Hotel Rural Solar Dos Marcos

An unexpected find in NE Portugal. Comfortable, relaxed, local food, lovely garden. If you want minimalist contemporary this is not for you. Mario, our host was delightful. The only grumble was that the outdoor pool was not available at the end of September. It was 30 degrees outside!

Historic building tastefully renovated. Mario and staff could not be more helpful. Good to see local gifts available. Portuguese food including local jams and jellies. Lovely red wine from nearby village as house carafe.

We have been in Solar Dos Marcos for two nights. Arriving to Bemposta is easy with the TomTom, and once there it´s very easy to find Solar dos Marcos. It´s an old big house that belonged to the bishop; it has a pretty garden with a little pool. Our room was big and clean, and had a balcony facing the garden. The staff were very very polite. We were the only guests. The breakfast is complete and enough; they cook their own jams (abobora (pumpkin) and nut was my favourite). We had a dinner too, and the meals were really goods and tasty. We choose this hotel as a "headquarters" for byrdwatching activities; there are thousands of byrds all around this towns and villages; we went to Miranda do Douro for byrdwatching with the amazing Pedro of "douropulacanhada.com", who was a more than perfect guide and host, he was just a friend. But indeed, it´s quite far away from Miranda. I had the sensation of being in a new place wich is starting, and there are details that they should polish, comfort details I mean, for deserving to be a 4 stars hotel.