Pensão Agrícola — Tavira, Portugal
Skip the Algarve’s busy beach resorts and shack up at this rustic art-filled haven, surrounded by ancient olive groves and majestic carob trees in the rolling countryside of the Rio Formosa wildlife reserve, east of the city of Tavira. Owned by the Silvia Gomes family, this small farmhouse was built in the 1920s as a wedding present to their only daughter and continued as a working farm until 1970. After 40 years of neglect, the memories of more prosperous times have been preserved and incorporated by owner Rui Liberato de Sousa and business partner Nuno Ramos, who tasked Lisbon-based outfit Atelier Rua, landscape architect Maurice Levy and perfumer Lorenzo Lucena to breathe life into the dilapidated building. Thanks to the owners' eye for detail and care to preserve precious curiosities, each room is a minimal delight, with carefully considered details such as industrial lamps from the 1940 and 50s, and pieces by local artists including Joana Astolfi and Márcio Vilela. Locally sourced food is served at the restaurant and organic soaps with olive oil and orange extract adorn the bathrooms.
ADDRESS
Sítio do Valongo Conceição de Tavira
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Rupert Eden has worked for Wallpaper* magazine since 2010 covering everything Iberian from architecture and design to wellness and travel. He is happiest championing sustainable projects featuring up-and-coming artisans or chefs.
-
Discover Locus and its ‘eco-localism' - an alternative way of thinking about architectureLocus, an architecture firm in Mexico City, has a portfolio of projects which share an attitude rather than an obvious visual language
-
MoMA celebrates African portraiture in a far-reaching exhibitionIn 'Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination' at MoMA, New York, studies African creativity in photography in front of and behind the camera
-
How designer Hugo Toro turned Orient Express’ first hotel into a sleeper hitThe Orient Express pulls into Rome, paying homage to the golden age of travel in its first hotel, just footsteps from the Pantheon
-
Form... and flavour? The best design-led restaurant debuts of 2025A Wallpaper* edit of the restaurant interiors that shaped how we ate, gathered and lingered this year
-
The Wallpaper* team’s travel highlights of the yearA year of travel distilled. Discover the destinations that inspired our editors on and off assignment
-
Retreat to an earthy resort in a sylvan slice of the AlgarveThe beautifully wild Portuguese landscape envelops the Vale Palheiro Earth Resort, offering visitors a chance to immerse themselves in rural authenticity
-
Vincent Van Duysen reimagines Lisbon dining at Jncquoi FishA minimalist yet richly textural world sets the tone at a buzzy new Lisbon restaurant, where Portuguese craft, Atlantic produce and fine-tuned gastronomy meet
-
This Portuguese winery looks like it grew from the landscape itselfArchitect Sérgio Rebelo distils the essence of Portugal’s Douro Valley into a new timber-framed winery for Quinta de Adorigo
-
The Viceroy Hotel Group wants you to get on your bikeAcross properties in Santa Monica, Chicago, Washington DC and the Algarve, Viceroy guests can experience curated cycling routes and community events
-
Two new villas extend Christian Louboutin’s exuberant Portuguese hotelA pink, kasbah-inspired residence and a whitewashed boathouse join the French shoe designer’s Vermelho Hotel in Melides, Alentejo
-
Do luxury hotels need a farmer-in-residence?From Ibiza to Indonesia, hospitality brands are cultivating a new travel experience, where wellness begins in the soil and ends at the table