Herdade da Cortesia

Perfect place to hide away for a few days. Great food and staff.

If you’re looking for piece and quiet, Herdade da Cortesia is the right place for you. This charming hotel is located in the middle of a farm, very close to the village of Avis, in the region of Alentejo in Portugal. The rooms are very elegant, cozy and, pardon me for saying this, a true invitation to sex. Large windows bring the green grass and the blue sky close to you and once outside you can smell the earth. We can go for a long walk around the farm and meet cows, horses (you can even ride one), donkeys and chickens. A 10 minute walk brings you to a small bay of the Maranhão Dam, where you can swim or rent a canoe; I preferred to lay down near the water or just listen to the birds (preferable early in a foggy morning). One of the best things is the relaxing outdoor swimming pool. It was great to rest there while watching the infinite sights of the Alentejo plains and breathe all that pure air. For the ones who can’t live without their workout, there’s a nice gym not far from the main house. The breakfast was simple great, with irresistible bread and other tasteful food. The staff was very nice and always very helpful. Not very far from the hotel, there’s a little location, Santo António do Alcórrego where you should go and taste the fabulous rich cuisine of the region. The names of the restaurants are “Tasca do Montinho” and “Taberna do Paulo”. Herdade da Cortesia is truly a beautiful and peaceful place, where you can rest and recharge your batteries. Al this at less than a two hour drive from Lisbon.

Please, to all the foreigners that visit our beautiful country, let it be known that the partners that own this place are known to having been unethical towards some workers. More specifically, firing a boy in his twenties in his legal 90 days of working in "trial" version, only after 12 days of work and without previous warning nor feedback towards a few very natural mistakes of the young worker/internee.

Overall we loved our two-night experience staying here. The rooms are lovely, the views amazing, the pool was very nice. The food from the restaurant was excellent (especially breakfast - and the Nespresso machine is a great touch). Room service was only 5 Euros extra for service fees, so much less expensive than in the states. If you eat meat, please do yourself a favor and order the meat and cheese plate for room service. I don’t even eat that much meat but was really impressed. They give you a LOT of meat. They also offer a great selection of local wines you can have in your room. Our only major complaint was the sporadic power issues in our room. The outlets were going on and off, and we brought all the sufficient international converters (with the voltage converters) that have never given us an issue before and worked everywhere else afterward on this trip. I couldn’t reliably charge my phone every time (maybe once out of five times we tried did it work, and it seemed to cycle on and off), or my power cell backup—we ended up having to charge them from our rental car. My husband’s CPAP also kept going off and on through the night. The WiFi never worked on my phone but did on my husband’s. Lastly, they really should have two chairs instead of one on those nice outside patios.

Attractive design and pleasant and comfortable spaces, right in the middle of nature. Extremely friendly staff. Activities portfolio could be better.

The Alentejo region is one of my favorite places to be in the world. I often find myself entertaining the idea of buying some land there, build a small house, and get old. Well before I get there, the best place I know to spend quality and quiet time is this boutique hotel. It is very impressive how beautiful is the building itself, how comfortable are the rooms, how stunning is the landscape by the infinite pool, and the peace one can feel at the end of afternoon. I miss Alentejo and this place. I will definitely go back.

This hotel has nice modern design, large comfortable bedrooms, a great outdoor swimming pool and it is set on very peaceful grounds. You can do a nice walk starting from the hotel. However the restaurant was very disappointing, both service and food quality and we do not plan to return for that reason as we had a terrible dinner experience.

This place is just amazing!!! If you want to rest for a couple days this is the place! Very peaceful, very silent, you can just disconnect from the world and enjoy the infinity pool, the gym or even the lake of the Maranhão Dam! All staff is very kind! You can enjoy one of the best breakfasts at almost any time you want and lunch/diner one of the divine dishes they have on the menu! Enjoy =)