Penha Longa Resort by The Ritz-Carlton

Penha Longa Resort by The Ritz-Carlton

Golfers finish the 27-hole course among Sintra's rolling green hills, then cross a 14th-century monastery and chapel woven into the grounds on the way to dinner at LAB by Sergi Arola, one of two Michelin-starred kitchens among the resort's seven restaurants. Penha Longa sits four kilometres from central Sintra and is the only hotel built inside the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, so guests wake to forest and hillside that no rival address in the area can offer. Pena Palace and Lagoa Azul are a short walk from the gates, and the beaches of Cascais and Estoril are ten minutes by car, which lets the resort work as a base for both mountains and coast without changing hotels. The 204 rooms sit across four low floors, most with balconies, bathrobes and minibars, and families get a kids club, a playground and a children's pool alongside separate outdoor and indoor swimming pools, tennis courts and a gym. The spa adds a sauna, steam room and massage rooms, useful after a round of golf or a walk through the park's trails. Couples wanting a quiet weekend inside central Lisbon should look elsewhere; this is built for acreage, sport and slower mornings, not proximity to a city grid. The resort itself opened in 1993, but the monastery on its grounds predates it by centuries, and guests pass it daily on the way to breakfast or the pool. The resort holds Three Michelin Keys and a Green Key award, accolades that match what the grounds already suggest: a place meant to be walked, not just checked into. Penha Longa is the only hotel inside the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, built around a 14th-century monastery, a 27-hole course and two Michelin-starred kitchens. It suits golfers, families and spa-goers happy to trade city convenience for hills and forest; anyone wanting central Lisbon should stay elsewhere.