Every hotel has its own life and its own secrets and Urgeiriça doesn't escape this rule. The story is extraordinary. In 1930, Charles Harbord, a superior officer in the English army, bought a large property where he ordered a mansion to be built. After 5 years he transformed the mansion into luxury Holiday accommodation which he named "English Hotel Urgeiriça". The hotel got famous and continues to grow. Some time later, Mrs Phyllis Graham, an English resident in Porto and a frequent client at the hotel, became Charles Harbord's partner.
Some illustrious people stayed at the hotel, including the French journalist and writer Christine Garnier, author of the book "Holidays with Salazar". Marechal Craveiro Lopes, Italy's King Humberto, Sá Carneiro the Portuguese Prime Minister, Actor João Villaret, Former UK Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and his wife Clarisse who were on Honeymoon and Sir Winston Churchill's niece are among the many visitors to the hotel. Arriving at Urgeiriça is like being transported in a time machine, to a distant past, to one of those palaces that are only part of our most beautiful child hood dreams, where we would turn into princes and princesses. A paradisiacal retreat where serenity reigns and adding colour turns it into a perfumed painting of love and life.
At Urgeiriça Hotel, every sun rise is different. From there you can catch a glimpse of a dense forest, with dazzling scenery of vegetation. Visiting Urgeiriça Hotel is always a magnificent experience. It's beautiful, romantic English and French gardens, give you the opportunity of pleasant walks in quite an involving atmosphere.
It has 83 rooms, 2 suites and 5 chalets, all different and decorated by the architect Luis Possolo that maintained it's original style. It has air-conditioning, satellite TV, telephone and radio. The 5 chalets have different names that identify them in an intuitive way and according to preferences and situation of the guests. For newly weds Camelias is the more adequate one. For families, Vinha chalet, Sobreiro, Mimosa and Oliveira are very inviting retreats located in between the hotel's gardens. A typical English bar and royal restaurant are places indicated for meetings and fraternization of our guests, that in a calm surrounding can appreciate a range of Portuguese and International cuisine and cocktails made to perfection. This cuisine was declared a cultural inheritance at a national level. The hotel has TV rooms, a drawing room and games room. It also has a tennis court, swimming pools, a solarium and a children's recreational park. The fireplace that's always lit, turns your stay that more pleasurable.
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