Six Senses if the valley is the holiday and you want ten treatment rooms, two pools and a kitchen that could hold you for four nights. Quinta Nova if you want eleven rooms on a working estate at the end of a steep private road, and would trade the spa for the silence.
The spa oneThe place to go when the Douro is the holiday and the spa is the reason, not a day trip from Porto.
€€€€From about €750 a night
Choose Six Senses Douro Valley if
The catch
Rates are the highest in this edit and reviews question value at peak, with a daily service charge added to the bill.
The hideawayThe Douro hideaway for people who want the vineyard, the winery and the silence, and are happy to be a long way from anywhere else.
€€From about €270 a night
Choose Quinta Nova Winery House if
The catch
It is isolated: Terraçu's is the only dinner without driving narrow roads in the dark, and guest opinion on it is mixed for the price.
Six Senses Douro ValleyQuinta Nova Winery House
Six Senses Douro Valley
Quinta Nova Winery House
The verdict
Six Senses if the valley is the holiday and you want ten treatment rooms, two pools and a kitchen that could hold you for four nights. Quinta Nova if you want eleven rooms on a working estate at the end of a steep private road, and would trade the spa for the silence.
Questions people ask
Six Senses if the valley is the holiday and you want ten treatment rooms, two pools and a kitchen that could hold you for four nights. Quinta Nova if you want eleven rooms on a working estate at the end of a steep private road, and would trade the spa for the silence.
Go for two or three nights with the spa and the vineyards as the point, ideally in May, June or the September and October harvest. Sleep in a river-facing suite and budget for the transfer. A self-contained wine-country resort where the spa and the kitchen are the holiday and Porto is a day away. It is the biggest spend in this edit and the least connected to the city, and that is exactly what it is for.
It has indoor and outdoor pools. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
If your Douro trip is about the wine and the view rather than the town, this is the estate to base yourself on. Go by train, book the manor house and treat dinner as part of the stay rather than the reason for it. The most remote address in this edit and the one least about Porto: a working estate where the vineyard, the winery and the river bend are the whole point. Quiet, personal and traditional rather than polished.
It has an outdoor pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.