We have lost ourselves among the profusely cobbled streets —so typical of Portugal— of the freguesia of Vitória, right in the centre of Porto, just a stone’s throw from Avenida dos Aliados and the historic centre that UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. We walk down Rua do Conde de Vizela and, after crossing Rua da Fábrica and entering Rua de Avis, we come across the pastel-pink façade of a historic building that moves from Neoclassical historicism towards an emerging Modernism. To reach its entrance, we must walk along Rua de Avis as far as Praça D. Filipa de Lencastre. We arrive at the Hotel Infante Sagres. Let us enter its history.
It was Commander Delfin Ferreira who commissioned the construction of the building in the 1940s, entrusting the project to architect Rogério de Azevedo. Construction was completed in 1945, although the hotel would not open its doors until 1951. As we have said, it is an example of the transition to Modernism in Portuguese architecture, a style that combines the solidity of the classical with formal lightness and simplicity. In this way, the Infante Sagres became, perhaps without intending to, the first luxury hotel in the city.
The hotel’s name pays tribute to Infante Dom Henrique, one of the Portuguese navigators who played a leading role in the historical period, between the 15th and 17th centuries, in which European navigators —mainly Portuguese and Spanish— explored the world by sea and subsequently established trade routes and contacts between continents that until then had remained isolated from one another. Dom Henrique founded his school of navigation in Sagres, which earned him the name Infante of Sagres. Hence the hotel’s name.
During its early years, as befitted the city’s quintessential luxury hotel, the Infante Sagres became a meeting place for the city’s elite. And throughout its history, its salons welcomed personalities such as the King and Queen of Norway, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Bob Dylan, Catherine Deneuve, Prince Edward of England and John Malkovich.
The most important renovation of the Hotel Infante Sagres was only carried out in 2024, when the local interior design and architecture studio Nano Design completed the refurbishment of the 85 rooms and suites, the façade, the lobby, the reception and the common areas. The interior design project, in fact, drew its general inspiration from the Age of Discovery —that historical period between the 15th and 17th centuries to which we have referred— and, in particular, from the epic poem by Luís Vaz de Camões known as Os Lusíadas. Francisca Navio, founder of Nano Design, explained in statements to The Portugal News that those sources of inspiration allowed her “to explore the history of Portugal and revive the soul of the hotel, enhancing the beauty of the existing architecture of what was the first five-star hotel in Porto”.
The result is a series of spaces where noble materials such as velvet, wood, porcelain and marble coexist with carefully preserved period details. Painted walls, plasterwork and coffered ceilings make us feel immersed in a kind of dream world, while the decorations move away from the sober and simple style of the façade and take us towards a sumptuousness that, however, never entirely loses its lightness. Special mention must be made of what we find when we venture up the red carpet and past the elaborate ironwork of the staircase balustrade: a magnificent restored stained-glass window, by Ricardo Leone, a true feast for the eyes and for the heart, if that is indeed where emotions reside.
The 85 rooms and suites were individually decorated, each inspired by an episode from Camões’s poem. The original lifts, with small upholstered sofas inside, have never ceased operating. And on the rooftop, a small swimming pool with a terrace offers a peaceful retreat with views over the rooftops of Porto.
Today, the Hotel Infante Sagres is part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection and, since 2024, has been integrated into Hospes Hotel Group, which in turn belongs to the Asian investment fund Gaw Capital. However, according to the latest reports, its situation changed in December 2025, when the French group Experimental (in partnership with Extendam) acquired the hotel.
Sources: Hotel Infante Sagres, Wikipedia, The Portugal News, Condé Nast Traveler.
Images: Hotel Infante Sagres.
