Convento do Espinheiro hosts seminars, conferences, company dinners and weddings for up to 450 guests, with six meeting rooms, a 15th-century church, cloisters and 8 hectares of gardens and olive groves. The five-star historic hotel occupies a restored convent on the northern edge of Évora, in Portugal's Alentejo, and offers bedrooms, two restaurants and a spa on the same grounds.
Seminars and company events
Six rooms cover formats from a board meeting to a conference. Santa Maria takes 10 people and the Biblioteca 40, both suited to a committee or a workshop. Frei Carlos holds 50, S. Jerónimo 150 and the Lagar 200. Salão D. Vasco is the largest hall, for up to 450 people, enough for a plenary session or a gala dinner. The convent combines old and modern areas, and the team adapts the spaces to each program. For team activities, the hotel offers wine tastings with its sommelier in the Gothic cistern, olive oil tastings beside an olive tree the hotel dates at more than a thousand years, cooking workshops with a chef in the convent kitchen, and paintball in the olive groves.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are a core part of the offer. Religious ceremonies take place in the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Espinheiro, a 15th-century church of about 1,200 square meters. Civil ceremonies can be held in the Manueline cloister or in the orange grove, the Horta das Laranjeiras. The cocktail moves to the cloisters or the gardens, and the wedding dinner is served in Salão D. Vasco, for up to 250 guests. For weddings of 120 guests or more, the hotel adds a wedding-night suite, the wedding cake, a menu tasting for six people one month before the date and an anniversary weekend, subject to availability.
Rooms and capacities
Maximum capacities stated by the hotel are Santa Maria 10, Biblioteca 40, Frei Carlos 50, S. Jerónimo 150, Lagar 200 and Salão D. Vasco 450. The Cisterna Wine Bar, set under the arches of the old rainwater cistern, can be booked for private events and tastings. Floor plans and layouts for each room are published by the hotel in its meetings brochure.
Accommodation
Bedrooms come in six categories: Deluxe Convento, Deluxe, Design, Grand Deluxe Design, Deluxe Suite and Suite Real. A spa with its own treatment programs and a pool with a seasonal bar complete the stay, which makes the convent workable for a two-day offsite with free time built in.
Catering
Event and wedding menus come from the in-house kitchen, which cooks Alentejo dishes with Mediterranean influences. Divinus, in the monks' former refectory, serves a contemporary take on regional cooking in the evening. Olive, in the former kitchen, is Italian-inspired and known for thin pizzas. Bar Claustro, beside the Manueline cloister, serves drinks and a light Mediterranean menu through the day.
History and setting
The convent dates from the 15th century and was closely tied to the Portuguese crown. King João II often stayed in a guesthouse he had built beside the church and held the Cortes, the kingdom's assembly, here in 1481. The Cortes met here again in 1490, and King João III chose the convent as the burial place for his children. In 1663, during the Restoration War, it housed the Castilian general staff.
Getting there
The hotel is a few minutes by car from the walled historic center of Évora, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Évora railway station has direct trains to Lisbon. Lisbon airport is about 1 hour 30 minutes away by road.
