São Lourenço do Barrocal

"Just two hours east of Lisbon, São Lourenço do Barrocal is a fabulously restored 19th century farmstead hotel in the heart of the golden Alentejo region. For the ultimate Portuguese road trip, start in Lisbon before taking to the meandering rural roads to savour the rolling Alentejo landscape, with its fields studded with cork trees and Neolithic dolmens, olive groves and pampas-style plains. Barrocal is like some sort of a Portuguese Shangri-La with a wonderful farm-to-table restaurant, thriving winery, not to mention excellent horse riding on site, plus plenty of cultural landmarks to take in, including the UNESCO World Heritage town of Evora with its sun-baked Roman temples, cathedrals and churches. And, of course, it's home to the chicest spa: a sophisticated, utterly professional and totally indulgent idyll with the best Susanne Kauffman treatments."