Hotel Quinta do Lago has been rated as one of the best 500 hotels in the world, according to the American Travel and Leisure magazine. This Portuguese five-star hotel, which spreads over an area of 2,000 hectares of hills and pine-woods, in the Ria Formosa estuary, was ranked above other iconic hotels, such as the Mount Julie Conrad in Ireland or the Hotel Savoy in Italy.

With a score of 82.15, the Quinta do Lago Hotel was considered the best in Portugal and the only one in the Algarve to make it into the top 500. The Quinta do Lago resort opened in 1970 when tourism investor Andre Jordan recognised that the Algarve was about to become a gold-mine. Quinta do Lago, then a 550 hectare-site, had been in the ownership of the Pinto de Magalhaes family for more then three centuries. After some initial difficulties, Jordan chose an old farm-house, known today as Casa Velha, as the base for his project.

The first master-plan was drawn by a team of Portuguese architects and engineers, directed by Pedro Vasconcellos and Luis Nobre Guedes. The philosophy of Quinta do Lago has always been to offer clients the option of privacy, tranquillity and seclusion when they required it and an active social and sporting life combined with a wide range of leisure facilities.

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