.
Porto — a view worth travelling for
In Porto, we chose The Yeatman, a hotel we know particularly well.
This was perhaps the least unusual building in the sequence, but sometimes the right choice is not the strangest one. The Yeatman’s position above the Douro gives its rooms and suites extraordinary views across the river towards Porto. Its wine heritage, service and overall level of comfort also provided an important change of pace after some of the more unconventional stays.
It was the kind of decision that looks obvious once you see the finished itinerary.
Lisbon — above the city
In Lisbon, we continued the architectural thread with Myriad by SANA.
The hotel occupies the former control tower of the Expo 98 area, giving it a distinctly contemporary, almost futuristic character and expansive views across the Tagus. The hotel brought another clean break. Different building. Different era. Different feeling. Same journey.
Algarve — a house on the water
For the Algarve, we wanted something quieter and more connected to nature. The answer was a houseboat in the Ria Formosa Natural Park. It was another complete change of scene: from cities and historic buildings to water, open landscapes and the extraordinary ecosystems of the Algarve’s eastern coast.
The Final Chapter — Vila Vita Parc
And then came the moment to stop moving. The couple wanted four days of complete relaxation by the sea, so we finished the journey at VILA VITA Parc Resort & Spa, on the Algarve coast.
This was deliberately different from everything that had come before.
A sophisticated seaside resort, extensive gardens, a celebrated spa and the privacy and service expected at the end of a honeymoon.
After moving through cities, castles, wine country, historic buildings, contemporary architecture and the Ria Formosa, the final decision was not to find one more unusual place.It was to give them time.
