We often try to find areas which are untouched when it comes to places we want to visit, prioritising a chilled experience over seeking out a club scene. If you follow Short Motivation, you’ll know we like to be up early!
Finding low-key new experiences is becoming very difficult to achieve do due to the globalised world we live in. Most places have a lot of visitors, often all-year round. Previous locations such as Wynwood, Miami or Marfa, Texas, both of which we covered recently, are becoming increasingly popular and thus less interesting.
One of the places we’ve recently found seems to buck this trend (at least for now) and that is Comporta, which is a collection of villages which run along 10 miles or so stretch of the Portuguese Atlantic coast. Comporta is located approximately 1 hour south of Lisbon.
We want to stay at Sublime and Silent Living
Surrounded by eucalyptus and pine trees, the name says it all. Sublime is a luxury hotel, one of the few situated in the Comporta area. It consists of several villas which have recently been constructed and also has a restaurant on site. Sublime is only minutes from empty stunning white beaches with turquoise seas. The design of the hotel is minimalist with heavily white based influence mixed with wooden textures and sculptures. There is also a spa on site.
Silent Living, on the other hand, is a collection of homes which started as the owner’s own house but are now open to visitors. For this reason, they have a very homey feel and you stay in absolute bliss while there. It is not as luxurious as Sublime, but perhaps you want something a little bit more relaxed, in which case we want to stay at Silent Living.
We want to eat and drink at Museu Do Arroz and Café Comporta or Nata Lisboa
Museu do Arroz is the area oldest restaurant and sits right next to a Muse of Rice, hence the name. As you can imagine, the restaurant heavily features this great grain which is a staple in many of our diets. They combine this to make a wide array of dishes, while seafood is heavily favoured there is also a bunch of other options. Alongside this Museu Do Arroz also features a great cocktail programme, which we are really keen to sample.
When it comes to the kind of coffee we like, such as a good flat white, it’s always hard to find what we’re looking for in Southern Europe and when we’re in the region we have to find coffee shops which will do. In the Comporta area, two coffee shops spring to mind. Café Comporta which is a beachside café right on the sand. This will be more about location as opposed to Nata Lisboa, which is a chain in nearby Setubal, this chain surprisingly has a Peterborough store, but based on the reviews we’d love to visit.
We want to work out at proAventuras
It’s always difficult to find a good gym when travelling to more remote locations. Luckily in Setubal, a short drive or ferry ride from Comporta, there is proAventuras fitness club which operates classes and also has a gym which includes a long green astroturf patch, which would be great for our HIIT workouts!
We want to try Surfing in Comporta
Portugal has one of the best surfs in Europe and Comporta is no exception. There is a small beach shack called Surf in Comporta which sits right on Carvahal beach and we’d want to give surfing a go, if we don’t take to it easily we can take surf lessons!
