Can anyone recommend a nice hotel in this town?

Hi rholt,
Mertola is a very small town. There may be something there, but I don´t know about anything. I remember seeing some small guest house type places, but nothing that looked like a hotel.

One place about 15 km outside is Estalagem Sao Domingos http://www.hotelsaodomingos.com/

Unless there´s a special reason you want to stay in Mertola (it´s on the river, pretty setting, has a few little historical museums), you might want to consider Beja. I like the pousada there very much and it´s got a better selection of restaurants, and commerce generally.

I don't know - Lonley Planet makes it sound like a very interesting little town with some nice sites.

You're right, in my opinion, it's an interesting little town. But I think that after a few hours to visit the different small museums (one visigothic, one moorish, one roman, and a few others, I believe, all of which are in old buildings around town), and maybe a walk up to the castle and then across the bridge, that's about it. I'm not trying to be discouraging, because that may be just what you're looking for, a quiet place to relax for a bit.

I've found a list of accommodations in and around the town on the town's official website. There are some places to stay right there, they are small guest house type places (hope the link works, if not start at the municipality's home page and go from there -- http://www.cm-mertola.pt/cm-mertola/default.html):

Accommodations in Mertola: http://www.cm-mertola.pt/cm-mertola/...le=amarelo.css

As a base for exploring the Alentejo, it's not the best, given its very southern location. But as a place to stay in transit on the way north or south, it is a pretty place. LR

thanks for the good input.

If you are in the area, try to go over to the Alentejo coast.

We found the area around Vila Nova de Milfontes to be lovely. In fact, we spent several days there.

Look through the Rough Guide to Portugal and you will find suggestions of accomodations in Mertola. In fact, this guide gives quite a bit of information about the town and area. We find the Rough Guide very helpful.

lreynold1 has been to Portugal many times and really knows her stuff.

Have a wonderful trip.