Infante Sagres opened in Porto in 1951 as the city’s first five-star hotel.
Seventy-five years later, Time Out has ranked it 23rd on its 2026 list of the world’s 33 most beautiful hotels, placing a piece of Porto’s post-war architecture alongside historic castles, palaces and contemporary resorts from around the world.
Designed by Portuguese architect Rogério de Azevedo, the hotel sits near Praça de D. Filipa de Lencastre, a few minutes from Avenida dos Aliados.
Much of its appeal still comes from details that have survived decades of changing hotel design: the stained-glass staircase, the floral atrium, carved woodwork and its distinctive wooden lift.
The property has changed considerably since opening. It has passed through different hotel groups and undergone several renovation programmes, including extensive work over the past decade.
Today it has 85 rooms and suites, combining modern hotel standards with much of the character of the original building.
That balance is probably part of why the hotel continues to attract attention.
Historic hotels face a difficult problem.
Guests expect contemporary comfort, but much of their value comes from details that cannot easily be recreated once removed.
Renovating too little can leave a property behind. Renovating too much can remove the reason people wanted to stay there in the first place.
Infante Sagres has spent three quarters of a century adapting while retaining enough of its original identity to remain recognisable.
In a city where tourism has transformed much of the historic centre, one of Porto’s oldest luxury hotels is still competing for attention with some of the newest properties in the world.
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