Farol Design Hotel

Super-cool design hotel with a terraced pool beyond which the ocean sparkles

Portugal’s hippest hotel delivers style and substance in equal measure: if you want a cool place to chill in the sun, you’ll find it here. You’re bang on the water with a terraced pool above the rocks and a restaurant that opens onto a big shaded terrace. Views stretch for miles across the water to the Setubal Peninsula, while sailing boats and cargo ships zip in and out of Lisbon.

You get a little bit of time travel with the main house, a 19th-century mansion seamlessly united to a late-20th-century extension of glass, wood and steel. Sophisticated contemporary interiors are at every turn: voile drapes in a panelled bar, a wall of glass and ocean views in the dining room, a beautiful Art Deco mirror in reception. Stone floors give way to shiny boards, chrome spider lamps hang over groovy armchairs. Eleven fashion designers were recruited to create some of the rooms and suites and the results are satisfyingly hip: mirrored walls, vibrant colours, 6-foot lamps suspended from the ceiling, and modern art on the walls. The waves of the west coast are close by, so bring your surfboard. Alternatively take to the hills and discover Sintra’s fabulous palace.

Highs

• Fabulous setting on a rocky stretch of coast beyond Cascais lighthouse
• The design is genuinely cool, not skin deep: rich purples and reds, cool white and sleek slate grey dominate in the elegant and urbane interiors
• The pool with its sun-trapping terrace, padded loungers, white plastic sofa on the lawn, and a summer bar lapped by the ocean
• Rooms are a treat - some fancy, some super-fancy
• Young and pleasant staff help however they can

Lows

• The town’s fog horn is very close by; if the weather changes, you'll hear about it
• Bathrooms are fine, but in comparison to the rest of the hotel they’re slightly dated
• There can be noise from the adjacent nightclub on Thursday-Saturday nights
• Some bedrooms are very self-conscious, as are some guests
• The pool is only open late March-October