Pergola Boutique Hotel

“A gem of a hotel (and garden, and restaurant)!”

The Pergola is a gorgeous, well-preserved hotel located a tiny bit off the 'beaten track' of Cascais. To be clear, it's not on the beach but is about a two-minute walk from beautiful sand and gentle surf. The concierge could not have been friendlier; using his computer, he showed us places to vis... more

The Pergola is a gorgeous, well-preserved hotel located a tiny bit off the 'beaten track' of Cascais. To be clear, it's not on the beach but is about a two-minute walk from beautiful sand and gentle surf. The concierge could not have been friendlier; using his computer, he showed us places to visit within walking distance and gave us tips about parking, how to get to Estoril Casino (the 'birthplace' of James Bond, you might say), and so on. He also gave us a brief tour and told us about the interesting history of the hotel and grounds. Our room was well-appointed and clean, and I don't know if this is true everywhere in Portugal, but we stayed in 4 hotels, and they all had the most fantastic mattresses! We slept like rocks and awoke to a delicious breakfast in the most beautiful restaurant we visited during our trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After touring the town and taking a long walk along the Cascais shores, we had lunch in town and visited a few shops before enjoying dinner at the restaurant. It was our most delicious meal of the trip. The photos won't do it justice -- the food looks too simple -- but that fish was as perfect as you can imagine, and the cheese-wrapped artichokes were a new favorite. The setting was incredible, too, smack-dab in the middle of the garden. There is no parking right outside (or too close to) the hotel, so we parked in a lot next. to the train station. There is free street parking about the same distance from the hotel, but we didn't waste time looking for it -- after our trip to the casino, it was very late!

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“Great stay”

Lovely boutique hotel in a great location. The entrance through the garden with the alfresco dining on one side. The older rooms are spacious and the new ones compact but comfortable. We received great care and attention from Gonçalo who was so helpful and professional throughout our stay. The w... more

Lovely boutique hotel in a great location. The entrance through the garden with the alfresco dining on one side. The older rooms are spacious and the new ones compact but comfortable. We received great care and attention from Gonçalo who was so helpful and professional throughout our stay. The whole team were excellent and we enjoyed getting excellent advice from your sommelier.

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“A thoroughly enjoyable month stay at The Pergola Cascais…”

We spent four weeks in The Pergola boutique hotel in August and into early September 2023 and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The house and garden (which was in full bloom and filled with colour during our stay) has a unique old world boujee romantic feel, and the history of the house reinforces thi... more

We spent four weeks in The Pergola boutique hotel in August and into early September 2023 and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The house and garden (which was in full bloom and filled with colour during our stay) has a unique old world boujee romantic feel, and the history of the house reinforces this sense. It is amazing to see the number of passers-by stop to look and take pictures of the garden and house. This is actually how we discovered this hotel when in Cascais earlier in the year. My sense is this spot will be loved by nearly all and may be disliked by one or two depending on your expectations and experience during your stay… we had seen one or two reviews where others did not have as enjoyable a stay as we have had. As noted it is a very unique boutique hotel, see more below. The staff have a lovely relaxed manner and are very helpful. The breakfast in the garden restaurant is really nice and quite healthy but different (no rashers, sausages or meat). It was different to what we were used to and expecting but we really enjoyed it. The following are some practical notes on our stay which may be helpful: 1. The house is situated on a quiet street in the centre of the town and only a couple of minutes to the waterfront, beach, lots of restaurants, ice cream parlours and coffee shops (… the coffee shop across the road, Fabrica, has great coffee). 2. The reception team, Nadia, Gaston and Anas, led by Gonçalo are all very helpful. Equally, the team who run the restaurant at breakfast, Nathanie, Nuno and Jorge are very attentive and obliging. Housekeeping are also friendly and efficient. 3. Our room was located on the first floor overlooking the garden for most of our stay, about 3 ½ weeks. We really loved the room. We did not experience any particular problems with noise from the garden restaurant but note other reviews had mentioned this. This is not saying it was not a problem for these people, it simply was not an issue for us. The last few days of our stay were on a room on the second floor and that was also nice and very quiet (it was quieter than the first-floor room, but as mentioned we did not have any issues on the first floor at the front of the house albeit it was not directly above the restaurant). 4. The train to Lisbon is 2/3 mins walk up the road, maybe closer. Lisbon is a lovely city and great to travel into and explore. 5. There is a Cascais stand in the road behind the house where you can rent push bikes for about €6 a day (August 2023). 6. There is a large Auchan (hypermarket) within 5/10 min walk. This, with the Pingo Doce express store located in the train station, are very useful resources if you need anything. 7. The WiFi was excellent. We needed to use it for work one or two days and for some streaming and it was flawless. 8. The rooms have no TV. That was fine for us, we rarely use TV’s in hotels or when away. 9. The hotel has no lifts. If you have mobility issues you may have challenges with this hotel. 10. The room doors work on standard keys, not swipe cards. Reception will hold your key when you go out, which is what we always did. 11. I’m showing my age here but there are no phones in the room. WhatsApp for business is the communication tool of choice and it works well. Clearly you need WhatsApp on your mobile but I’m guessing everyone has WhatsApp these days? 12. One thing we were very impressed with was the minimal waste at breakfast. Portion sizes are good and you are free to ask for more, which we did on occasion. Very sustainable. 13. I am not sure about the port wine at 18:00 daily… we never really observed it or participated in it. 14. We had lunch and dinner in the garden restaurant a few times. The food is good and it was really enjoyable. You do need to book in advance for lunch or dinner. You cannot be guaranteed a garden table. To secure a garden table you need to say you would like a garden table (this will not secure it!), get the earliest booking and arrive early. The setting is lovely, the food is good and the ambiance is really nice. 15. The paving in Cascais is a lovely cobble stone. If you do get any rain it is like a skating rink. Make sure to have a good set of shoes with decent grips if it rains. 16. Some of the details on TripAdvisor as at H1 2023 were incorrect e.g. Adult Only [they do allow children, albeit it is better suited to adults in my view], but I understand the team are trying to address this and have a challenge accessing the TripAdvisor account. We’ve been to Cascais 4/5 times in the last few years and this time has been our favourite. This is in a large part related to The Pergola and the great team led by Gonçalo.

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