The Most Luxurious Retreat in Portugal’s Wine Region: Six Senses Douro Valley | SIMPLY SLOW TRAVELER

Welcome to Douro, a 2000 years old wine producing region in the north of Portugal, where humans have changed the steep hillsides to create a beautiful terrace landscape siding the Douro river on both its margins. Fully surrounded by hills and valleys, covered in vineyards overlooking the river, you will find Six Senses Douro Valley, an 18th century property turned into a special retreat where we spent two beautiful days full of amazing experiences. Right as you are checking in, you are drawn into the views of the beautiful landscape from this balcony in the reception area. From here, you have the river right ahead of you, with the town of Rego afar, and all around, you see almost nothing but vineyards and the houses of the landowners. While our room was getting prepared for us, and as it was lunchtime, we headed to restaurant Vala Brão. On the walls, you could see family photos from decades ago, when the family that previously owned the property spent summers in the north of Portugal. Across the room, the open concept kitchen gives you a glimpse of the chefs working on the delicious food they are sending out to the diners. Outside, on the patio of this 18th century manor house, with the striking architecture inspired by the houses of the notorious families from Sintra, near Lisbon, where the family was from, the views are nothing short of breathtaking. We got a table right by the balcony, with the best views of the property and its surroundings, perfect for a relaxing lunch under the shy early afternoon sun. The whole meal went on to be delicious, but I am an absolute bread lover, and this turmeric and honey bread, dipped in a very soft local olive oil, produced specially for Six Senses, was to die for, so much so, I had to refrain from eating both slices myself. Along a glass of white douro wine, almost absolutely mandatory while in the douro itself, we started with this arancini, filled with São Jorge cheese, for entrees. For mains, we went with a roasted octopus rice, made on the wood oven, and a roasted lamb. Two very traditional Portuguese dishes, very rustic in nature, but made and presented with such impeccable attention to detail. To finish a delicious start to our stay, we had a very tasty chocolate pear and port wine dessert, and a fruit platter. After lunch, and as the bedroom was already prepared, we went to settle in and get changed for the activities that we had planned. We stayed in the Vineyard Rooftop Suite, a very spacious and warmly decorated suite, with views of the hillsides covered in vineyards. The suite also has its own private outdoors relaxing area, with a covered dining and lounging area, and with a hot tub surrounded by greenery and the soothing smell of rosemary infusing the air. The hotel has so much to explore and a full day schedule of activities and workshops every day. From the wine tasting that takes place here in their wine library area every day at 6pm, to a small store selling local crafts and even these adorable donkey stuffed toys made internally with used blankets from the hotel. There is even a self-service wine tasting machine with every renewing wine choices, where you can go for a glass any time of the day, and then go exploring the hotel and enjoying the views. The bar, with serene decoration and an inviting ambience that lends itself for a relaxing conversation with other guests with views of the landscape, is open from noon till midnight. They also have here live music every late afternoon and evening. In addition to an indoors gym, you also have an outdoors one with views of the river and the hills across it. It is here that they also hold yoga sessions almost every morning. Right next to the outdoors gym, there is a 200 year old woodland area that was created in the near Lisbon, where the family was from. A perfect area to explore while on a fresh walk away from the hot summer sun or to walk your dog. Very easily and without us noticing, the hours went by and it was now time for our tour of the hotel's organic garden. The meeting point was the earth lab, where they also hold many different workshops throughout the week, teaching you everything from preparing pickles to the secrets of how to keep a kitchen garden healthy and how to make composts the right way. It is also here that they support community projects like valuing and preserving the heritage of the local Miranda donkey, among other community projects. The hotel has two gardens that provide a great deal of produce to its restaurants and especially herbs, spices and some fruits. What they cannot produce themselves, they source locally from small traditional farmers, guaranteeing fresh ingredients and promoting slower farming practices and a tight relationship with the local community. We were introduced to the different plants they grow in the garden that is nearest to the barbecue and pool areas, including different herbs, infusion plants, edible flowers and many different leafy and root vegetables. We were also taught how they do a careful and conscious management of the species in the garden, so they can maintain a good ecosystem that is welcoming to both pollinators and predators and before getting ready for dinner, we sat for a cocktail on the bar terrace overlooking the vineyards Vala Brão restaurant and sat once again outside, now admiring the whole beautiful landscape with a glass of sparkling wine as live music from the bar could be heard in the background. And the night gently threw its mantle over the property and the landscape around. For entrees, we had a very fresh and creamy wild sea bass tartare, followed by a roasted duck breast and a codfish with sweet potato puree and fried egg. To finish, we had this tangerine, almonds and white chocolate dessert, perfectly balanced between the sweetness of the chocolate and acidity and freshness of the tangerine, and with that very pleasing crunchy texture of the almonds. As our first day came to an end, we went back to the bedroom to rest for an eventful second day. The next day started with a beautiful sunrise, making the whole landscape glow in intense green and golden tones, a prelude to a day with the most beautiful weather ahead of us. To start our day with a bit of morning activity, we went down to the exterior pool, fully deserted at this time of the day, perfect for a relaxing time in a close communion with the beautiful surroundings and the views. The water's surface created a spotless mirror of the landscape in front of us, as if extending its stillness and serenity. As the sun started to climb fast above the hills to the east, the hotel and the pool area started getting more and more illuminated, and