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Verride Palacio Santa Catarina
Lisbon, Portugal · Independent · Accessible Luxury
Rebuilt right after the 1755 earthquake, then turned into a proper palace in 1910 by the Count of Verride, who dropped a curving Parisian staircase into what had been the central courtyard. Teresa Nunes da Ponte's restoration kept the Pombaline bones, the tiled fireplaces and the coffered ceilings, then had the salvaged timber floors remade as the restaurants' dining tables. Nineteen rooms, a Relais and Chateaux flag, and a rooftop pool on the Santa Catarina hill looking straight down the Tagus toward the 25 de Abril bridge.
- 19 rooms
- Opened 2017
- Neighborhood: Chiado
- Rooms from 334 sq ft (31 m²)
- Architect: Teresa Nunes da Ponte (2009-2017 conversion and restoration)
- Interiors: Andrea Previ with Teresa Nunes da Ponte
About Verride Palacio Santa Catarina
- The palace stands beside the Miradouro de Santa Catarina, known to everyone in Lisbon as Adamastor after the stone giant from Camoes's Os Lusiadas who sits on the terrace facing the river.
- The King and Queen suites are the showpieces. One is all carved woodwork; the other has stucco, commissioned azulejo panels, and a bathtub set into the window bay over the city.
- Jorge Salavisa, one of the leading names in Portuguese dance, kept a permanent residence inside the hotel. A suite carries his name.
- Nothing of the pre-earthquake building survived 1755. What stands now is Pombaline, the rational grid-and-cage construction Lisbon adopted while rebuilding itself in the second half of the eighteenth century.
- By 1990 the palace had been reduced to the offices of a state banking institution. The conversion project began in 2009 and took until 2017.
History
There was a building on this corner of the Santa Catarina hill before 1755, but the earthquake left nothing of it. Reconstruction began soon afterwards, and what went up is Pombaline: the rational, quake-conscious construction that Lisbon adopted while rebuilding, with a plan and a structural logic you can still read in the walls. For the next century and a half the house passed through owners and uses, divided into rented floors.
In 1910 the Count of Verride bought it and made it a palace again. He installed a sweeping curved staircase of Parisian influence in what had been the central light well, and created a noble floor on the first storey, decorated eclectically in stucco, wood, azulejo and built-in furniture. That Beaux-Arts layer sitting on top of the Pombaline plan is what gives the building its double character. By 1990 the palace had come down in the world again and housed the offices of a state banking institution.
The conversion to a hotel began in 2009, tangled in a long legal dispute between public and private parties that was eventually settled by agreeing to turn the building into a hotel. Architect Teresa Nunes da Ponte led the work, researching the site with the historian Jose Sarmento de Matos. She restored the mouldings, the wrought-iron internal staircase, the ornamental ceilings and the Portuguese and Greek marble, kept the original blue-and-white azulejos in several suites, and had the salvaged timber floors remade as the restaurants' dining tables. A 1970s mansard floor and the adjacent 1970s building were rebuilt outright, and the new east facade was given narrow vertical strips of lioz stone and glass to hold the old rhythm of the openings. Interiors were done with Andrea Previ. The hotel opened in 2017 with nineteen rooms and suites, two restaurants, a rooftop bar and a pool over the river.
The setting
Santa Catarina is the hill on the western edge of old Lisbon, above the riverfront quarter of Cais do Sodre and just downhill from Chiado and Bairro Alto. The hotel's front door is metres from the Miradouro de Santa Catarina, the terrace everyone calls Adamastor after the stone giant from Camoes's epic that faces out to sea there. The view is resolutely westward: the wide Tagus, the long red span of the 25 de Abril bridge, and the Cristo Rei statue on the Almada hill beyond it, which makes this one of the city's great sunset spots and draws a younger, more local crowd than the Alfama viewpoints. Around the corner is Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo and the Bica funicular, a yellow counterweighted car that hauls up the slope from Cais do Sodre in about three minutes. Praca Luis de Camoes, the Chiado bookshops and theatres, and Bairro Alto's fado houses are all a short walk uphill.
Restaurants and bars
- SUBA Restaurant — Bar · Creative cuisine, Speakeasy concept · Fábio Alves
- The Lisbon Club 55 — Restaurant · Traditional Portuguese · Chef Fábio Alves (Executive Chef)
- Verride Sunrise Terrace — Restaurant · Contemporary, seasonal dishes
Experiences
- Sunrise Terrace viewpoint — Rooftop with direct access to a viewpoint offering 360º views over Lisbon and the Tagus River.
- Pure SPA Signature treatments — Beauty rituals and bespoke massage therapies inspired by Portuguese traditions, using premium natural products.
Amenities
- Nespresso coffee machine
- Kettle and selection of teas
- Turndown service
- Homemade sweets
- Double-glazed windows
- Lameirinho robes and sheets (superior rooms)
- Celso Lemos robes and sheets (suites)
- Aesop hygiene products
- SMEG mini fridge (Salavisa and Royal Suites)
- Valet parking
- Transfer
- Butler service
- Treatments and massages
- Tailor-made breakfast
- Pet friendly
- Room service 24h
Awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Recommended (2026)
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