Exclusive new development near sleepy Portuguese village beloved of Louboutin

When you close your eyes and think of luxury, what comes to mind? If it’s the tap of a credit card at a designer boutique or the clink of bottles at a trendy nightclub, the Spatia development in the small Portuguese village of Melides may not be your ideal holiday location. If, however, you imagine quiet, pristine sandy beaches and birds singing in the trees as you lounge by a private pool, Spatia Melides offers just that.

Melides is an otherwise sleepy village, a 10-minute drive from the development, known internationally as the location of French shoe-designer Christian Louboutin’s five-star hotel, Vermehlo – Portuguese for red, no doubt in reference to Louboutin’s signature soles – which opened in 2023. Condé Nast Traveler described it as “eclectic, extravagant, and curious, much like the man himself”.

With high-net-worth buyers escaping hectic lifestyles no doubt a target market, Spatia Melides – with its name derived from the Latin for spaces – offers residents of its luxury villas plenty of room to breathe, with large floor areas, private pools and outdoor space.

The villas have been designed to blend in harmoniously with the natural woodlands of the area, with the use of natural wood and earthy tones inside and out. Cork oak and olive trees have been planted in and around the properties, and these are sure to provide further privacy when mature. Extensive glazing has also been employed to “make for an indoor-outdoor” lifestyle, according to the developer’s literature.

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Three- and four-bedroom holiday villas within the scheme are being brought to the market by Savills, and are being sold off plans. The discerning well-heeled Irish buyer looking for an exclusive sanctuary in the sun within an 80-minute drive of Lisbon need look no further. There are usually six direct flights from Dublin to Lisbon on a Friday, operated separately by Air Portugal, Aer Lingus and Ryanair, which take about three hours.

The V4 four-bedroom villa offers about 526sq m (5,662sq ft) of gross private area with a 15m by 5m pool. The architecturally impressive structure features a vast kitchen, dining and livingroom with a high ceiling at its centre, off of which are two double-bedroom suites, each with a private terrace, and two further doubles that share a third terrace. It also features a 140sq ft pavilion room and plunge pool to the front as well as a generous terrace area, mirrored swimming pool and fire pit to the rear of the property. The asking price for this unit is €5.89 million, with just one remaining to be reserved by a prospective buyer. The three-bedroom V3 villas, extending to about 315sq m of gross private area, four of which remain available, are seeking €3.99 million apiece.

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Each villa has a parking space, and a number of residents at the developer’s other resort in nearby Comporta (a 20-minute drive away) have chosen to buy second-hand cars to get around while they spend time in the area, according to the local selling agent.

A golf-buggy shuttle service is planned to whizz residents from the development to the breathtaking expanse of the nearby Praia do Pinheirinho beach. Shielded by high dunes, this beautiful sandy beach on the Atlantic is something of a hidden gem, and Spatia developer Eurosuez Real Estate is aiming to capitalise on the location by erecting a beach club close by.