Casa na Areia

Casa na Areia sits in a gated development at Carvalhal, on the stretch of coast between Comporta and Melides where the sand runs for kilometres with almost nothing built on it. Four bedrooms, seven bathrooms, twelve guests — a generous bathroom count for the size, which tells you how the house is meant to be used.

The pool is heated and private, and the architecture is the low, pale, horizontal kind that Comporta has made its own. An indoor fireplace handles the evenings; a BBQ grill handles most of the dinners.

Carvalhal's beaches are the reason to be here — Praia do Carvalhal and Praia do Pego are a short drive, both wide and both quiet outside August. The beach restaurants along this coast are among the best in Portugal and none of them look like it. Being gated means the house is easy to leave and easy to come back to.