Trip report: Ritz Carlton Penha Longa, Portugal
 

Our second hotel in Portugal was the Ritz Carlton Penha Longa. It was on my list for a long time so I looked really forward to it.

The hotel is not part of Virtuoso, but part of FHR with a 85 € credit as benefit. You can also book through RC Stars but without the credit. I booked an Executive Suite through FHR :-) for 5 nights at the beginning of May. The price was 330,00 € per night which was really reasonable.

We arrived at the gate and were greated by the guard. He explained us the way to the main entrance. At the main entrance we were greated by a doorman and another member of staff. We got some cool towels and a tea. For check-in we were directly brought to our suite.

Nice decoration in the hallway:
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The suite in the golf-wing had 90sqm and was nicely furnished. We had a guest toilet, a sitting room with a big flat screen, an office-area and the bedroom.

entrance:
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second bathroom:
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living room:
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closet:
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bedrom:
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The bathroom had 2 sinks, a tub, a good szized shower and a seperated toilet with bidet.

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We also had a balcony which was furnished with a sun chair and a sofa.

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The view went through the golf-course and some parts of the old monastry. We could also see the 2 outdoor pools, which lokked really nice but we coudn´t use them as it was too cold. We used the indoor pool with jacuzzi, which was OK.

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Breakfast was pretty good with some nice choices. One morning we weren´t able to catch a table at the first time, as so many congress-guests were in the house. Of course I said some words about it, I´m fortunally not used to such issues. Next morning they did better, they used a second room for the congress-guests.

We ate at the 4 restaurants. First evening we tried the B Lounge. It´s the hotel-bar were we had some really good cocktails through our stay. The food-menu offered mainly burger. It was great, that they also had some vegetarian and fish burgers. The burger were good.

Second restaurant was the Il Mercato with Itlian cuisine. Food was good, we had pasta, fish and pizza. Pizza was pretty good but I had much better. Next time I would take something else.

Third restaurant was Arola with tappas-cuisine. It´s overseen by Sergi Arola, which doesn´t mean much to me. We opted for the Arola Discovery, the 9 course tasting menu. It wasn´t a problem to get it without meat. Food was very good, we were really happy with our meal. Highly recommended.

At the last evening we ate at Midori, the Japaneese restaurant. I opted for the 36 pieces Chefs selection of sashimi and sushi. What I got was disappointing, it was mainly tuna and halibut sushi/ sashimi – totally boring! My wife had some tempura and Nigiri, which was also nothing special. Food din´t came at the same time. I woudn´t eat here again. It was the weakest restaurant.

I would stay at the Penha Longa Resort again, we really enyojed our stay. Service and hardware were good, with excemption of the many congress-guests I had no issues.

Thanks for your detailed trip report, we have stayed there a few years ago, it's a beautiful resort.

As we have many happy memories, we would love to stay there again in our future too. ^

Thanks! Hope also it wasn´t my last stay:)

When did you stay? Rates seem very reasonable.

Can you explain what you mean by congress-guests?

We stayed beginning of May. There was some congress from a bank.

Interesting to see the photo of the second pool. This was just being built during our one-week stay last July, and we were told that it was to be for adults only (let's hope!). I appreciate you didn't use the pools during your stay, but do you know if this is being enforced?

I didn´t see any signs, but at the 2nd day it was closed because of some construction work. In general during our stay more or less no children were present. I guess it´s different in summer.

Unfortunately yes :rolleyes: