Casa das Senhoras Rainhas

Óbidos was given as a wedding gift by King Dinis to his queen, Isabel, in 1282, and for the next several centuries it belonged to the queens of Portugal rather than the kings. That is where this hotel gets its name, and why each of its rooms is named for a queen connected to the town.

The house is inside the castle walls, classical-mannerist in style, and its restoration was recognised by the Portuguese heritage institute for retaining the original features. There are fifteen rooms, looking either into the inner courtyard and the walls themselves or out over the medieval streets.

Be careful with the categories. The Bronze Classic rooms are twelve square metres, which is small by any standard and is honestly described as suiting short stays. The Charming and Queen rooms are larger, and there is a ground-floor family suite with two bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen.

There is a terrace and garden against the castle wall, and Letraria Óbidos, a craft beer and small plates operation on the premises, with Portuguese beers, ciders, wines and kombucha and a view of the ramparts. Breakfast is a buffet with hot dishes. The hotel is Biosphere certified and part of Unlock Hotels.

The case for staying inside the walls is the same everywhere: Óbidos takes several thousand day visitors, and once the last coach has gone the town becomes a small walled village with almost nobody in it. The walls can be walked, without railings, which is exhilarating and not for anyone uneasy with heights.

Lisbon is around an hour, Nazaré and its winter waves about forty minutes, and the monasteries at Alcobaça and Batalha are close.