A House Inside the Dream: a Villa at Areias do Seixo

Feb 4

3 min read

Some houses are designed. This one was dreamt first.

On the coast near Santa Cruz, an hour north of Lisbon, the land runs from pine wood to dune to the Atlantic. In 2010, Marta Fonseca and Gonçalo Alves opened a hotel there that they describe as born from a dream: Areias do Seixo. Around it stand a handful of villas built in the same language of stone, timber and concrete. One of them, a four-bedroom house with its own pool, is now available to rent through Wiseguys Properties.

Villa at Areias do Seixo with concrete and glass façades, wooden deck and pool — The villa, its deck and its pool.

A hotel born from a dream

Areias do Seixo sits in Póvoa de Penafirme, in the parish of A dos Cunhados, on a protected stretch of the Silver Coast between the sea, the dunes and the pines. Its owners wanted the feeling of a large family house by the sea rather than a hotel: a place built around fire, food and the outdoors, and designed to live with the sun, the earth and water rather than against them.

The building is credited to the architect Vasco Vieira, with interiors developed alongside Rosário Gabriel and Isabel Schedel. Its materials are those of the place: regional stone, beach pebbles, glass, wood and polished concrete. Each room was decorated in its own way.

A storm, and what was made of it.

The trees of the storm

Shortly before the hotel opened, a storm brought down many of the trees on the land. Rather than clearing them away, the owners kept them. The fallen trunks became the circle of fire where guests gather in the evening; an enormous tree that fell on the restaurant terrace became a stool; wood left over from the building works became the tail of a grand piano.

The same thinking runs through the kitchen. An organic vegetable garden, laid out on permaculture principles, supplies the restaurant. In 2025, the MICHELIN Guide gave Areias do Seixo one MICHELIN Key in its first selection of Key hotels in Portugal.

Nothing thrown away. Everything turned into a place to sit, to cook, to gather.

The villa

The villa carries that language from the hotel into a house. It has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 265 m², with 569 m² of outdoor space around it. Inside, the volumes are tall and open: a double-height living room, a timber staircase that seems to float, glass balustrades and walls of raw concrete. The floors are concrete; the warmth comes from timber, textiles and fire.

Double-height living space with a floating timber staircase and glass balustrades in a villa at Areias do Seixo — The double-height living room and its floating staircase.

Living area with fireplace and concrete floor in a villa at Areias do Seixo, Silver Coast, Portugal — A living area gathered around the fire.

Like the other villas of Areias do Seixo, the house is heated from the ground up, with underfloor heating and a fireplace, and has no air conditioning: the sea air does that work. The kitchen opens to the living spaces; the bedrooms are calm and textured; one bathroom has a freestanding bath.

Open kitchen with concrete and timber in a villa at Areias do Seixo — The open kitchen.

Bathroom with freestanding bath in a villa at Areias do Seixo near Santa Cruz — A bathroom with a freestanding bath.

Outside, the dunes

Outside, a timber deck runs along a long rectangular pool, and a walled garden of dry planting holds the wind at bay. Beyond the walls are the pines, the dunes and the beaches of Santa Cruz, known for their surf and their cliffs.

Pool and dry landscaped garden at a villa at Areias do Seixo on the Silver Coast — The pool and the dry garden.

Walled dry garden with coastal planting at a villa at Areias do Seixo — The walled garden.

The villa is available to rent through Wiseguys Properties: see its page. For other contemporary houses in the Journal, read about Maison Moderne by Fernão Simões de Carvalho or Santos Dumont 46 by ARX Portugal.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Areias do Seixo?

In Póvoa de Penafirme, in the parish of A dos Cunhados, municipality of Torres Vedras, near the beach of Santa Cruz and about an hour north of Lisbon.

When did Areias do Seixo open?

In 2010. It was founded by Marta Fonseca and Gonçalo Alves.

Does Areias do Seixo have a MICHELIN Key?

Yes. It received one MICHELIN Key in the MICHELIN Guide's 2025 selection for Portugal.

How big is the villa?

Four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 265 m², with 569 m² of outdoor space and a private pool.

Is the villa available?

Yes. It is available to rent through Wiseguys Properties.

Further reading: Living in Portugal: a Guide to Moving and Retiring Here, and Alojamento Local Licence and Rural Tourism in Portugal: 2026 Rules.

Sources: Areias do Seixo (About us; Villas); Archilovers, Areias do Seixo Charm Hotel & Residences; Jo&So, interview with Marta and Gonçalo (2018); MICHELIN Guide, Key hotels in Portugal (2025). Photographs: Wiseguys Properties.