As a travel writer who specializes in Europe, Portugal stands out to me as a country that’s done the most to make visitors welcome with a rather diverse catalog of vacation rental properties. At the same time, Portugal also stands out as a country of great value. Below are some vacation rental options you might want to consider if the standard hotel isn’t your thing.

Solares de Portugal

Solares de Portugal offers an interesting range of lodging broken into three categories.

• Casa Antigas – Manor houses and country estates largely from the 17th and 18th centuries. An elegant and romantic choice.

• Quintas & Herdades – Agricultural Farms and Estates in a rural setting.

• Casas Rusticas – As the name implies rustic cottages, comfortably furnished, in rural villages or within farm estates.

Let me throw out an example, a rustic cottage I’d be interested in staying in: Casa dos Tres Irmãos. This is the type of classic stone architecture you’ll find in the Portuguese countryside, with outer walls of shale. It’s near a historic town: Cabração, a town whose wealth was based on mining, even in ancient times.

What does a place like Casa dos Tres Irmãos cost per night for two people? €50. For a house with cooking facilities, no more than a decent hotel! Of course, you don’t have to cook; they’ll even provide breakfast stuff. On a summer’s night, you can get a hunk of Pata Negra, the fantastic black pig found in Portugal and Spain (the full-flavored opposite of “the other white meat”, and barbeque outside, just like the natives.

Solares de Portugal also offers special itineraries so that you can plan your Portugal vacation stays around a theme; say Garden Itineraries

See: Solares de Portugal on the web.

Pousadas de Portugal

Pousadas are historic properties run as luxury hotels. You might stay in a place that was once a monastery or convent. Each has a restaurant run by a chef who is devoted to exploring the regional cuisine, often with modern interpretations that don’t stray too far from tradition. I’ve never eaten in a bad Pousada restaurant.

At one time Pousadas were run by the government. Today, most have transferred to private ownership, which offers the visitor a more personal treatment in a unique setting.

Pousadas de Portugal on the web. Note that there are many special offers, including discounts for those over 55 years of age and for longer stays.

Other Vacation Rental Ideas for Portugal

HomeAway lists over 7000 Vacation Rentals in Portugal.

Besides rural properties, remember that you will also find short term stay apartments in the heart of Portugal’s cities. For example, if you’re searching for someplace romantic with great views, you might find this apartment near Lisbon’s castle enticing. It sleeps 4 for a mere €95 a night. There’s free wifi, the owner speaks English, and the eight user-reviews are all positive, 5 stars out of 5.

I hope this convinces you that Portugal not only offers a great value on unique lodging, but also gives you some ideas for a vacation in a fascinating country with extraordinary tourist infrastructure.

Located in the Fafe mountains of northern Portugal, A Casa do Penedo, or “the House of Stone,” was built between four large boulders found on the site. Although the house may seem rustic, it is not lacking in amenities, which include a fireplace and a swimming pool—carved out of one of the large rocks. But, as word has spread, the sleepy little house has had visitors venturing to see it in droves. ~ Real Life Flintstones House Lures Tourists in Portugal

I know it’s not funny, but I have to smile. The guy builds this place in a stunning and remote mountaintop place and eventually can’t live in it because of the tourist hordes. Imagine thousands of people saying, “why didn’t I think of that?”

The article also mentions the stone furniture inside. Yes, very “Flintstonesque”.

But what the articles or posters haven’t mentioned is that Portugal’s granite outcrops have been used as houses and storage sheds for years, as they have in other places in Mediterranean Europe. Here’s such a house in the Serra da Estrela mountain range near the town of Manteigas:

Granite boulders have been incorporated into the design of other rock houses in the town of Monsanto, southeast of the Serra da Estrela.

Of course, ancient folks have used natural rock formations and caves for years with some modification. in the Serra da Estrela National Park, climbers and hikers look for suitable windbreak rock shelters with a view. For tea time, as you see over there to the right.

Hikers will love the Serra da Estrela. There are over 350 km of hiking trails, including the main routes T1, T2 and T3, plus six additional routes that split from them.

And the Serra da Estrela has Portugal’s only ski area, with a lift to 1997 meters.

So grab some Queijo Serra da Estrela cheese, some hiking boots and come to the Serra da Estrela and see the stone houses before taking off for some scenery you’ve never seen before.

You can look up restaurants and get a user-rating and description. For example, there’s the modest-looking Temple of Gula and you’ll find out not only the opening hours and a description of the place, you’ll find that it also has wi-fi. Cool.

More on Guimarães

Guimarães, Portugal, a Hot Destination for 2011

Guimarães Portugal Travel Guide

Guimarães Location within Portugal

Schools remodeled into vacation rentals tend to be delightfully quirky. The living spaces tend to be large and sprawling. If you don’t like little boxes all in a row, you might think about these rare and oddly structured places.

Yes, I’ve stayed in a remodeled school, in France. It was inside a hilltop village that had been brought back from the dead. Great experience.

One such vacation rental in the Alentejo is Santana da Serra. Today it sits in the middle of an Ecological Reserve, so the rural attractions are immense. One can imagine the solitude.

Give it a look. You’ll need a car, of course, but if you’re intrepid, you’ll discover a lot about rural Portugal