"About a 20-minute cab ride from the historic city center, Pestana Palace Lisboa in Santo Amaro bears a unique honor: it’s a designated national landmark. The 194-room property occupies a carefully restored 19th-century manor that once belonged to the cocoa baron Marquis of Valle-Flôr and is set in an immaculately manicured private park filled with lush palm trees, subtropical plants, sculptures, and a former pond-turned-swimming pool. Lavish architectural details such as ornate ceiling frescoes, soaring stained-glass windows, gleaming marble columns, and intricately carved woodwork combine with magnificent oil canvases, glittering chandeliers, and garlanded mirrors to give the air of a gilded cocoon. Four sprawling Royal Suites—one of which reportedly hosted Madonna as recently as 2017—are within the palace itself, while smaller, elegantly furnished rooms are located in two modern annexes."
