# The Portuguese word "pousada" sounds like the name of a bad dance you end up doing one late, drunken night on holiday. In fact it means "resting place" and denotes a collection of gourmet historic hotels across the country. Not every hotel can call itself a pousada. Those that qualify were once castles, fortresses, convents, palaces and medieval town houses, and have been picked for their phenomenal settings and architectural significance.

For you, it means the chance to stay somewhere cultural beyond the uniform whitewashed blocks that typify package-tour Portugal. In a pousada you can sleep - and eat - like royalty, and come back with photos that would make the paparazzi cry.

The snag? There are more than 40 to choose from. And your week off work is too precious to waste on anything less than the best. So we've driven the length of Portugal (returning with the petrol receipts to prove it) to bring you the six brightest jewels in the corona.

POUSADA DE NOSSA SENHORA DA OLIVEIRA, GUIMARAES

In the northernmost region of Portugal, the town of Guimarães is in the history books as the birthplace of Portugal and its first king, Alfonso Henriques, who created the first Portuguese court there in the 12th century.
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In a prime position on Largo da Oliveira, the beautifully preserved main square, stands this charming pousada, its facade disguising its origins as a row of narrow houses. During the week the six simple suites and 10 rustic en suite bedrooms serve businessmen, here to trade in textiles, for which the town is known. At the weekend, out-of-towners come for the music festivals.

Highly polished floors and worn leather furniture maximise comfort, and the restaurant, opening onto the square and beautifully floodlit at night, serves hearty portions. Walk them off around town - a sightseer's delight.

Book it: Doubles from £97; call 00 35 1 253 514157.

POUSADA DE CASTELO, OBIDOS

As wedding presents go, it would be hard to beat Obidos - the gift bestowed by King Dinis upon Isabel of Aragon in celebration of their wedding in 1282. It remains a stunner, with whitewashed houses and cobbled streets encircled by 14th-century castle walls leading to this magnificent pousada in the castle.

A favourite of writer Graham Greene, it was one of the first to be renovated by its new owners, the Pestana hotel group. Three split-level suites with four-poster beds and arrow-slit windows occupy the towers, reached by perilously narrow walkways around the top of the inner courtyard - don't overdo it on the local Quintas das Cerejeiras wine. There are six more modern standard rooms in the main part of the castle, which scarcely reduce the list of those desperate to check in.

The restaurant is a delight, with a view onto the fields of corn and rye that have produced the ingredients for the bread on your table. The kitchen delivers regional favourites with contemporary finesse - a black sausage of rice fried in olive oil, served with potatoes and oriental flavours was unforgettable - and the team of clued-up staff completes the unique experience.

Book it: Doubles from £144; call 00 35 1 262 955080.

POUSADA DE SANTA MARIA, MARVAO

Encircled by 13th-century walls, the whitewashed hamlet of Marvão is known locally as the "eagle's nest", straddling the crest of a rock almost 1,000m above sea level, as if defying gravity. You can see it from afar as you wind your way upwards, alternately glimpsing Spain, then Portugal, as the road twists ahead.

This is the kind of fairy-tale place where novels are finished and romances started. Unsurprisingly it is a favourite destination among honeymooners - you don't need more than each other, and perhaps a bottle of chilled local white wine, when you can sit on your balcony looking out over the beautiful houses of Marvão and, beyond, a landscape studded with oak and chestnut trees, stretching into infinity.

Honed from a row of the narrow medieval houses that line the tiny streets, the pousada comprises 28 bedrooms, simply decorated and filled with the painted regional furniture of the Alentejo. The best rooms have mountain views but others look out over the alleyways of the town.

The regional menu focuses on traditional rustic ingredients - chestnuts, pumpkin, beans, rabbit and kid all feature prominently. It's typical of the rustic charm of the place, giving you an insight into a world impervious to change.

Book it: Doubles from £97; call 00 35 1 245 993201.
POUSADA DA RAINHA SANTA ISABEL, ESTREMOZ

While this is a hotel, its setting, within a 14th-century castle, makes you feel you are master or mistress of your own home. Many of the antiques are original pieces from the castle (built for Isabel of Aragon by - you guessed it - her doting husband King Dinis), and the pink-and-white marble was quarried from under the town. History buffs might like to note that the room in which the sanctified queen died functions as a 600-year-old shrine.

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On a spree? Ask for the Nuptial Suite, which centres on an intricately carved wooden four-poster bed. Even the standard rooms are perfectly comfortable, and the public areas, such as the bar, are studies in elegance, with wonderful views down across the well-preserved town of Estremoz below. The scene seems unchanged for centuries, although a glimpsed corner of the swimming pool hints at the modern comforts on offer.

The rather formal vaulted dining room serves food for the adventurous - diners have praised the local black pig with a pig's ear carpaccio and coriander sauce. According to reports, the menu will be more balanced when the open kitchen is finished.

Venture forth and you'll find shops filled with the red earthenware figurines for which Estremoz is famous. There's a busy Saturday market, and slightly further afield lies the white marble town of Borba, noted for its wine.

Book it: Doubles from £140; call 00 35 1 268 332075.

POUSADA DE VILA POUCA DA BEIRA, BEIRA

Made by hand from the milk of ewes grazing in the surrounding mountains, Portugal's finest cheese has helped put this place on the gastro-trail: Queijo de Serra Estrela is strong, unctuous and served by the spoonful from a hole cut in the top.

There are other attractions: in winter, you can ski on Portugal's only piste, returning to warm yourself by the ancient stone fireplaces that characterise this late-18th-century convent. In summer, there are walks beside mountain rivers full of gasping trout; if that sounds too active, laze in the shade of the convent cloisters or take a dip in the cool of the swimming pool.

While peace and relaxation inform the pousada, there are tennis courts, games rooms, playgrounds and pools for children, even a chapel for weddings. On the history trail, guests head for Belmonte and the 13th-century castle - birthplace of explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral, who "found" Brazil. Otherwise, make the most of the pousada, atmospherically hung with old tapestries and paintings, savouring great food by chef Isabel Dias (we liked salt cod in a corn bread crust and the duck pie), and suites so lovely the Portuguese president stops by when he can.

Book it: Doubles from £120; call 00 35 1 238 670080.

POUSADA DE CASTELO, PALMELA

By turns Moorish fortress, medieval castle, monastery for the Order of Santiago and now pousada, this dramatic edifice commands the surrounding hills of the Serra da Arrábida. The views alone justify the price of a night's stay - down over the rice-growing Sado estuary region on one side, and across to the hills of Lisbon and the Tagus River on the other.

It is one of the most sophisticated of our selected six, which helps explain its popularity among weekenders from Lisbon. Wifi and cable TV grace very contemporary spaces, recently renovated by a Brazilian interior designer. Cushions are propped just so on the beds and the tiled bathrooms are luxurious where you might have expected more functional.

Downstairs, wisteria winds itself around the arches of the cloisters, which have been reconfigured as a light-filled dining area. Here you can try the Muscatel wine that has helped make this area so popular. And make sure you order some of the Azeitão cheese made from the milk of the sheep that graze in the hills.

If you want bright lights, Lisbon is a 45-minute drive away. If you'd rather see some nature, meander along the Sado estuary by boat and watch dolphins play.

Book it: Doubles from £127; call 00 35 1 21 235 1226