M'AR De AR Aqueduto hosts seminars, company meetings, dinners and weddings for up to 200 guests, with five event rooms and 62 bedrooms under one roof. The hotel occupies a 16th-century palace inside the walls of Évora, in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal.
Seminars and company events
The meetings offer spreads across the palace and an adjoining heritage complex, which includes historic wings of the former Colégio de São Manços. The hotel states a maximum of 200 people across its event spaces. That suits a plenary session followed by smaller workshops, or a two-day board meeting with breakout rooms. Because the 62 bedrooms are on site, delegates can sleep, meet and dine without transfers. Groups and meetings are handled by a dedicated groups desk, separate from individual reservations.
Weddings and receptions
The hotel sells weddings and lists the services around them: decoration, transport, babysitting and entertainment, a room where the couple can get ready and a wedding night stay. Receptions can use the converted chapel, the adjoining Sala Donzellas, the terrace facing the aqueduct and the garden and pool area. The site does not say whether ceremonies can take place on site, so couples should ask the hotel directly.
Rooms and capacities
Five rooms are offered for events, with a combined maximum of 200 guests. The Sala Manuelina can be divided into three smaller rooms, which helps for breakout sessions. The former chapel has been turned into a large room with a high ceiling and strong acoustics. It connects to the Sala Donzellas through three wide openings, so the two can work as one space for a dinner or a cocktail. Outdoors, a terrace overlooks the Aqueduto da Água de Prata. The site does not publish capacities per room or per layout, so ask for a plan once your format is known.
Accommodation
The hotel has 62 rooms: classic rooms with balconies, classic rooms in the palace building and suites. Some of them look over the aqueduct. Guests also have the SPA Aqueduto, which covers 220 square meters, and outdoor pools for adults and for children. Babysitting and laundry are available on request, which helps for families attending a wedding.
Catering
Food is prepared in-house. Degust'AR, the restaurant on the ground floor of the palace, is led by chef António Nobre and starts from Alentejo cooking with Mediterranean influences. A bistro version serves regional dishes with Alentejo wines. For events, the hotel describes menus drawn from regional and international cooking.
History and setting
The building is the former Palácio dos Sepúlveda, a Renaissance residence from the 16th century. It keeps its chapel, vaulted ceilings and three Manueline windows on the façade. The hotel sits inside the walled historic center of Évora, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it presents itself as the only five-star hotel within those walls. The Aqueduto da Água de Prata, built in the 16th century to bring water into the town, runs alongside the property.
Getting there
Évora has a railway station with direct trains to Lisbon, and the drive from Lisbon takes around an hour and a half. Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport is the nearest international airport. Streets inside the walls are narrow, so coach access for large groups is worth planning with the hotel in advance.
