Palace Hotel do Bussaco

In the fabulous and legendary palace, built in 1885 for the last kings of Portugal, is installed, since 1917, the Palace Hotel do Bussaco.

It is located north of Coimbra, 2 hours from Lisbon and 1 hour from Porto, inside the National Forest of Bussaco, Portugal's botanical and natural ex-libris. This immense forest, planted and walled by the Barefooted Carmelite Order in the first quarter of the 17th century to create a spiritual desert of contemplation and reflection closer to the Creator, has plant species from all over the world, some of them gigantic - besides the famous and imposing Cedar of Bussaco - and offers countless unforgettable walks in close contact with nature, passing through stunning fountains, hermitages and viewpoints. Its Via-Sacra and the Santa Cruz Convent also give this unique and bucolic place a rare atmosphere of the greatest peace and serenity.

In the centre of this unique landscape and architectural complex in Europe, the Palace Hotel, a veritable royal palace in the most fascinating Neo-Manueline style, designed by the last Kings of Portugal in a burst of authentic genius in the purest romantic style of the Saxen-Coburg-Gotha era, is sumptuously furnished and decorated with countless works of art, magnificent frescoes, valuable paintings and the finest collection of 19th century tile panels depicting the Epic of the Discoveries. It is sumptuously furnished and decorated with countless works of art, magnificent frescoes, valuable paintings and the best collection of 19th century tile panels depicting the Epopeia dos Descobrimentos Portugueses narrated by Camões and the Batalha do Bussaco, by the greatest masters, among other Portuguese cultural-historical motifs of the 19th century. It is worth highlighting the incredible frescoes that take us into an atmosphere worthy of kings and queens, as well as all the meticulous and rich lacework in Ançã stone, as a background adornment to the whole palace.

The majestic dining room of the Palace, once the scene of important royal banquets, is nowadays one of the best and most refined restaurants in Portugal, both as to service and as to the gastronomic specialities of authorship to the regional taste and all the tradition of the old international cuisine that it proposes, and also as to its own wine cellar, constituted by the exclusive wines of Bussaco of world-wide renown, and of maximum reference in all the main international wine guides.

A stay at the Palace Hotel do Bussaco is a unique experience that should not be missed. Crowned heads, heads of state, politicians, people of the arts and letters and of the business world take refuge in Bussaco for appreciated moments of evasion and relaxation of body and soul.

A unique spirit of authenticity that is given to us by the surrounding forest and other characteristics pointed out, create, to those who have ever settled there, a vivid nostalgia for the perfection found and the recollection enjoyed.

Welcome to a unique experience that must be lived at all costs.

In a landscape framing of absolute perfection that is granted by the majestic and bucolic Buçaco National Forest, botanical ex-libris of the region, with all its religious and military past that is breathed step by step, appears apothegically the Palace Hotel, in splendorous neo-gothic style, as the fulfilment of the most fantastical dreams of a visionary King who, like his German cousins' romantic ideals, built the most fantastic and genuine "fairy-tale royal palace in the middle of an enchanted forest".

The long tradition of the great Portuguese hospitality, signature gastronomy in the fabulous royal banqueting room, and a mythical wine cellar constituted by the world acclaimed Bussaco wines, mis-en-bouteille au château.

A unique and genuine experience to make the best dreams come true.