Casa Mina

A luxury villa to rent in Comporta, Portugal

A hippie-chic home with breathtaking views of Comporta’s verdant rice fields.

Comporta is rice paddy land. Striped fields of rice, the biggest in Portugal, stretch all the way down the coast, sheltered from the stiff Atlantic breezes by golden sand dunes. They are kept green and bounteous by a criss-crossing network of irrigation canals, hence the reason why, roughly translated, Comporta means a floodgate or lock. Changing through the seasons from vibrant emerald green to waterlogged and glistening, the paddies present a picture of rustic, rural life that’s sadly dwindling across much of modern Europe.

Few houses have better views of the rice fields than Casa Mina, whose lavender-fringed lap pool, spacious wooden decks and pillow-piled day beds are all pointed at the paddies, where storks and flamingos are also regularly seen.

The setting is enhanced by the villa’s own gardens, which have been beautifully landscaped by Louis Benech, who recently worked on the gardens at Versailles. Inside, a large reception room is great for entertaining, and four comfy double bedrooms come with en-suite bathrooms and modern air conditioning.

Away from the paddies in the other direction, it’s only a few minutes to the Comporta beaches. One of our favourites is Praia do Pego, where the hottest ticket is a table for lunch at Restaurante Sal, where locals pull on their Sunday best to feast on the likes of freshly grilled fish, octopus-ink risotto and endless carafes of rosé.