PORTUGAL
The place I know best. I spent 2026 scouting Portugal for small-group travel: Lisbon, Alentejo, and the Atlantic coast. Everything I learned now goes into the trips I plan for you.
Most trips start here. Tiled facades, steep neighborhoods, long dinners, and a city that rewards slowing down. Two or Three nights is right before heading out.
On the Alentejo coast, about an hour and a half south of Lisbon, the pine forest and rice fields give way to a lagoon and a long, mostly empty Atlantic beach. Melides sits just south of Comporta, with much of the same appeal and far fewer people: dunes, cork and pine, grilled fish at lunch, and days that arrange themselves around the tide. Private villas and estates along this stretch of coast suit small retreats well.
Portugal's wild western coast: cliffs, surf beaches, fishing villages, and the Rota Vicentina walking trails. Nothing here is rushed, and it shouldn't be.
Cork oaks, whitewashed towns, long lunches, and some of the most generous hospitality in Europe. In the north, Marvão sits on a granite ridge near the Spanish border, close enough for a day in Cáceres. In the south, around Beja, it's wine country. I've stayed at Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, a family-run estate with its own vineyards and kitchen, and it's the kind of place that makes the case for staying put for a few days.
Three trips, the way I'd plan them
A week on the coast.
Two nights in Lisbon, then four on the Atlantic near Odeceixe. Slow mornings, the coastal trail, long dinners. Best in late spring.
An autumn week inland.
Three nights in Lisbon, then four in the Alto Alentejo during olive harvest. Estate meals, hilltop villages, and a day across the border in Spain.
A week by the lagoon.
Two nights in Lisbon, then five in Melides. Beach mornings, long lunches, an afternoon in Comporta. Best in June or September, when the water is warm and the crowds have thinned.
Retreats and groups in Portugal
I've evaluated properties across the Alentejo and the coast for group use: exclusive-use estates, spaces for sessions, and meals on site. If you run a retreat or a program, I'll source options and handle the contracting.
* If you came here looking for The Awakening or The Harvest: I'm no longer running scheduled group departures. If you were hoping to travel with Comara, I'd still love to plan Portugal for you, on your dates and at your pace.