Alentejo

I call Alentejo the soul of Portugal — a vast, sun-baked interior between the Tagus River and the Algarve, largely untouched by mass tourism. Golden plains studded with olive groves, cork oaks, and whitewashed villages that look much as they have for five centuries.

I always point clients to the prehistoric sites here — the megalithic cromlechs of Almendres predate Stonehenge, and the menhirs scattered across the Évora plains are extraordinary. Évora itself, a UNESCO-listed walled city, is one of my favorite treasures in Portugal.

I think Alentejo wine has changed how the world sees Portuguese viticulture. I love sending clients to estates like Herdade do Esporão and Quinta do Mouro for bold, aromatic reds, and I always arrange private tastings at family-run quintas with local cheeses, cured meats, and hand-pressed olive oil — it's one of the great pleasures of travel here.

I design my Alentejo trips around full immersion: stays in converted farm estates, horseback rides across the plains at dusk, and private access to archaeological sites most visitors never find.