Six Senses Douro Valley

First visit to a Sixth Senses resort and it was such a treat and memorable stay. Nestled in the Douro Valley, it sits on a lovely estate of a historical stately manor house. Rooms are tastefully low key in dark wood and our suite faced the Douro which offered rich colors of late fall, misty mornings and golden dusk of vine covered terraces. We had breakfast and dinner at the Vale de Abraao restaurant and the food was good. Unfortunately our eggs service one morning took some time when the house was very full. Tapas dinner at the Wine Library and Terrace was also delicious. We had drinks on two evenings at the bar and played pool. The resort offers daily activities including forest walking, tree climbing, yoga, scent making amongst others. The 2 highlights of the resort must be the indoor pool and spa. The spa offers 6 different saunas and sumptuous face and body treatments with very skilled therapists. We thoroughly enjoyed the massages! The fitness centre was well equipped and overlooks the pool. My favourite memory will always be the 2 resident dogs, Agua and Foxey. Well loved by staff and guests. Finally the delightful staff of the resort were warm and friendly, service was tiptop.

Beautiful hotel with great service and many options for activities. it earned its five stars, and the only negative I could say is that the dinner service was a little bit elongated for my taste probably not as high quality in terms of food. Very good food, but not the level of experience that one has at the hotel as a guest.

A disappointing stay that capped off with sunglasses being removed from the room while we were at dinner the last night. The staff reported no discovery of them when asked. Take the warning at check-in to use the safe seriously. If you go, use the safe at all times, for anything you do not want walking away. One of the suites was not worth any additional charge for more room. There are two suites, and one overlooks the hotel dining patio which is in an alcove in the building, so has limited views. The shades can rarely be opened because there is no privacy. The “balcony” barely fits a tiny table and chairs. There are people right below all day and at night, there are people and music until 11:30 pm. The night I called and asked when the music would be off, they hung up. It felt very claustrophobic and not at all worth an additional price. The upside of the hotel is beautiful views from the patios/common areas and the food was very good. There is a delicious breakfast that is abundant, and can be taken inside or out. If interested in wine, the hotel wine shop is overpriced, and the many quintas, plus the wine shop we visited in town had much lower prices and shipping. The Som at the Chefs Table experience is questionable as it was a pairing and despite different meals for vegetarian and regular, he served the same “wine pairings” throughout - one of which was a beer. There was also a room key for a wine service in the bar, that didn’t work. If you go with low expectations overall, you may be satisfied with the stay. If you are expecting a luxury experience, this is not the place.

This place is like a fairy tale setting in the Douro Valley, along the river and nestled against some terraced vineyards (which are everywhere). Long stone drive to the property and plenty of staff to help you with your things. We were greeted and then given a tour of the property. The view in either direction along the valley is striking. We were in the fall and the leaves were changing, and to us it seemed the perfect time to be here. The green grasses along the vineyards and the orange, red and yellow of the leaves of the vines was just beautiful. There was some harvesting of olives going on around, so we saw plenty of trees with tarps underneath with the olives being shaken from the trees. Our room was on a top floor with a view of the river and the valley; a particularly comfortable bed and pillows. All the modern amenities including complete control of lighting, a large and well designed shower and lots of closet space. Free bottles of juices, sodas, and a nice Tawny Port! Loved that with the chocolates. The room was great; the restaurant, bar, and spa were better. This is a complete package. We had wonderful meals both in the main dining room and the bar seating, got a great martini from the bar (as well as Ports), and the spa is so over the top it should be separately rated. A selection of pools, saunas, steam, and water temperature choices, all of which were perfect. I particularly liked the aromatherapy sauna. It wasn't crowded and felt very invigorating and relaxing at the same time. I did get a massage at the spa also. Deep tissue for 60 minutes and very, very good. You can walk to local vineyards and wineries along nearly untraveled paths. Some of the local wineries are Port producers and very good as well. The staff at Six Senses are just wonderful. People seem genuinely friendly and attentive without being pandering. We thought this was the highlight of our Portugal trip and would absolutely love to return.