Pousada’s the way for historical luxury in Portugal

Every country has its hidden gems, but it’s possible that Portugal has more than most in its collection of pousadas — or high-end historic lodging houses. Tony Clayton-Lea travelled to Portugal to road-test a few of these palatial pousadas, as well as taking in the Portuguese interior.

France has its chateaux, Spain its paradores and the UK and Ireland have their castles, but when it comes to sheer breadth of options, we’ll warrant it’s difficult to best Portugal’s pousadas. What, I hear you ask, as butter melts into your toast, are pousadas?

Many hundreds of year ago, Portugal, like most countries in Europe, was dotted with monasteries and convents, palaces and castles — large structures that housed either the religious or the aristocratic (and sometimes, of course, both simultaneously).