Tarabel Lisbon: Discreet Luxury Hideaway Above the Tagus

While Lisbon has more than its share of splashy new hotel openings coming up, it’s refreshing to find a luxury stay that’s so discrete, there’s not even a name plate beside the front door. That’s the case at Tarabel Lisbon, a jewel box hotel amid the noble residences and foreign ambassadors’ residences of the posh Lapa neighborhood.

That location makes the hotel both central and hidden away, and it gives it some gorgeous views over the Tagus River far below. It was this view that seduced the owner, the noted French interior designer Rose Fournier. When she first saw it, she was smitten enough to understand that she would transform the 19th-century mansion into the second hotel in her Tarabel collection. (The first is in Marrakech.)

The feeling is like walking into a painting, all soft pastels, sumptuous surfaces, and Lisbon’s famous natural light suffusing every corner. The tableaux are well-considered, from the piles of colorful cushions on the white overstuffed sofas, to the seashell-framed mirror in one of the bedrooms.

The nine suites are lovely, full of beautiful details and romantic touches like claw-foot bathtubs…

… but what really sets the hotel apart are its private spaces. The back garden, terrace, and swimming pool are expansive, a hidden refuge in a residential neighborhood.

Inside, the sunroom has the same majestic view, and a handful of tables are set up with white cloths for the daily breakfast and optional lunches and dinners.

The restaurant is only for guests for now, but it’s no mere afterthought. Chef Afonso Blazquez Raposo has created a menu that combines Portuguese and Mediterranean influences with plenty of luxurious ingredients, such as creamy Portuguese rice with scarlet carabineiro prawns, lemon, and coriander, and Iberian pork with clams, potato mille-feuille, spinach, and port wine jus.