Two new villas extend Christian Louboutin’s exuberant Portuguese hotel

It’s no secret that Christian Louboutin has a quiet devotion to the Portuguese region of Alentejo. The French shoe designer – master of the red-lacquered sole – opened his first hospitality project in the local coastal town of Melides in 2023. The backstory reads almost like a fable: while sketching at his home in Comporta, 30km away, he injured himself, and on the journey back from the hospital, he happened upon the softly hued town. With its sweep of dunes, stone pines and ink-blue lagoon, Melides cast its spell, and before long, Louboutin had acquired a traditional fisherman’s shack and reimagined it as a maison de famille-style retreat.

Working with local architect Madalena Caiado, he shaped the Vermelho Hotel (meaning ‘red hotel’ in Portuguese), which comprises 13 rooms, each of singular and judicious character, a small wellness space, a hammered-silver bar, and Xtian, an in-house restaurant serving Alentejan staples on hand-thrown crockery. The hotel’s interiors are a conversation between Louboutin’s French and Egyptian heritage and the local vernacular, layering azulejos (glazed tiles), architectural ceramics and colour in a way that feels both rooted and inventive.

Louboutin’s Vermelho Hotel introduces two spectacular villas

The next chapter for Vermelho Hotel, managed by Marugal Hotel Management, has now arrived in the form of two villas nearby. In collaboration with Egyptian designer Tarek Shamma, La Salvada rises from a wildflower meadow in a muted shade of pink, its kasbah-like outline accommodating up to four guests. Inside, a sandy palette is punctuated with flashes of red and indigo – such as in a built-in bench upholstered in quatrefoil fabric, and a Jean-Louis Viard tapestry – while the skylit living room gathers antiques beneath high ceilings. Three rooftop terraces offer a place to catch the breeze, and listen to the cicadas and the gentle shift of the trees.

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In a more rustic register, La Maison des Bateaux recalls a whitewashed Alentejan boathouse, hidden among rice fields. The mood here is pared back and maritime: think shell-cluster lamps, miniature boats pinned to the walls, a rhythm of white, deep blue and sun-baked terracotta. Works by various artists sit alongside furniture from Louboutin’s own collection. A garden path leads to a large, secluded pool, a sunlit counterpoint to the shade indoors.

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Rates start from €2,200 per night at La Salvada, and from €1,700 per night at La Maison des Bateaux. Vermelho Hotel is located at R Dr Evaristo Sousa Gago 2, 7570-635 Melides, Portugal.