Sandy fields bulge with organic courgettes and broccoli and pumpkins as sweet as pudding. In high summer, makeshift stalls pepper the side of the road, piled with watermelons, artichokes, tomatoes that taste of sunshine. Knobbly lemons the size of grapefruit hang heavy from the trees. The ground pours forth flowers and vegetables and fruit. It’s hard to think of anywhere else so fertile, so abundant. Here is a rustic, fuss-free way of life. And it seems unperturbed by the nascent fair-weather visitors.
Comporta is a village on the west coast of Portugal, about an hour’s drive from Lisbon. But when people talk about Comporta, what they really mean is the region around it. The Herdade da Comporta is a swoop of coast between the Sado Estuary and the sea, 12,500 hectares comprising seven hamlets: Pego, Carvalhal, Brejos, Torre, Possanco, Carrasqueira and Comporta, too.
The area is well looked after, not only because much of it is a highly protected nature reserve (look out for huge nesting storks and flamingoes in the river), but because it is owned and managed by the EspÃrito Santo, the country’s leading banking group. These two factors have kept this slice of the Alentejo astonishingly preserved and pristine.
3 Bicas villa in ComportaNelson Garrido
From Easter onwards, people descend from the rest of Europe in quiet droves to stay in the traditional but vamped-up, candy-striped village huts. The smartest families have rooted themselves in Brejos, where the EspÃrito Santo clan has a cluster of houses. Interior designer Vera Iachia is part of that dynasty and her collection of cabanas, with their polished-concrete floors, wood beams and cushioned day-beds, has set the tone. There are no gates, no tarmac, no high walls. Instead, sandy tracks lead from one unassuming cottage to the next. Their neighbours are savvy, connected Lisboans, Parisians, Brazilians. French designer Jacques Grange, German artist Anselm Kiefer and model Farida Khelfa (Schiaparelli’s new muse) all have houses here. Kiefer has two. The Casiraghis drop by in July and August to stay with Charlotte’s godmother, Albina du Boisrouvray, and Sarkozy and Carla have been spotted further down the coast near Muda. Everyone pootles around in beat-up golf buggies or Mini Mokes, or on sit-up-and-beg bicycles.
The best hotels in Comporta
SublimeNelson Garrido
Sublime Comporta
The original, and arguably still the best. Sublime is synonymous with tranquillity, and rarely has a hotel managed to achieve what many others find impossible; absolute peace and quiet, in a beautiful setting with exemplary service. And while Comporta is undoubtedly a beach destination, Sublime is a hotel that shifts with the seasons. In the July heat, it’s a place to take a dip (the hotel has three pools, plus private ones for some villas) and sit under the shade of the pine and cork trees. In winter, when the rain comes, the cabins make for cosy places to sit and feel surrounded by nature, and the restaurants and spa are warm and inviting. Everything has been considered here, so you don’t need to leave the property if you don’t want to. Having said that, we highly recommend a trip to Sublime’s beach club, on Praia do Carvalhal, where fresh seafood paella is served piping hot alongside fresh bread and Algarve butter, and where the sunset is one that will stay fresh in your memory for years to come. By Abigail Malbon
