Roadtrip to Andalusia and Stay at Hacienda San Rafael
To catch up with my mother from several months apart, I booked us two nights at a beautiful Hacienda in Andalusia, just 30 minutes from Sevilla. We drove down to Spain from Lisbon, the place where I’m based at as many as you might know. It’s only about a 5 hours drive, but an obvious change in landscapes and architecture is noticeable. That made is such a cool road trip for a weekend getaway.
We first drove through one of Portugal’s most beautiful regions Alentejo. We passed through the Évora district and saw little town Estremoz laying on a hill beautifully from the highway. The nature around the area is very green, but as soon as we passed the border to Spain, the colors of nature were changing drastically. Andalusia has a very warm red-colored ground and more mountains than Alentejo which makes beautiful sceneries.
While arriving at Hacienda de San Rafael and driving through their lane full of huge olive trees, we were amazed about the property straight away. I mean, I fell in love with the property by checking it out online but being there in real life gave the true experience. The hacienda has this unique elegant feeling with a rustic touch. Everywhere are flowers in different colors and authentic features of the once a successful olive estate are still there.
Our room was at the main building which actually felt more like a studio because of the two floors. A huge, insanely comfortable bed that gave us very deep sleep (even though it was full moon) and a big bathroom space that made us feel we could clean and purify physically and energetically. Upstairs there was a little relax or work area, that we didn’t really make use of. The little veranda in front of our room was super cute as well. I loved that they made sure we would arrive in a warm room every time we came back from a fresh day outside.
The most breathtaking part of the Hacienda is the three different swimming pools and relax areas outside. Pictures speak for themselves, but probably don’t even give the true experience how beautiful and elegant the settings were. I was amazed big time. I would definitely come back here again for a romantic weekend. Did you know you can also book their entire property for weddings?
Around Andalusia, we visited Cádiz and Jerez de la Frontera. I didn’t expect Cádiz to be so gorgeous and Jerez has such a cozy city center with lots of music and tapas bars. Definitely save tapas bar “La Moderna” in your google maps for when you happen to visit Jerez. I love to eat small dishes in between locals in sort of a cave. Very cool and authentic vibe!
On the way back to Lisbon, we wanted to pass the Algarve and choose to visit Portugal’s little town Tavira close to the border. They say it’s one of Algarve’s most beautiful town and I totally get why. A coastal town with typical architecture that’s maintained very well. Although I honestly love rustic villages too, but Tavira was truly gorgeous and we had a little flashback to summer as we had grilled fish in a temperature that felt like 25 degrees.
The way from Tavira back to Lisbon was probably my favorite part of the road trip that we did. The roads were insanely quiet and we had amazing sceneries. A drive through the mountains that slowly turned into the more sandy/dune ground that Lisbon is surrounded by.