Words like ‘villa’ and ‘holiday rental’ don’t quite capture what Belgian founders Bert Jeuris and Ludovic Beun have created with The Addresses. What began as a love affair with Portugal has evolved into one of Europe’s most inspired new hospitality concepts, a growing collection of architecturally restored homes in the Algarve, designed for slow, beautiful living.

There’s a certain kind of traveller who comes to the Algarve, not for the golf courses or high-rise resorts, but for the almond blossom trails, the whitewashed villages, the scent of orange groves on a summer breeze. That’s who The Addresses was made for – those seek villas in Portugal, with a difference.

Founded in 2021 by Belgian friends Jeuris and Beun, The Addresses takes the idea of the private holiday rental and elevates it with quiet confidence. Each house tells a different story of Portugal’s soulful south — far from the over-touristed coastlines, these are homes rooted in place, reimagined with Belgian precision, Portuguese warmth, and a hotel-level concierge service that leaves you as left-alone or looked-after as you please.

The first was Casa Um, a former shepherd’s hut perched in the amber-hued farmlands near Tavira. Its soft white volumes and lavender-scented gardens embody The Addresses’ ethos: rustic form given refined function. Casa Dois, a converted fishing warehouse in the salty town of Olhão, followed — all sun-soaked terraces and plunge pools tucked behind preserved archways. Then came Casa Três, a stately merchant’s home turned minimalist retreat in Vila Real de Santo António, where roof terraces look out across the Guadiana River and into Spain. Now, in summer 2025, a new chapter begins: Casa Quatro.

Set in the inland town of São Brás de Alportel, a quietly poetic pocket of the Algarve once famed for cork production and bishop’s summer palaces, Casa Quatro is The Addresses’ most immersive project yet. Housed in a 1930s trading home in the shadow of the town’s cathedral, the villa is a masterclass in sensitive restoration. Vaulted ceilings soar above open-plan living spaces; four en-suite bedrooms spill into a rooftop terrace, a hidden patio, and an elegantly tiled pool shaded by citrus trees.

Here, the old and the new sit in quiet conversation. Local stone, Portuguese tiles and hand-finished woods ground the interiors, while clean lines and contemporary furniture give them breath. It’s less ‘design hotel’ and more lived-in sanctuary — a place to slow down, sip vinho verde under the stars, and hear the town clock strike noon from the cathedral square.

‘We always start with the soul of the place,’ explains Beun, who co-founded The Addresses after years of visiting Portugal as a wine buyer. ‘Our homes are never in obvious locations. We look for authenticity, for a story we can continue rather than overwrite.’ Theses are some of the most unique villas in Portugal.

To that end, guests can opt in (or out) of thoughtful add-ons: fresh bread delivered each morning, massages in the shade of olive trees, a local cook preparing cataplana at home. No fuss, just feeling. The Addresses doesn’t offer flashy pools or infinity-edge clichés. What it offers is more subtle, more enduring: silence, space, and sunlight on terracotta floors. It’s Portugal as it’s meant to be experienced, – slow, local, and full of soul.

With four homes now open, and more on the way, The Addresses is becoming something of a secret society for design lovers, architecture buffs, and seekers of the soft life. But don’t expect mass expansion. As Beun puts it: ‘Each house has to be found. It has to earn its place.’

To book villas in Portugal, visit: theaddresses.com

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