Hi,

I'd like to visit a coastal town in Portugal in mid August '05 for my honeymoon.

I'd love to find a luxury hotel (splurging is ok) that is small, NOT family-oriented in a town with awesome beaches (less crowded the better, but I know it's August) and great restaurants and local life.

Is this too hard of a request?

If not, please share your expertise with me.

Thanks!

p.s. if you know of another country in Europe that would fit the bill, let me know.

Well the algrave has beaches and nighlife, seems to be a younger party area especially lagos but their are smaller towns along the coast like selema(spelling??).

try the following website: http://www.pousadasofportugal.com/portugal.html

portugal has a unique thing in europe which are the state owned "pousadas". they are renewed old monasteries, old houses, old palaces, etc that have been acquired by the state, renewed and transformed in hotels. it is the BEST and the finest you can get, usually are very well located and it is just the perfect atmosphere for an honeymoon.

Stay in the west of the Algarve. There are a number of resorts but I think they revolve around golf there. The rest of the Algarve is horribly crowded in August.

Have you thought about Sardinia? The Costa Smeralda? There are a lot of luxury hotels there and it is not too family oriented.
Cheers and congratulations,
Jan

For luxury hotel suggestions, you might try looking at Leading Hotels of the World (lhw.com) or Small Luxury Hotels (slh.com). Hotels here are upscale and I have always been happy with hotels I have stayed at which are members of these groups. These are primarily non-chain hotels (i.e., no Four Seasons or Ritz-Carltons).

Design Hotels is another group to consider, some hotels are not as luxurious as LHW or SLH, the emphasis is more on design. However, it is worth a look as they would most definitely not be family oriented hotels, they tend to be smaller with no large resort facilities. Take a look at http://www.designhotels.com/

I agree the Sardinia might be a better choice, should be less crowded that Portugal in August, and the Costa S'esmerelda is lovely and fairly exclusive.

Try the Sheraton Algarve Hotel or the Pine Cliffs Residences in Albufeira. They are very luxury (and expensive). We just came back from Portugal and didn't find it that crowded at all - but then again, we like the crowds.

Thanks for the suggestions!!

As for Sardinia, I thought most people avoid Italy during the month of August due to crowds, shops are closed for holiday, etc.?

I guess Sardinia is different??