Five Treehouses in Portugal - Sleeping in the Woods Without Camping and Without a Hotel

If a bedroom for you means nature, forest and silence rather than stars on a hotel and a lobby with marble, Portugal has another offer for you. Five places across the country that give you a real chance to sleep in a wooden cabin in the trees - with a bed, a bathroom, a terrace, and the sounds of the forest as an alarm clock.

The first name is Pedras Salgadas Spa & Nature Park, less than an hour from the Spanish border, 90 minutes from Porto. A twenty-hectare eco-complex in the north of the country, with 16 wooden cabins built on stilts to reduce their impact on the ground. Each has a private bathroom, a mini-kitchen and a view of the forest. Nearby - the thermal town of Chaves with its Roman architecture, and the Alvão natural park with eagles and the Fisgas de Ermelo waterfalls.

The second name is Secret do Gerês, near Peneda-Gerês - Portugal's only national park. Three elevated cabins bear mushroom names (Amanita, Cantharellus, Girgola), on a plot of 10,000 square metres. Each has a bedroom, a private bathroom, and a terrace with a view of the Cávado river valley. Continental breakfast is included. The Tahiti waterfall is eight kilometres away, with turquoise pools for swimming.

The third name is Conversas de Alpendre, in the Algarve, near the town of Tavira. A boutique hotel that combines 13 rooms with a few separate wooden houses that fit into the landscape without pretension. Owners Marta and Tiago built the formula of "quiet luxury" - a pool among orange trees, a chef who works with local produce. Day-trips to the Ria Formosa nature reserve, the white town of Tavira, and stunning sunsets at Cacela Velha.

The fourth name is Cocoon Lodges, in Comporta, by the Atlantic Ocean. Wooden cabins and apartments in a private pine forest. Multiple nominations for the Portugal Trade Awards in eco-tourism. Panoramic terraces, biological pools, free bicycles, organic gardens and wooden houses for children. The Comporta beaches are 15 kilometres away - you can ride horses, surf, kayak, and among the dunes you can sometimes see dolphins.

The fifth name is Lima Escape, on the Lima river with the Serra Amarela mountain range as a backdrop. Here the mix is varied - glamping tents, wooden treehouses, and a traditional campsite. Small rustic-style bungalows and cabins for up to four, with balconies that look onto the mountains. Pool, lagoons, bar. Nearby are the Ermida waterfalls in the national park, with options for hiking, cycling, kayaking.

What all five places have in common is not luxury - it is the idea that a holiday can also be a return to what came before Wi-Fi. A wooden cabin in the trees will not solve life's problems, but it will help you lose track of the unread emails for two or three days. And for many people, that is enough.