Aquapura Douro Valley

Class: Deluxe

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 50

Traditionally Portugal hasn’t needed much more than a sunny climate (and maybe a bit of golf) to woo tourists by the tens of thousands. There are places, though, that go above and beyond the basic formula: Aquapura, in the Douro Valley, the wine-making region in the north, is one of these.

This is the modern winery spa par excellence — an old manor house surrounded by modern villas, featuring cutting-edge interiors and a spa offering treatments based on the antioxidant properties of the Douro Valley grapes. The twenty-one villas are the latest in modernist resort-luxe, each with plunge pools, and even the fifty standard rooms are sleek and state-of-the-art, equipped with the sort of bathrooms that almost render the spa redundant.

Almost. With ten treatment rooms and a facility spanning over twenty thousand square feet, it’s undoubtedly impressive, quite aside from any vine-derived health benefits. Two restaurants serve upscale Portuguese specialties, and the wine room boasts a massive list of vintages from near and far. A fine first step for the Aquapuro empire, it’s ideal as the anchor of a Douro wine tour, or a self-contained escape, located just two hours from the Porto airport.