This 21st-century coastal casa was built from the ground up back in 2009, but it was re-established by a group of hospitality veterans and friends in 2021. The seaside retreat reveals Portuguese country heritage made over by a team of pros who redesigned it as their ideal space to unwind.

This vacation home rental in Portugal was created as an easygoing retreat—a straightforward, shiny space for reconnection, casual gathering, meal making, nature loving and generally putting your feet up, book or glass in hand. The front deck has a sunken lounge area with sunbeds that are ideal for unwinding and enjoying the views. Amble to a beach in 20 minutes or walk into town in five, sit on the sunny square, await the daily fish delivery, or grab local picnic fare to enjoy a simple clifftop spread when the sun falls. 

Mostly crisp and white, with newly updated furnishings and appliances, the home’s harmonious interior by Jade Passey of Algarve-based Escolhido design features a muted, neutral palette. An artisan-tiled fireplace joins a custom-made marble coffee table in the slightly retro living room. Art, including work by Ukrainian-American photographer Sergiy Barchuk and ceramics by Lisbon-based artist Mariana Filipe, pop the house up a notch and an era, giving it a cool, contemporary vibe.

AROUND

Located outside the town of Carrapateira, sandwiched between rugged coast, scrubby wooded patches and farmland, this is a wilder Algarve—still whitewashed, beachy, and bright, minus the sunseeking charter crowds. A land seemingly made for walking and recharging, nature here is charmingly rough around the edges, a land of coastal cliffs and small coves, simple strolls on village single track to all-day natural park hikes. 

The town is a quick walk away from this vacation home rental in Portugal and features a classic town square, handful of simple cafes, and a number of local food outposts from farmers’ markets to a fish van to a waterview seafood cafe. Bordeira and Amado beaches are the closest, and surfers’ set out into the Atlantic from both. Board rental is available, and the home offers two boards and bikes for local exploring. Set within Costa Vincentina National Park, Portugal’s largest coastal reserve, this section of coast is surprisingly undeveloped, a land of pounding surf, empty sands, and ochre cliffs. 

Daredevil kite and wind surfers come for the area’s roaring winds and waves, and the park continues toward a headland at Sagres, believed to be a launch point for Portugal’s famous seafaring explorers funded by Prince Henry the Navigator. Occasional beach cafes and lighthouses are about all the buildup you’ll find on the coast, otherwise blanketed by acres of wildflowers and aromatic shrubs, with a few outlying towns gleaming vividly atop dramatic promontories.

LOCATION

Carrapateira, Faro, Algarve, Portugal. Nearest airport: Faro (1 hour 15 minutes)

BEST TIME TO VISIT: April to October