Pousada Convento de Évora

The Convento dos Lóios was built in the 15th century on the remains of a medieval castle, in the middle of what is now a UNESCO World Heritage city. Its church, São João Evangelista, stands alongside. The Cadaval Palace is next door. And directly opposite the entrance is the Roman Temple of Diana, second century, fourteen Corinthian columns still standing, which you can see from parts of the hotel.

There is no better-placed building in Évora, and that is the argument for staying here.

The convent was damaged by fire and again by the 1755 earthquake, rebuilt, and eventually converted into a pousada. The conversion did what the building allowed: the guest rooms are the monks' former cells, modernised but still cells, with the proportions that implies. The Michelin Guide describes them as modest, and that is fair. The public spaces are the opposite: vaulted corridors, a Gothic cloister where the restaurant sets its tables, painted ceilings, and the D. João V suite covered in frescoes.

There is a swimming pool in the courtyard, which is an unlikely thing to find inside a 15th-century convent in the middle of a walled city, and very welcome in August.

Be clear on the trade. If you want a large contemporary room with a marble bathroom, this is not it, and the properties outside the walls will serve you better for the money. If you want to wake up in a monastic cell with the Temple of Diana across the square and the cathedral five minutes away, nothing else in the Alentejo comes close.

It is part of the Pousadas de Portugal group and a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World.