Thursday, December 18, 2008

Where to stay while visiting Portugal - top accommodations

Portugal definitely is a wonderful and unique country to discover. One of the biggest questions that lots of people face when choosing to visit Portugal is: where to stay? Portugal offers so many nice and diverse options in terms of modern infrastructures and personalizes ways of accommodations such as guesthouses, charm boutique hotels and pousadas. The hard part will be to how to choose. Here are some great and sincere suggestions:


Pousadas de Portugal offer a network of more than 40 unique boutique, charming and luxury lodgings located in former historic sites, such as castles and manor houses, throughout Portugal, from Minho green and rustic valleys to the Trás-os-Montes luxuriant mountains, or to the Alentejo golden plains and the Algarve coast with its fine sand and warm waters. Check for year round specials and other promotions targeted to families, visitors age 55 and older with a 40% Discount on standard rates and affordable 4 nights + car rental passport packages.


Solares de Portugal is a network of more than 96 manor houses, family homes, and stately houses that offer a personal “touch" lodging option where houses have been arranged into three distinct groups: Casas Antigas (Manor and Stately Houses), Quintas e Herdades (Country States and Farms) and Casas Rústicas (Cottages and Rustic Houses). Each house has also been individually inspected to ensure the highest standard of quality and hospitality. Many of these Solares have played host to same family for hundreds of years and often date back to the 17th and 18th Centuries. Prices for a Double room start at 65 Euros per night. Solares de Portugal also offers several activities and itineraries of Ecotourism, such as “Portugal- Gardens of Eden”, riding horse or bicycle, mountain, hiking, observation and study of the flora and fauna, birds watching or discovery endangered animals such as the Iberian Wolf, the “Garrano” horse or the “real” eagle.


Casas no Campo offers lodgings at splendid total independent rural estates and rural homes where the rustic touch prevails. Casas no Campo offers a perfect option for a relaxing, comfortable and private vacation in a homelike and rustic atmosphere where is possible to listen the birds singing and the water flowing in the streams and see amazing landscapes and feel the fresh of the mornings far away from the big cities. Price per night for 2 persons starts at 50 Euros.

Aldeias de Portugal is a website that allows reserve a stay at typical Houses of Soajo and Lindoso's villages and to better experience the Portuguese northern countryside by finding the

traditions, the cuisine and the culture of these villages located at Peneda-Gerês National park. Prices start at Another option in terms of villages are Aldeias de Xist

o (slate villages) and other villages that were turned into unique places to stay.


ARTEH® – Hotels and Resorts is a soft brand hotel chain, dedicated to Marketing, Promotion and e-Distribution of exclusive Collection of Luxury and Charming Boutique Hotels and Resorts located in Portugal (and other countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, etc). All of their properties are well-known by the richness of their history, the beauty of their surroundings, the character of their architecture, the style of their décor, the comfort of their rooms, the quality of the service and unique experiences provided to their guests. Many of the hotels and resorts listed offer golf and spa services throughout Portugal. Every month great value promotions and special packages offers of the ARTEH® Hotels become available online, at their website. There is even an option where is possible to search the Best Available Rates online.

MaisTurismo is one of Portugal's leading travel publishing groups that is best known for publishing the annual Portugal Hotel Guide (print, online and in CD-ROM format) that is number one in the market since its launch 21 years ago since it provides a detailed list of most of the properties that are available in Portugal. This guide is also adopted by the Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP) as its official source of hotel information in Portugal, including the Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Azores. Search is available by hotel category, lodging accommodations, regions and by types of services provided. MaisTurismo also publishes the Meeting & Convention Planner's Guide to Portugal, a high-quality annual directory of meeting venues in Portugal

Wonderfulland.com is a very useful tourism portal that offers a very interactive way to discover Portugal and all the wonderful experiences, attractions and suggestions in terms of where to sleep, eat, play, be pampered, what to taste and what to drive. With the slogan “We love Portugal”, Wonderfulland helps tourists create their own itineraries to discover Portugal and offers a selection of services, including charming accommodations, tasty food, sports, culture and other leisure activities.

SecretPlaces.com is an online hotel guide that features some of the most charming and authentic Portuguese small hotels, pousadas and other luxury places to stay while travelling in this small but incredibly diverse country – Portugal. Search http://www.secretplaces.com/vd.asp?WCX=ViewDisplay&FOLDERID=3889&USECONTEXT=YES is available by regions, towns, hotel name, price, type of property, interest, amenities and type of activities.

Besides all of these there are a huge number of villas and apartments to rent plus affordable state managed youth hostels (Pousadas da Juventude) and privately owned hostels, house swap and Couchsurfing. If visiting Madeira Islands maybe Quintas da Madeira can be another great option in terms of accommodations.

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