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Torel Saboaria
Porto, Portugal · Torel · Accessible Luxury
The courtyard behind these two seventeenth-century houses on Rua do Bonjardim once belonged to the Saboaria do Bolhão, the factory a Galician named Vítor Maria founded in 1881 and made famous with Offenbach, the blue and white bar soap that scrubbed Portuguese laundry for generations. Three friends from Jerusalem looked at more than a hundred Porto buildings before they chose these two, and opened 28 apartments here in December 2022. Rooms are named for what goes into soap: Coco, Lavanda, Rosa Mosqueta, Baunilha. The restaurant is Luffa and the spa works with oils from the Lousã hills.
- 28 rooms
- Opened 2022
- Architect: Miguel Nogueira, NN Arquitetura
- Interiors: NANO Design
About Torel Saboaria
- The two houses kept making and storing soap through every change of ownership, right up to the point the business folded and both were left to rot.
- The decorative scheme leans on a 1930s Portuguese film, Aldeia da Roupa Branca, a comedy set among washerwomen, which is where the linen and terracotta come from.
- The spa sits in a former annexe of the soap works and treats with olive oil and essential oils drawn from aromatic plants of the Serra da Lousã.
- A seven-metre cabinet in the lounge holds ceramics, jewellery and organic beauty products, every piece of it by a Portuguese maker.
History
Two adjoining seventeenth-century houses at Rua do Bonjardim 564 had fallen into disrepair when three friends from Jerusalem, Uri Maeir, Hillel Gassenbauer and Amir Madeson, found them in 2018 after looking at more than a hundred buildings in Porto. Their company TAMAR restored the pair and opened the hotel in December 2022 as its second Porto project, after Laranjais on Rua do Almada.
The name came with the ground. The yard behind the two houses had served as an annexe of the Saboaria do Bolhão, the soap works founded in 1881 by the Galician entrepreneur Vítor Maria Martins and one of the most important in the country, known above all for Offenbach, the blue and white bar soap that Portuguese households used for laundry. Even after the business changed hands repeatedly the buildings stayed tied to soap, making and storing it, until the company folded. The architecture, by Miguel Nogueira of NN Arquitetura, kept the old carpentry and the brown-green of the doors, and the mosaic underfoot in the reception, the bathrooms and the lift. The hotel has 28 apartments of 30 to 75 square metres across three floors, a garden with a heated outdoor pool, and a spa in the old factory annexe. In 2025 the property joined Torel Boutiques, which spent around 200,000 euros on a refresh, brought in the Porto studio NANO Design for interiors drawing on soap craft and the 1930s film Aldeia da Roupa Branca, and opened Luffa, a creative Portuguese restaurant. Rooms are named for soap ingredients: Coco, Rosa Mosqueta, Lavanda, Baunilha, with each floor built around a different family of scents.
The setting
Rua do Bonjardim is one of the long working streets of central Porto, running north from the Aliados, and the hotel is within walking distance of both the Bolhão market, which gave the old soap works its name, and Trindade station. The facade is deliberately unassuming; the quiet is behind it, in the courtyard garden. Aliados, São Bento and Rua de Santa Catarina are all a few minutes away on foot.
Restaurants and bars
- Luffa Restaurant — Restaurant · comfort cuisine with refined techniques, fusion of flavors
Experiences
- Calla Wellness & Spa — Spa set in the garden with a Turkish bath and a heated outdoor pool.
Amenities
- Kitchenette in each accommodation
- Air conditioning
- Wi-Fi
- Laundry and dry-cleaning services
- Balconies with views
- Free Wi-fi
- Laundry and dry-cleaning
- Reception and room service round-the-clock
- Early check-in or late check-out on request
- Special packages and promotions
- Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dining on request
- 24 Hours Check-in
Awards
- MICHELIN One Key (2026)
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