the pointy shadows of the cypress trees seemed as if they were recoiling in fear of the sun. I spent a good half hour relaxing in the water, taking in the views and getting inspired by the serenity of the whole property and landscape, before going back up to get ready for breakfast. Breakfast is served in the restaurant Vala Brão, and the low morning light floods perfectly the terrace area, gently warming our skin and getting us ready for another hot, beautiful summer day. Inside, you can find a wide choice of fresh fruit, salads, milk and vegetable drinks, seeds and nuts, as well as sweet treats and pastries. Additionally, they have a menu that is updated every day, with eggs, toasts and bowls that you can also choose from. We went with eggs on toast each, a bowl of yogurt with fruit and nuts, and a glass of fresh orange juice, a relatively light and rich breakfast to get us going for the day. Our first activity for the day was a fully natural exfoliator workshop at the Picture Perfect Alchemy Bar, where they also organize perfume making labs, essences workshops and many other special activities with guest artisans from all over the world. In our case, we had a private workshop on how to make a homemade citrus-scented salt-based body exfoliator with ingredients and tools that anyone can have at home. The exact purpose of the workshop is to teach us how to get the skin care staple in a very easy way, following a full artisanal process and without using any harmful chemicals. In the end, each of us got a small jar of exfoliator, good for a few weeks use. After the workshop, it was almost lunchtime and we were taken through the vineyards, along the river and into the hotel woodland. Waiting for us, we had a charming picnic hut of pure relaxation, we had a bottle of local rosé wine while nibbling at the different fruits, crackers, salads and traditional Portuguese fritters, all while enjoying the freshness of the shaded hut as the early afternoon heat was kept outside the boundaries of the woodland. After finishing lunch and relaxing for a while, gazing at the beautiful landscape and the rabelo boats passing by, we went through the romantic and charming woods back to the hotel to get ready for our next activity. This time, we were taken to the hotel pier at the river Douro, to enjoy a one hour or so ride down the river in a charming wooden boat of Portuguese making. We were taken downstream along nearly half the length of the Baixo Corgo region, the largest of the sub-regions that compose the UNESCO World Heritage winemaking region of the Douro, which is also a protected designation of origin region for the production of Douro and port wine. The landscape is truly unique, with the terraced hillsides to each side of the river covered in vineyards supported by stone walls built with only human strength along sentries with rock collected from the river margins. Here and there, you see houses surrounded by small parcels of vineyards that are farmed by small farmers who compose still a great part of the very traditional local winemaking landscape. Our ride went all the way to the limit of the Baixo Corgo area, where the river, which was historically the main way of transporting the produced wine, Tão do Porto, narrows down and creates what once was a fearful section for the sailors bringing the wine barrels down to the city. On our way back, we could once again favor this beautiful landscape, riding along other boats, cruising with tourists up and down the river. Soon enough, we were back at the Six Senses property, where they waited for us to bring us back up. After a half hour of rest and relaxation, we went downstairs for our wine tasting experience. Together with a fun group of other guests, we tasted four different Douro wines and one Port wine at the end, while learning the history of the region and sharing our recent experiences in Six Senses and Douro with our fellow guests. After an hour well spent over a few glasses of wine, we came back to our bedroom to get ready for dinner, just as the sun started sinking down towards the west and the landscape turned once again golden for another couple of hours. This time, we went for dinner at a barbecue restaurant, a very relaxed environment where a few long tables with views of the roaring fire invite for a shared dining experience with the other guests. The barbecue dinner was on a set menu with a variety of entrees, including a few breads, sausages, cheese and tomato salad. For mains, we had first a fresh catch of the day, which in this case was an Atlantic John Dory along with caramelized sweet potato and the peppers and onion salad. Afterwards, we had a dry aged beef with roasted broccolini and carrots. The dinner then ended with an absolutely amazing plum sclafoutis, one of the best I've ever had, perfect to end a very fun and nice dinner. Back to our room, we decided to go for an hour of relaxation in the hot tub under the clear August night skies while gazing at the stars that multiplied against the pitch black backdrop. That was the perfect way to turn our body energy down before going to bed. Our last morning started with yet another beautiful bright skies with the promise of a not so long goodbye. After a morning cup of tea in our sweet outdoors lounging area, we got ready to hit the spa. The spa has a wide indoor swimming pool with underwater music therapy infused to the woods outside. The main pool is divided into the lap pool and the circuit of water jets for the calves, thighs and back and a nice cold tub followed by a hot tub. Right next to it, you have a regular sauna and an infrared sauna as well as salt room, a steam room and a herbal room for different treatment options. We relaxed in and by the pool for a good hour or so before adding up to my full selling the lovely seat to skin products made at Borgo Santo Pietro. If you have not seen it, I have a full video on my stay experience there too. Besides skincare products, the Six Senses store also sells all sorts of beauty and fashion items all exclusively curated to make sure they meet their sustainability criteria. While I can't show you much of the massage experience itself, the massage room and the whole ambience in the spa area was very soothing and relaxing and it was the perfect way to end my last morning at the Six Senses Douro Valley. Before saying goodbye to this beautiful stay, I still had time to go for a very light lunch by the pool. We weren't overly hungry so we had a fresh cocktail along a light salad while the other guests went for a refreshing swim in the pool and the sun made the entire landscape around us Six Senses Douro Valley. I will soon be sharing more experiences in the Douro region so stay tuned for more of this unique wine making region.