Our latest family holiday was a short break Glamping in Portugal. I hadn’t been to Portugal before so was looking forward to this trip and exploring the wild Atlantic coast. I also had not camped for many years, but was looking forward to the posh camping experience! Not for me a blow up mattress and a trek to a communal loo in the middle of the night, I wanted a proper bed and an en suite toilet facility.
We were in Portugal for a friend’s wedding near the Alentejo town of Avis. Altentejo is a huge region covering around a third of the country, from mountain ranges to dramatic coastline. But there is a strange stillness to the landscape owing in part to it not being very populated. We drove for miles without seeing other cars when we travelled in May, even on the motorways. It felt a bit like stepping back in time.
The rolling landscape is dominated with valleys and bridges and covered with cork trees, stripped and numbered as they are harvested. There are also storks nesting on electrical pylons and posts wherever you look.
After a two hour drive following our Satnav, we approached our accommodation from a dusty red track – we had to valet our hire car before dropping it back at Lisbon airport it was so dirty – but it was well worth the drive south, as our home for the next 4 days was beautiful!
Set in an amazing location, a small valley in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cork trees, was Figueirinha Ecoturismo. The owners were extremely welcoming and showed us around the different accommodations and the bio pool, which we had thought was just a pond (more of this later) but you are able to swim in it and is apparently extremely popular with children, who love swimming with the frogs.
To start with our son wasn’t too sure where we had brought him, he was unable to log on to WiFi, but as soon as he realised he could use his phone, he thought it was incredibly cool! Our tent was on a raised platform with decking. We had a shower and ‘dry’ toilet. The double mattress was raised off the floor on wooden pallets and the tent was decorated with hanging mirrors, lamps and skin covered drums giving it a safari vibe.
Breakfast was included and with homemade jams, local cheese, meats and fresh fruit, was delicious and set us up for the day. the owner would also cook an evening meal if you wanted and we took advantage of this on two of the nights we stayed as the local town was too far away to walk.
The area is great to explore, we headed to the coast and found some lovely deserted beaches. Our favourite beach was accessed by steps down the cliff. The wind whipping in from the Atlantic means that the sea is cold, but the huge waves make it popular with surfers.
Returning to our accommodation in the evening we would sip a glass or two of wine, watch the sun dip behind the distant hills and enjoy a lovely meal with our hosts. The only other thing to mention is the frogs. Our tent was close to the ‘bio pool’ and our stay was during frog mating season and while I enjoyed being at one with nature and listening to froggy sounds as I drifted off to sleep, my husband found it excruciating and needed earplugs!
Our flight home departed from Lisbon and we made the time to spend a day here, but wish we had actually been able to stay longer. Lisbon is a vibrant city and in contrast to the countryside, busy and bustling. We had a lovely meal and walked up to see the view from where the new city meets the old.
The view from the top of Santa Justa Lift is incredible, but not for the faint hearted if you don’t like heights – but well worth it for the photos!
We really enjoyed our Glamping holiday in Portugal and look forward to returning. For more information contact us on 01932 866565 or email us holidays@travelprofessionals.co.uk
