Monte Velho Nature Resort by Rupert Eden

At 36 Henrique Balsemão has outgrown the busy, stressful city life he once led. After launching his own surf magazine and television slot for radical sports as well as running a highly successful discotheque in Lisbon’s Docas complex he has turned his Midas touch to running a hotel.

This is not any ordinary hotel. It is the latest in a new brand of getaways to capture the imagination of a tougher, more adventurous breed of tourist. This tourist arrives in a 4X4 not a Twingo, does not come to catch rays but to catch waves; he or she prefers to meditate under a dazzling canopy of stars at night than to watch TV in bed. There is no TV!

Instead, Monte Velho is an immaculately refurbished hilltop farmhouse which runs on solar and wind energy. Smoking is not allowed indoors and guests are encouraged to go easy on towels, thus saving energy and conserving water. All seven suites sleep 3 to 4 and are decorated with cosy informal furnishings; the gaudy paintings lining the walls can be purchased from the local artist who exhibits them.

The atmosphere too is informal. Mellow tunes like Saint Germain or Boozoo Bajou eminate from inside the rush-matted sitting room stacked with board games and glossy magazines and books on surfing and extreme sports. After a 4km donkey ride to the beach and a day spent at the hotel surf school followed by barbecued shrimp at the local restaurant, 'O Sitio do Rio', a glass of fine wine is waiting in the lounge area accompanied by a selection of local hams and cheeses to nibble on.

All of these are miraculously provided as if someone has read my mind. Apart from Henrique and his wife I am joined by two professional surfers who are renovating a small cottage nearby. Henrique discreetly informs me that one of them is Portugal’s national surf champion. They come here for the waves.

The whole of the nearby north coast of São Vicente is one of Europe’s best surfing spots luring thrill-seekers and plenty of eyecandy from all over the world. I am told that Summer waves at Amado beach are a dream come true and that the consistent winds and clear blue water of Martinhal beach also make this one of the best windsurfing spots in Europe…

Much refreshed the next morning I wake up to the characteristic sound of hungry donkeys and I too am hungry. On my way to breakfast on the veranda I take in the panorama. Dense scrubland and rolling pine forest can been seen stretching down to the sea. This is not the crowded, overdeveloped Algarve I remembered. In fact we are in protected Natural Park, which explains why only spinning blades of a distant windfarm glint in the sunlight as I watch the donkeys troop past my room to be fed.

Later that afternoon I am driven down to the spectacular cliff tops at Murração, looking onto seemingly endless deserted beaches. I am fortunate enough to witness vast flocks of gannets rounding Cape St Vincent and the Sagres headlands, giving me a rare insight into just how precisely birds circumnavigate the world with an apparent ease which would have truly astounded Columbus. He ended up at the Sagres school of navigation after the armed convoy he was travelling with was attacked by pirates off Cape St Vincent in 1476. Sixteen years later he would set sail from here to discover the Americas.