Fodor's Expert Review Pousada da Rainha Santa Isabel

If there's one pousada in all of Portugal that you splurge on, this should be it; dubbed the "museum of all pousadas," this hotel is housed in the medieval Castelo de Estremoz. Each room is different, some with massive four-poster canopy beds and all of them decorated with lavish 17th- and 18th-century antique furnishings that comprise a world-class collection in their own right. The ornate dining room seats 260, amid stone pillars and high arched porticos adorned with chandeliers. From the floor-to-ceiling windows behind velvet curtains in the bar area, or outside on the sprawling terrace with its swimming pool, you have a view across Estremoz below and out across what was once the king of the castle's domain. Another architectural highlight is the soaring, blue-and-white azulejo-bedecked stairway leading from reception to the second floor. The restaurant's emphasis is on traditional Alentejo dishes like perdiz caçador (partridge in red wine).