Altis Porto Hotel, a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts- LVX

We recommend the Altis to travellers who prefer contemporary comfort to heritage charms, couples in their thirties to fifties on a gastronomic weekend or cultural stay. Business clientele occupies the hotel during the week (meeting rooms, business centre), families at weekends (connecting rooms, pools). Purists of Manueline style will go elsewhere, here we embrace the 21st century without apology.

The hotel occupies an eight-storey building constructed in 2015 by the Nini Andrade Silva architecture firm, with a glass and Moleanos limestone façade. Contemporary interiors with grey Estremoz marble floors, whitewashed oak woodwork, brushed brass suspended lights. The 247 rooms and suites display clean lines, 2.80 m ceiling height, designer furniture signed (Poliform, Cassina, B&B Italia). The eighth-floor rooftop houses the pool, bar and 300 m² panoramic terrace.

The Fava Tonka restaurant serves contemporary Portuguese cuisine under the direction of chef Vasco Coelho Santos, who trained in the kitchens of Alain Ducasse in Paris and Monaco. Short menu renewed every quarter, produce from the Bolhão market and fish from Matosinhos, cellar with 400 references focused on the Douro and Alentejo. The buffet breakfast (included in most rates) offers regional charcuterie, queijadas from Sintra, pastéis de nata prepared on site. The Spirito Bar on the rooftop serves cocktails and petiscos from April to October, with views over the six Douro bridges.

The hotel stands on Rua Jorge de Viterbo Ferreira, in the Massarelos district, a fifteen-minute walk from the historic centre (Ribeira, Torre dos Clérigos). The Serralves museum and its gardens are ten minutes by taxi, the port cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia accessible via the Dom Luís I bridge (twenty minutes on foot). Casa da Música metro station 800 metres away (yellow line), Francisco Sá Carneiro airport twenty-five minutes by car. The neighbourhood is residential and calm, bordered by the river, with several contemporary restaurants (Antiqvvm, Pedro Lemos) within 500 metres.