Popular Gouvaes Do Douro 4-star Hotels

This was a luxury one-night stay during our two-week Interrailing holiday. It’s pretty expensive - a great bedroom with an awesome view, but for some reason you have to take your nespresso pods to a communal machine to make coffee (which wasn’t explained to us at check in). Outdoor Tim’s Terrace bar was a fab place to sit and read and the oddly-shaped swimming pool was nice. The winery tour was underwhelming, easily bettered by one we recently did near Stroud (Woodchester) because there really isn’t that much to see. Our guide, Patricia, was enthusiastic and knowledgable with excellent English. Food at dinner was exceptionally good, and the many inexperienced staff coped ok. On another guest’s recommendation we opted for the accompanying mid-range wine flight - and were surprised to have four tiny glasses poured before the meal had even arrived. Our request for a small top up of white to accompany our starter was met with incredulity. At €26 each, given the wine only came from next door, this felt super costly. Breakfast was every bit as delicious as we’d hoped for. For some reason the hotel is reluctant to assist guests with station pick up, and I don’t know why. Arriving by train into Pinhao must be routine, but emails beforehand suggested we don’t bother and just drive. To be fair, reception did willingly book a return taxi. I suspect the local taxis are run as a cartel - we saw Mr Big in action “pirata, pirata” - and Quinta de la Rossa is not in his good books. So look, we had a great time overall, it was a bit of luxury and we don’t regret going. But it was a very, very expensive stay, and at that price I’d hoped for perfection, which we didn’t get.