A room at Areias do Seixo
Courtesy of the hotel
The breezy Silver Coast of Portugal—stretching roughly from Lisbon to Porto—has recently become a darling of the “retire to Portugal” consultant set. And for good reason. The central Atlantic region (Costa de Prata in Portuguese) gets fewer long-haul visitors than many parts of the country, and its villages and towns generally tend not to revolve around international tourism. That’s good news as this “real Portugal”—both the coast itself and some of the cities and towns nearby in the interior—is still home to a genuine, small-scale approach to hospitality. The surf capital of Ericeira has quite a lot going on by itself, but elsewhere in the region, the gems are a bit more spread out.
Best Hotels Along Portugal’s Silver Coast
Luz Charming Houses, Fátima
Luz Charming Houses
Pedro Filipe Fotografia
The 15-room Luz Charming Houses is the old dream of a young couple with backgrounds in architecture and in human resources management. The result is a contemporary interpretation of the humble houses and villages in the center of Portugal, with kind and coddling service that matches the aesthetics: Charm is all around. The place also has a close connection to nature, along the pathways that link the blocks of rooms, outside the windows of the dreamy hay barn, and inside the cave that’s used as a massage room and yoga studio. Vintage Portugalia also makes welcome appearances in the boutique that stocks heritage brands with artful product packaging, in the historic Lisbon kiosk that’s been repainted and repurposed on a lawn, and in the honesty bar with its old-fashioned debtor’s log.
Areias do Seixo, Santa Cruz
Areias do Seixo
Courtesy of the hotel
Bohemian and dreamy, Areias do Seixo is a richly textured romantic haven. It’s a place of deep history, homegrown hospitality and unabashed sumptuousness. In the rooms and villas, plush mattresses rest atop wooden platforms surrounded by soft cushions and throws, wood-burning fireplaces blaze beside giant stone bathtubs, and outdoor showers cascade down in the stone-walled courtyards. The decoration is eclectic: Moroccan carpets and lamps, refurbished steel drums and bedcovers from the owners’ grandparents’ homes. They call their vibe “magically familiar,” and they back it up with programming like yoga classes, tours of the organic vegetable garden and evening bonfires. The ocean is just a ten-minute walk away.
MS Collection Palacete de Valdemouro, Aveiro
MS Collection Palacete de Valdemouro
Ivo Tavares Studio
The first five-star hotel in Aveiro—a canal city whose boosters have tried to market as the Venice of Portugal—Palacete de Valdemouro occupies the 19th-century residence of the family of writer and diplomat Eça de Queiroz. His work, which most Portuguese know from reading in school, and his characters are the inspiration for some of the 39 rooms. Memorabilia from his life decorates the cozy library, and a graffiti-blasted mural of his face by the famous street artist Vhils adorns a wall beside the swimming pool in the private courtyard. The restaurant, Prosa, was conceived with an assist from chef Rui Paula, who holds two Michelin stars in Porto.
Rio do Prado, Óbidos
Rio do Prado
Francisco Duarte Mendes
Hippie-chic is also the leitmotif for Rio do Prado, a sustainability-minded resort near Óbidos. The rooms are sometimes built into hillsides, with grass growing on their roofs, and everything is low-slung and just a little bit rustic, as one might expect from a river in a meadow. Some rooms have romantic fireplaces, while others have private open-air swimming pools. The restaurant is centered on an iconic fireplace that dates from 1968, and its long menu goes heavy on vegan and vegetarian options while honoring Portuguese traditions with recipes like mushroom açorda (garlicky bread stew), roasted onion Bràs style (with barely cooked eggs and potatoes) and cuttlefish feijoada (bean stew) with coriander.
Cooking and Nature Hotels, Alvados
Cooking and Nature Emotional Hotel
Rita Quintela
This quirky endeavor in the heart of the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park (an hour from Lisbon and 35 minutes from the beach in Nazaré) combines two concepts. The original Cooking and Nature Emotional Hotel has eight double rooms and four family rooms, each themed around a feeling (simplicity and meditation, curiosity and surprise, adventure and discovery), plus a large educational kitchen for the hotel’s namesake cooking classes. The nature, meanwhile, is right outside, all along a network of hiking trails. The newer annex, the Nest, has eight larger double rooms, each inspired by an animal from the region, and two private apartments, one of which is pet friendly.
