Casa de Mateus

The manor stands on the edge of Vila Real, and its front is the part everyone knows: a symmetrical baroque facade with pinnacles, a double stair and a deep loggia, mirrored in a still rectangular tank of water. It went up in the first half of the eighteenth century, perhaps in 1739-1743, for the Botelho Mourao family and is usually attributed to the architect Nicolau Nasoni, who worked across the north; it has been a National Monument since 1910 and gave its name to the Mateus rose wine. The family still holds it through a foundation, so the interior is shown by guided tour: painted ceilings, family portraits, carved furniture and a library of early editions. Behind the house are formal gardens of clipped box, a chapel, and a long green tunnel of trained cypress known here as the cedar tunnel.

The main sights

• The facade and water tank - pinnacles and the double stair doubled in the still water in front.
• The guided interior - painted ceilings, family portraits, carved furniture and the library.
• The box parterres - low clipped hedges cut into patterns on the garden side.
• The cedar tunnel - a long arched walk of trained cypress, dark and cool inside.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn give the gardens at their best without the heat of a Douro summer, when afternoons inland are heavy. Interior tours run in fixed groups at set times, so arriving mid-morning or straight after lunch avoids a wait. Concerts are held in the grounds through the summer, which fills the site on those evenings.

Before you go

The visit is short: the gardens are modest in size and the house tour covers a handful of rooms at the guide's pace. Tickets are priced above what the scale suggests, and garden-only entry is the better value. Many arrive expecting the wine estate from the bottle label and find a private family house instead.

Nearby

Vila Real is ten minutes west, and the Douro vineyard terraces begin south of the city.

Key facts