With family scattered across the globe, we kept it simple — close to the airport, and close to everything that makes Portugal special. No extra three-hour drive after landing. More time actually being on holiday.
Like many people…
We hesitated. Comporta? The Algarve?… We only knew we wanted to go to Portugal — we just didn’t know where to unpack our bags. In the end, we decided on Sintra first. A good idea, as it turned out.
We were there for ten days. The house was large enough for everyone — friends flying in from Paris, our children from London and Geneva, and us from Dubai. My wife and I took the car one morning and drove to Comporta for the day. The drive was easy, the place gorgeous. But after lunch by the dunes, we both said it — *we were glad not to be staying there*.
Family trips are always the same balancing act: the younger ones want movement, people, a city not too far away; the older ones dream of greenery, silence, and time that stretches a little. Sintra offered both — the quiet of the forest, and Lisbon within reach.
At the Griffo, you get to choose what you want your holidays to be. A quiet retreat Into the Wild style if that’s your mood — the house, the garden, the hills. Or you can drive down to the coast and dine at La Nortada, a Michelin-starred restaurant facing the Atlantic.
And then, when the sun begins to set, everything stops. The blinds are lifted, conversations pause, and the waiters take a moment — with the guests — to celebrate that instant when the light turns gold.
Comporta and Sintra can’t really be compared. One is the dream of a getaway; the other, the art of living somewhere for real. We’ll go back to Comporta, surely — but as visitors. Our home for those ten days was Sintra, and we couldn’t have chosen better.
For readability, we lightly edit our guests’ words before publication, always with their approval.
— Quinta do Griffo, Guest Stories