If you’ve been daydreaming about the perfect vacation to take after this pandemic is over, look no further than the Quinta da Pacheca winery in Portugal where, instead of hotel rooms, guests can stay inside of gigantic wine barrels.
While the Quinta da Pacheca estate is over 100 years old, the wine barrels are newly built and designed by the estate’s owners, Paulo Pereira and Maria do Céu Gonçalves, who decked them out with modern amenities like AC and Wi-Fi, as well a private terrace, an en suite bathroom with a walk-in shower, a skylight for stargazing and a circular double bed.
Of course, staying inside of a wine barrel is not the only wine-related activity you can do at Quinta da Pacheca. While the Douro region of Portugal is known for its exceptional port wines, the winery also offers red and white varietals to taste and buy, in addition to port and olive oil. You can also indulge in cooking classes, walks, bike rides and picnics around the 140-acre estate, and excursions to other wineries in the region. All of which sounds downright idyllic.
But Quinta da Pacheca is not the only winery in the world where you can stay inside a wine barrel. The Schlafen im Weinfass winery, for example, in Sasbachwalden, Germany, also has wine barrel rooms that come with an amazing view, as you can see from this photo below:
Closer to home, there’s a wine barrel in which you can stay the night in the Walla Walla wine country of Washington State. The wine barrel itself is a guest house and available to rent on VRBO. Check out this photo from the VRBO listing:
While all of these wine barrels look a little tight for spending the night — especially with someone else — the idea of remaining on-site at a vineyard is still appealing. Would you spend the night in a gigantic wine barrel?
Originally published on Simplemost.