Praia do Canal Nature Retreat - Small Luxury Hotels of the World

Just lovely! This was our second stay here and it was perfect. The staff are very professional and very friendly. Main shout out has to go to - the reception staff and porters - to Joao in the bar (he looked after me so well as I have allergies) - also to Alice in the restaurant, such a fun and efficient lady, not forgetting lovely Dimitry. We also treated ourselves to spa treatments which were very good. I'm a fussy one over massages and it was up there with the best I've had. Definitely visit the local unspoilt beach, worth the dodgy remote track but make sure your car is up to it, our little Peugeot was fine, just! We saw that some residents had cycled (electric bikes) but that seemed far too energetic. We also drove to Praia de Monte Clerigo, which has a very good and unbelievably busy cafe called O Ze. Another day we went to O Paulo overlooking Arrifana beach. Beautiful seafood and a good wander on the beach watching the very brave surfers.

Upon arrival, you think you are in for a very special treat. The facilities are absolutely beautiful, and in a beautiful setting. The design, aesthetic, furniture, choices, and overall architecture are truly world-class. You are in an expensive nature, reserve with modern facilities, all blended into each other. This natural and aesthetic beauty are an illusion shattered by the extraordinarily poor service and untrained team, especially when it comes to F&B. Countless examples: - people who barely speak English - senior staff who delegate every request to junior staff, while not training them - no consistency across really anything: cutlery in tables, or not; coffee coming warm, scalding or cool; wait staff letting you sit at table for long stretches with no attention - dinner service was appallingly slow, all with a clown car of a staff shuffling back and forth to the kitchen, seeming to know what they are doing, but actually do not. A simple dinner that should’ve taken an hour to an hour and a half took two hours and 45 minutes, including several requests back to the kitchen for mistakes made. The worst was walking back into the lobby after an excursion to see a pile of dirty towels sitting right across from the front desk, and a manager and two team members doing nothing about it. A team member even asked her manager maybe we should move these and the manager made up some excuses about needing to wait for someone else to do it. Clearly, all of this could be solved with a new general manager, who has some experience in luxury hotels, and what the expectations are for service range of France. The sad part is that the property is so beautiful and so well thought through, and the same people who made that decision made a decision to have a team that really has no idea what it’s doing. I hope they fix it tons of potential here if they do.

Fabulous service, atmosphere and grounds. A major treat and opportunity to relax and indulge. Modern, exceptionally clean. It was our 3rd or 4th visit and we are treated like elite and beloved family every time we return. White globe service! We religiously indulge in room service AND thoroughly enjoy the dining room and bars. Spa is well worth the indulgence. They provide yoga every morning.

Our stay was short but powerful, the hotel has an incredible architecture, a unique and stunning design, Marcelo always accompanied us showing us the whole hotel and explaining all the design and architecture that almost seemed to have been him making the hotel, always with class and ready for anything we needed, thank you Marcelo for making our stay one of the best we have ever had, he is the essence of the hotel you can see that he loves the place where he works. The whole team was fantastic, from the front office to the restaurant and housekeeping. The Spa could do with a bit of a facelift - good staff but the interpersonal relationship needs to improve. Apart from that, the food is marvellous, congratulations to the other Marcelo, this hotel is well in the hands of the Marcelos. We hope to return soon. Thank you

If you look for nature, peace and comfort, this is the place to go. In the middle of the Vincentina Coast Natural Park, full of birds and trees, the buildings of the hotel are designed with great architectural vision. The rooms are just georgeous and have private balcony or gardens. The main building is on higher ground with an amazing view over the park and on the ocean. Enjoy the sunsets from the terrace with the lanterns in the evening or at one of the tables in the excellent Azeitona restaurant. The menu provides for all tastes (fish, meat and vegetarian) and the dishes are prepared with a lot of flavour and finesse presentation. Breakfast is outstanding, with a large buffet selection (lots of typical Portugese sweets, home-made sourdough bread, many fruits, yoghurt, cereals, seeds, meat, cheese and salmon, fresh fruit juice, Bloody Mary station and Portuguese sparkling wine) and à la carte dishes (the pancakes with red fruits! the egg Benedict with salmon!) and drinks. Staff is really great and go out of their way to help the guests. I’d like to specifically mention Elisabete (breakfast and pool bar Zimbro) - who should be paid by the count of steps and smiles -, also Jessica and Paula (dinner service), Bruno (pool bar Zimbro and dinner), Tomas (sommelier) and I wholeheartedly recommend the delicious cocktails from Juan (bar tender Menzondro and cocktail creator). Book a spa session for ultimate relaxation, I had the place (with two sauna’s, hamam, IR shower, ice bath and indoors and outdoor pool) to myself several times. Soledad is very kind, lets you enjoy the place by taking good care of it and serves hot tea and cold water throughout. The main pool is nicely integrated in the landscape and pool service is very good. I very much enjoyed the complimentary yoga sessions in the morning from yogi master Sofia, she is an outstanding teacher, builds the flows from floor to standing to floor for all levels and does a very peaceful meditation at the end where she makes sure everyone lies aligned and relaxed. Namaste, Sofia! The Whatsapp concierge service is very convenient and Joana was very helpful during booking and at check-out. Often forgotten, but certainly worth the mention here is the room cleaning and turndown staff who impeccably service the rooms every day. If you like hiking, I warmly recommend the walks provided in the booklet of the hotel (next to many other activities which also look great). The walk down to the ocean (3,6km, red, labelled average) takes about 50 min (and about 1h10 up) through the Natural Park and rewards you with the best views of empty sand beaches and ocean cliffs like in movies - there is no access but by the dust roads, I only met 1 car driving down and on weekdays spent the time down at the ocean alone (in the weekend there were a few hikers and local surfers, but still paradise ). Do climb the cliff for an even beter sight. The walk to the viewpoint Abelhas (1,6km, green, labelled easy) was als

Amazing hotel! One of the best experience I had and one of the best luxury hotels of the world. Give it a try and you won’t be let down. The staff is genuinely nice and the Hotel is a marvel of architecture and the place is remote and quiet.