Eco-luxe

At Vale das Estrelas, sustainability isn’t just a slogan, it’s a core value. The lodge is fully off-grid, powered by the sun and relies on rain capture and boreholes for drinking water. The infrastructure is carefully planned to ensure the lodge runs in harmony with nature.

"Eco-luxe" combines sustainability and luxury, providing an off-grid experience without compromising comfort. Our modern Alentejo style might even trick you into thinking we have endless supplies of power and water, but both are in short supply. We ask all guests to save power and take short showers with egg-timers as a friendly reminder that a 5 minute shower saves water and the electricity which heats it.

Our hillside power plant channels the sun’s energy through 84 solar panels and a 3-phase system up to the buildings and into our batteries. We have more than 80kWh of storage - enough for the rainiest of days - and use heat pumps to efficiently heat water for the taps and the underfloor heating.

Our borehole water is rich in mineral salts and we blend it with stored rainwater before purifying it into drinking water throughout the property. Our hidden pillow tanks store rain captured from the roofs and the solar panels and from a nearby reservoir to get us through the dry summer months.

Our water purification and delivery system is almost as complicated as the final plan we drew up for our water consultant! It uses the low power WiFi technology (LPWAN) to balance mineral salts and provide clean, fresh drinking water and high pressure showers.

All our waste water passes through three biological tanks and two reed beds before being collected, diluted and recycled for irrigating the 200 olive trees growing on our perimeter and the vineyard which is coming soon.

Off the grid means no rubbish collection, so we compost our organic material and take all recycling to the colourful bins in the surrounding towns and villages, separating glass (green), cardboard & paper (blue), plastic & metal (yellow). We encourage our guests to help us recycle as much as we possibly can.