Our own hotel on stilts but in style in eastern Algarve, Portugal

Boutique Guesthouse-Moncarapacho in the Algarve, our future hotel on stilts but in style and completely in our own style.

In the past I saw John Clees so often on television with "Hotel on stilts" in Fawlty Towers. I laughed my head off about all the funny situations where everything went wrong. Not knowing that we would one day start a hotel here in the Algarve ourselves!

Self catered holiday homes Casa Pipa and Casa Lokeh
Our initial idea was to rent out two luxury guest houses next to our own home. Due to the new fire safety regulations in Portugal, the architect indicated that we had to stay 30 meters from the neighbors and 30 meters from the road when building. However, our plot is only 30 meters deep! So a solution had to be found.

Our creative and inventive architect thought that we should become a kind of hotel/country house or rural tourism or agrotourism, also called Casa do Campo. Then 10 meters distance would be enough and we could build much more at once than normal!

If the architect had said that we could only build a house consisting of three cubes, we would have said yes. After years of waiting for the building permit* and living in our caravan on our land, we would have gladly agreed to everything!

What is a Casa do Campo?
When we got home we immediately googled "Casa do Campo". What exactly did we say yes to? Loosely translated, a Casa do Campo is a large country house/hotel in the countryside.

Turismo rural, agriturismo are forms of tourism that use the typical qualities of rural areas such as agricultural activity, peace, space and small scale. But also that you offer regional products and hotel services.

A few weeks later, the consequences of the Casa do Campo also became visible on the new drawing of the architect. A real reception and a lockable trunk for suitcases of departing guests were richer. Or poorer, another extra 10 m2!

Hotel in style
The biggest joke was when we received a letter from the Olhao council much later stating that our plot did not fall under this new fire safety law. All the extra work and effort for nothing, unfortunately there was no way back then. But hey, if you say A, you must also say B!

We are going for it, we are going for our own hotel on stilts but then in style! The two rental accommodations will be luxurious, chic, modern, comfortable and cozy furnished as our guests are used to at home. And if possible with their own workplace.

And you as a guest may decide later which of us is John Clees or the Spaniard Manuel! Sorry, I know nothing, I am from Barcelona:)

Photo: Hotel Conrad during Almancil Rotary International meeting

Open July 2025
In the meantime, construction has finally started in April 2024 and we are very excited about the progress and the result. The booking site is now open, book now!

Be welcome or be found!

Photo: drone photo Guesthouse-Moncarapacho December 2024

If you would like to read again about the history of our building application, you can find it below.

*Why did it take over two years to get our building permit?
We often got this question. Why did it all take so long with you? Is your land not building land? Do you want to build more than is actually allowed? No, none of that. We tried to do everything properly and before the purchase everything was sorted out by our lawyer and we are allowed to build on this land. That was not the case.

Throughout the process we have had a lot of trouble with the Corona measures. The municipality was closed and communication was very difficult. This also applied to the architect, as a self-employed person he was very afraid of getting Corona.

In addition, a new fire safety law was introduced. This had quite a few consequences. Not only did we have to take all sorts of new laws and regulations into account, but no one knew exactly how it all worked. Not the architect and not the municipality. There were simply no civil servants who knew about it. That doesn't really help and this led to a backlog in building permits.

Because of this same law regarding fire safety, we had to stay 30 meters from the road and 30 meters from our rear neighbors with the construction. However, our plot is only 30 meters deep. So a solution had to be found.

Our creative and inventive architect thought that we should become a kind of hotel/country house or rural tourism or agrotourism. also called Casa do Campo. Then 10 meters distance was enough and we were allowed to do much more than normal at once!

The first application for the building permit was rejected because our building plan was too modern for a Portuguese country house/hotel. Not strange, we didn't even know then that we were going to be a Casa do Campo or run a hotel! Our design was too modern for a country house. In addition, there were also other requirements missing.

Well, and then we haven't even talked about our architect, self-employed, who had a serious motorcycle accident! Two arms and a broken leg. Then we had to request a postponement from the municipality and everything was at a standstill for 5 months. The second adjusted building plan was not submitted until July 2022. And there it was on the top boss's desk for 5 weeks to be signed..........!

Although rejected again, we now knew exactly which 7 (administrative) points had to be corrected. After a telephone conversation with our architect and the architect of the municipality, we had the idea that we would now be very close to the architectural building permit.

Our architect submitted the drawings again on October 17, 2022 and unfortunately we had to wait until May 2023! This time it was approved. We can build! In June 2023, the technical drawings from our engineers were submitted to the Olhao municipality. Unfortunately, after four months we still haven't heard anything):

November 2023 and unfortunately the technical drawings have not yet been approved. A section on the thermal plan is missing. What turns out, according to the engineer, this was no longer a requirement for the municipalities two years ago. But yes, sometimes it is requested. Well, that doesn't help. The worst thing is that both Maarten and our contractor already indicated before the delivery in June 2023 that this also had to be delivered. It's tiring!

Photo: our future luxury studio Casa Lokeh

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