{"id":568035,"date":"2026-07-25T21:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/568035\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T21:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:00:30","slug":"meghan-markle-and-prince-harrys-favorite-seaside-town-in-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/568035\/","title":{"rendered":"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Favorite Seaside Town in Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAnyone who has swiped through Meghan Markle<\/a>\u2018s summer fun family photos from Portugal might be Googling \u201cMelides\u201d for a closer look.<\/p>\n

The quiet coastal village rests along the Alentejo Coast and is home to nearly 1,500 year-round residents, as of the 2021 census. Before Prince Harry<\/a> and the \u201cAs Ever\u201d founder reportedly first bought property there, Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler had pegged Melides as \u201cPortugal\u2019s Next Big Beach Town\u201d in 2022.<\/p>\n

\n\tMarkle\u2019s photos<\/a> of Prince Archie racing into the surf and Princess Lilibet being flipped overhead in a swimming pool by Prince Harry<\/a> are sure to up the interest in what is known as Portugal\u2019s \u201cBlue Coast.\u201d Located about 90 minutes from Lisbon, Melides is known for its empty beaches, rural land, vineyards and sleepy pace. Markle\u2019s photo of the traditionally sparse O Melidense restaurant hint at the area\u2019s laidback appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before Prince Harry and Markle reportedly bought a villa for 6.3 million pounds at the\u00a0CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club a few years ago, Harry\u2019s cousin Princess Eugenia and her husband Jack Brooksbank were reportedly regulars. The California residents are said to be renovating their residence in Portugal with help from SoHo House, the private members\u2019 club with outposts in the U.K. and other locales. George Clooney and Sharon Stone are each said to have CostaTerra properties there.\u00a0The company site bills itself as a \u201cfamily-friendly real estate\u201d with such options as \u201cdune villas, golf pine barrens, and winery cottages.\u201d\u00a0Representatives at\u00a0CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club\u00a0could not be reached for comment Friday.<\/p>\n

Asked about SoHo House working with Prince Harry and Markle on their home in Portugal, a SoHo House spokesperson said, \u201cTo protect\u00a0the privacy of our clients, we\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0able to share any detail around any specific residential projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA visitor enters the Vermelho hotel in Melides, which is owned by the French designer Christian Louboutin, one of the first international figures to frequent the region in southwestern Portugal.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tOther high-profile personalities like Madonna<\/a> and Amazon<\/a>\u2018s Jeff Bezos<\/a> have previously touched down in the area, which includes\u00a0Comporta, Muda,\u00a0Carvalhal,\u00a0Gr\u00e2ndola and Sines among other local towns.\u00a0Christian Louboutin sparked some of the interest in Melides by opening the five-star\u00a0Vermelho hotel with help from architects Madalena Caiado and Tarek Shamma in April 2023. The shoe designer has had a home there for years, as has the prized architect Jacques Grange.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the summer of 2023, the five-time Grammy winner Janet Jackson<\/a> shared snapshots from her Melides getaway on Instagram. \u201cSo charming \u2014 the shops, the architecture, the people \u2014 we loved it,\u201d she posted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson also flagged one of Melides\u2019 few shops, Vida Dura, which sells handcrafted dinnerware, vases, candlesticks and other home decor made by local artisans, as well as floral displays. Noemina is another shop that specializes in relaxed dresses and home decor with a flair for local textiles.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Comporta coastline, as pictured from Melides, is nicknamed \u201cthe new Portuguese Riviera\u201d and has drawn comparisons to New York\u2019s elite Hamptons. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the area has been reeling in a more stylish crowd in the past few years, Kering\u2019s chief brand <\/a>officer Laurent Claquin recognized its appeal and built a home there 15 years ago. Along with the endless blue skies, fresh sea air, wind-swept dunes and\u00a0relatively untouched nature, \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s the authenticity that people are looking for,\u201d Claquin said.\u00a0\u201cYou can be social and see friends going from one house to the next, or you can stay at your place and not see anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

While of course the tides of change have swept through the area as more travelers have been discovering the Alentejo, Claquin said, \u201cI would say it has changed for the best. There a few more restaurants that are delicious, one or two great hotels, a new French bakery and a gym, but it really stays true to itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone who has swiped through Meghan Markle\u2018s summer fun family photos from Portugal might be Googling \u201cMelides\u201d for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[3468,321,198994,93,61,60,3916,129822,664,7425,7424],"class_list":["post-568035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-amazon","tag-celebrities","tag-christan-louboutin","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-kering","tag-madonna","tag-meghan-markle","tag-prince-harry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}