Silencio-Melides

Double Vision: Meditative Melides Retreat

A modern architectural refuge on a 10-acre plot along the Alentejo Coast, this five-bedroom home’s primary suite features a private office, outdoor lounge with pool access and a living room. The additional ground floor bedrooms include two twin rooms and one double room, four baths, plus an independent queen studio suite. Upstairs under a striking section of pitched roof, a yoga studio’s generous windows overlook the vast green outdoors, and the home’s floor-to-ceiling windows face the pool space and the beautiful old pines and pebbled garden landscaping.

Volumes are geometric, with a notable contemporary, exposed beam ceiling and clean-lined furnishings, and embellishment has been kept minimal, with statement art pieces by Portuguese and international artists hung on pristine walls. A large fireplace warms the living room, and the kitchen is fit for a chef, with two standard ovens and a wood oven, a stovetop and grill, adjacent to a dining room for 14.

Outdoor spaces are sleekly landscaped, with a saltwater pool, an alfresco entertainment area with a dining table for 12, and multiple outdoor sitting and relaxing zones. In-house massage and body treatments are available by request, and private chef services can be booked as well.

Additional Features The property offers a menu of yoga bundles across multiple styles/disciplines (Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin) through an onsite, certified instructor/facilitator and sound healing practitioner. Massage therapy is also available. Full and half day retreat workshops combine yoga, massage, HIIT, and cacao rituals and sound baths for deeper relaxation and rejuvenation.

Around

This contemporary retreat occupies a 10-acre piece of land about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon on the Alentejo’s west coast. The quiet Aberta-a-Nova beach is a 10-minute drive away, the buzzier beach at Comporta is a 20-minute drive, and Troia Beach is about 35 minutes away. Horseback riding on the wild, golden sands, surfing, golfing and boat trips to Alcocer do Sal are favorite activities. Golf courses and kayak/SUP rentals are available nearby.

Some have said Melides is to the Comporta coast what Montauk is to the Hamptons or Cogolin is to St. Tropez—not as famous, but every bit as worth it. Hip global nomads have marked the modest Melides as their new favorite playground, riding in on the coattails of French designers, international architects, entrepreneurial urbanites, and modern art collectors and jetsetters. The village’s landscape differs a bit from others in the greater Alentejo region due to the Lagoa de Melides, or lagoon that surrounds the community and contains a stunning variety of flora and fauna within the protected ecosystem. Waterbird habitat is also abundant, and eels from the waterways make for a popular catch for local diners.

Rice paddies and cork fields create a unique oceanfront landscape in this part of the Atlantic, and further inland, the higher altitude relief of the Serra de Grândola creates an area of footpaths and hiking trails, gurgling streams and a 19-kilometer circular route, the Vereda de Melides, designed for exploring the region on bike or foot. Nearby Comporta is zigzagged by shops, cafes, restaurants, and pretty outposts of the rich and famous. Design-conscious shoppers and patrons of the arts will delight in the burgeoning selection of galleries, studio/workshops, and carefully curated boutiques, and another draw is the creative community. The region’s beaches extend for miles, offering an abundance of outdoor recreation activities, notably surfing and riding the wind.

Location

Nearest airport: Lisbon (127km)

Best time to visit

May to October