Christian Louboutin’s resort in Melides

Edith Piaf with la vie en rose, and Christian Louboutin with La Vie en Vermelho… The famous shoe designer became famous for his wonderful creations, always with a red sole! Now he surprises us with a hotel in Portugal, named Vermelho, a personification of the color that best represents him. 

Loubotin’s connection with Portugal has long been known, especially with the Comporta region, where he has spent vacations since the 1980s. Melides was the place chosen to set up a workshop and later buy a house. She has always told us that Portugal is the place she travels to when she needs to concentrate, now her place of choice is accessible to everyone, and is already accepting reservations. 

“I’ve never designed a hotel before. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of friends that I stay with in different places, so my aesthetic doesn’t come from the hotel world. I only know how to design houses,” the designer revealed to the Financial Times. 

This, his first boutique hotel, was designed by Madalena Caiado, whose mission was to combine the local rural environment with Louboutin’s eclectic taste. Patricia Medina, antique dealer, restorer and design consultant, took care of the luxurious decoration, full of careful details and inspirations with Portuguese, Moroccan, Spanish, Egyptian and French influences.

This house “encourages” to “live la vie en rouge”, can be read on the website, a pun with the theme of Édith Piaf, “La Vie en Rose”. The creator’s signature color gave the hotel its name, and there is no lack of notes on decorative elements scattered throughout the space, from tiles, antique furniture, frescoes, paintings, ceramics, on doors and windows, and embroidered textiles.

Everywhere there are tiles and ceramics that, as well as the strong colors, are the main characteristics of this boutique hotel. “As we pass through the historic wooden doors in red, we embark on an intimate experience at a boutique hotel in Melides with a bold spirit. We are home now,” reads the official Vermelho website.

With three floors, the Vermelho has only 13 rooms – but all of them are different and with a unique feature, be it a canopy bed worthy of a cardinal, or an incredible bathtub reminiscent of the Moorish era. Yes, because even the bathrooms look like a work of art.

Located on the second floor is, for example, the Vista Verde room (from €362 per night) which, as the name suggests, has unbeatable views of the verdant garden. Facing south, they receive the natural light from Melides. The Jardim Português suites (from €570 per night) are equipped with exclusive artwork hand-picked by the designer and have a private terrace adjacent to the colorful gardens.

Created under the concept “a unique place, for unique people”, the three-floor Vermelho Hotel has a garden designed by landscape architect Louis Benech, “to relax under the warm rays of the Melides sun” and a restaurant, the Xtian, “where the protagonists, the seasonal products from the Alentejo, accompany you at every step of the experience, along with local handcrafted dishes”.

The restaurant Xtian, with 60 seats, is signed by the Chef David Abreu, who came from Macau, is responsible for creating a menu “where the protagonists, the seasonal products from the Alentejo, accompany you at every step of the experience, along with the handmade dishes.

After the Vermelho open in April, there are plans for two more hotels nearby, according to the “Financial Times.” One of them, due to open in 2024, will be on a two-star property that Louboutin bought overlooking the lagoon, and will be decorated by Olivia Putman, daughter of legendary French decorator Andrée. The other will be built on a plot of land full of pine trees, also on the Alentejo coast.