Top Restaurants Near Portugal’s Silver Coast
Alta, Lourinhã
The lobster salad at Alta
Courtesy of the restaurant
The passion project of Portuguese-Canadian sisters Julie and Jenny Marteleira, the ambitious Alta restaurant was informed by their time in the kitchens, dining rooms and hotels of cosmopolitan Toronto. At the same time, it’s a love letter to their country of family origin, and particularly to this spot beside Praia da Areira Branca in Lourinhã, where they spent their childhood holidays. Inside a historic house, they’re serving a menu that mixes Portuguese classics—homemade cod cakes (served hot, for a welcome change), garlic prawns, grilled octopus—and multicultural influences like the signature lobster salad, which is presented in the crustacean’s shell with avocado, papaya, cashews and rice vinegar.
Terruja, Alvados
A vegetable tart at Terruja
Courtesy of the restaurant
Portuguese chef Diogo Caetano worked with Martin Berasategui in Spain, José Avillez in Portugal and on his own in Estonia, where he landed his restaurant in the Michelin Guide, the Nordic White Guide and La Liste. Back in Lisbon, he put Ceia on the World’s 50 Best Discoveries list. Now he’s returned to the countryside that defined his childhood. With Terruja—newly recognized with a Michelin Bib Gourmand—he’s celebrating that connection to the land and its traditions with a menu that emphasizes classic preparations and local producers, with some of the Nordic finesse he’s picked up along the way. The nine-course degustation is the way to go, with simple, elemental plates like lamb that’s slow-cooked for 24 hours, cured mackerel with a salad of lupini beans, and fish from the market in Nazaré with mushroom stew and a foie gras emulsion.
Olaias, Figueira da Foz
Olaias
Courtesy of the restaurant
If you spend any time around Portuguese food lovers, you realize that people don’t only have favorite restaurants. They have favorite restaurants for particular dishes. Olaias—another Bib Gourmand—is one of those places, and the dish in question is a cozy, satisfying oven rice that varies with the seasons. There are always a few options for the arroz carolino do Mondego (short-grain rice grown near the Mondego River that passes through Figueira da Foz): wild-caught fish, octopus, duck, oxtail and more, always cooked in a clay pot to enhance the flavor. Rounding out the menu are starters like “Aunt Fernanda’s rissois” (small fried pastries stuffed with curry and hake), mushroom croquettes, and cockles with coconut milk and lemon, and a beloved moist sponge cake with fleur de sel for dessert. The pretty, glass-walled dining room and its garden views add to the appeal.
Nómade, Nazaré
Pizzas at Nómade
Courtesy of the restaurant
Nómade hits all the right notes for a surf-town beach restaurant in 2025. There are the hand-painted signs reading “fun, peace, love” and “good vibes only,” the slouchy striped cushions beside the low tables, and the soft-focus sunset views. But the place also has some seriously ambitious pizza: long fermentation dough, a wood-burning oven and snazzy ingredients like wild mushrooms, roasted peppers, presunto ham, burrata and sometimes some oddball ones, like Swedish smoked salmon and caviar. The mushroom pie made the New York Times list of readers’ favorite pizzas from around the world.
O Rito, Ourém
O Rito
Courtesy of the restaurant
It’s worth a detour inland to enjoy a lunch or dinner at this typical but high-quality family restaurant that appears to have been untouched by time. For more than 50 years, O Rito has turned out classic, hearty dishes like duck rice baked in the oven, baby goat roasted with potatoes, and rice with cod cheeks. But the ocean isn’t that far, and the grilled wild-caught fish is outstanding, along with the home-style soups and sweet regional desserts. A piano sits on one side of the dining room and is often played by guests or professionals, who sometimes also drop in with Portuguese guitars.
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