Fodor's Expert Review Palace Hotel do Bussaco

Designed as a royal hunting lodge and set in a 250-acre forest, this bizarrely ornate hotel is an architectural hodgepodge with elements that run the gamut from neo-Gothic to early Walt Disney. There's an elevator, but who can resist walking up the grand, red-carpeted stairway, its walls lined with azulejo panels, and past the suit of armor? Guest rooms are large, high-ceilinged, and luxuriously furnished with antiques. It's worth the steep price at the Mesa Real ("Royal Table") restaurant just to sit at a finely laid table and take in the carved-wood ceiling, inlaid hardwood floors, and Manueline windows. An elegantly prepared leitão (suckling pig) perfectly complements the Buçaco wines stored in the hotel's immense cellars.