Vermelho Hotel Melides

Christian Louboutin has been coming to this part of the Alentejo since the 1980s. He found Melides after a stay in Comporta, restored a fisherman's shack there, and returned each June to work on his winter collections. Vermelho is his first hotel, and by his own account he only knows how to design houses, which is roughly what he has done.

The name means red. The sky-blue facade carries ceramics by the sculptor Giuseppe Ducrot. Inside, the architect Madalena Caiado worked in whitewashed forms and courtyards, and the decoration was handled with the antique dealer Patricia Medina and Carolina Irving, drawing on Portuguese, Moroccan, Spanish and Egyptian references without any of it becoming a theme.

The craft is the substance rather than the styling. The Fábrica de Azulejos de Azeitão made custom tiles for the bedrooms and the deep red floors using methods several centuries old. The blown-glass chandeliers in the reception hall, green and gold, are by Klove Studio in India. There are hand-painted murals and frescoes throughout, marble and wooden floors, and antiques and artworks pulled from Louboutin's own collection. As he put it, the project let him empty a storage unit he had been filling for years.

Thirteen rooms over three floors, each different: a canopy bed in one, a Moorish-looking bathtub in another. The garden was designed by the French landscape architect Louis Benech. There is a pool and a small spa, and that is the extent of the facilities, which is appropriate at this size.

Xtian, the restaurant, is run by chef Emanuel Machado and works with Alentejo seasonal produce.

The Michelin Guide gave it two Keys, and it is a member of Relais & Châteaux. Melides is a working village about ten minutes inland from the coast, quieter than Comporta and, for the moment, less discovered.