What happens to the Pousadas de Portugal after 31 December 2026?

The Pousadas de Portugal concession ends on 31 December 2026, less than two months from now, and as of the end of October 2026 there is no published decision on who will run the network afterwards. The government has said it wants a tender; the tender has not been launched. Stays in 2027 are still on sale on the official site.

Nothing here suggests a pousada is about to shut its doors on 1 January. But if you are planning a 2027 trip around these buildings, it helps to know what is settled, what is not, and what a sensible person does in the meantime.

What is a pousada, exactly?

A pousada is a hotel belonging to the Pousadas de Portugal network, a state creation of the 1940s. The idea, credited to António Ferro, who ran the national propaganda secretariat of the day, was small hotels that did not look like hotels: rustic, recognisably Portuguese, and rooted in a particular place. The founding law is usually dated to 1941.

According to the Portuguese paper Postal, the first pousada to open was Santa Luzia, in Elvas, on 19 April 1942. That hotel closed in July 2025; in recent years it had been run by a private operator as SL Hotel Santa Luzia, so its closure says nothing about the concession. The prototype for the whole idea, according to the official site, was Casa Lidador in Óbidos, from 1940.

The pousadas most British readers care about came later: the pousadas históricas, set in castles, convents, monasteries and palaces. The official site dates the Óbidos castle pousada to 1951. In 2003, when the current operator took over, the network counted 44 hotels and inns, of which 18 were in historic buildings. That is a 2003 figure, not a current one.

Who runs the pousadas now?

Since 1 September 2003 the pousadas have been run by Pestana (the operating company is Grupo Pestana Pousadas) under a concession from ENATUR, the company that holds the network. That arrangement came out of the privatisation of that year. Press reports in 2025 and 2026 describe ENATUR as owned 51% by the State, through Turismo de Portugal, and 49% by Grupo Pestana. Other percentages circulate for the 2003 consortium, and they do not agree with each other.

The result is an odd arrangement, which the weekly SOL described in June 2026 as Pestana being, in effect, both landlord and tenant. It helps explain why the government has wanted to «clarify the management model», in the words of its own statement.

What the government has said

The sequence, as reported by Portuguese outlets:

• November 2025. ECO reported that Turismo de Portugal wanted to buy Pestana’s stake in ENATUR. On 21 November 2025 the Ministry of Economy and Territorial Cohesion confirmed, according to Jornal de Negócios and Observador, that Turismo de Portugal had told Pestana it intended to revisit ownership of ENATUR, returning the company to full public control in 2026 under a purchase option written into the 2003 shareholder agreement. The stated aim was to clarify the management model and make the public-private partnership more efficient.
• A tender is expected. The same statement said a tender for the new concession was planned for 2026, promoted by ENATUR, with details to be known once it was launched.
• Pestana’s reply. Reported by ECO on 24 November 2025, Pestana’s chief executive, José Theotónio, said the group was not interested in selling before the end of the concession, since the expected value would be higher with a new one, but would sell at a fair price. The purchase option, according to ECO, can only be exercised after the contract ends and a new concession opens.
• Pestana intends to bid again. Jornal de Negócios reported on 24 November 2025 that Pestana said it intends to bid again, and argued for a long concession term.
• June 2026. SOL, and oRegiões a day later, reported that the ministry had launched two audits through ENATUR: one economic and financial, covering income, annual plans and openings and closures; one technical, covering the state of the buildings, their maintenance and structural problems. The audits were said to last several months and to feed the data for an international tender expected before the end of 2026.

SOL went further, reporting, citing unnamed sources, that the ministry considers the end of Pestana’s operation practically certain. The article carried no on-the-record statement from the ministry and Pestana declined to comment. That is reporting, not a decision. The latest mention, in Observador on 21 October 2026, simply notes that Pestana still holds the concession.

What is not yet known

None of the following has been announced:

• a launched tender, an extension of the current concession, or a direct award;
• who will operate the pousadas on 1 January 2027, or whether there will be a transition period;
• what happens to existing reservations, vouchers or loyalty benefits under a new operator;
• which, if any, of the pousadas would leave the network.

That last one is worth a word. SOL’s June report said some pousadas sit outside the network’s original perimeter, such as Pousada de Lisboa at Terreiro do Paço, which opened in June 2015, and Palácio do Freixo in Porto, and are tied to leases from public bodies, some of which run beyond 2026. Whether that matters in practice is not something anyone has said on the record.

Nor do the audits have published results. And the loyalty scheme on the official site, the Pestana Guest Club, belongs to the Pestana group rather than to the pousadas as such; nobody has said what happens to it under a new operator.

Can you still book a pousada for 2027?

Yes. The official Pousadas de Portugal site, which lists 35 pousadas, is selling 2027 stays. There is a New Year package for the arrival of 2027 on the Óbidos page. The Historical Routes offer, 10% off three or more consecutive nights across at least two pousadas, runs for stays up to 29 December 2027, with the exclusions of 30–31 December 2026 and 26–28 March 2027; a handful of pousadas are also excluded, listed on the offer page. The date exclusions are limits on the offer, around New Year and Easter, and not closures.

No public statement addresses how 2027 reservations will be treated once the concession ends. I would treat it like any reservation that straddles a change of management at a hotel group:

1. Read the cancellation terms before you pay, not after. Free cancellation up to a few days before arrival is worth more than a small discount this year.
2. Book direct with the pousada or the official site, so that your contract is with the operator and not with an intermediary adding a layer between you and the hotel.
3. Keep the confirmation, and any receipt for a deposit, somewhere you can find in a year: a PDF in a folder, not an email you meant to flag.
4. Look at the pousada’s own page the week you travel, as I would for any historic building in the off-season. Opening hours and restaurant days change, and that is a separate matter from who owns the contract.

If your trip is in the first months of 2027, the practical risk is low: that is the period closest to today, and no one has announced any break in service. If it is in the autumn, keep your options open.

A few historic pousadas, for the record

None of what follows is a recommendation; these are some of the buildings the news is about.

Óbidos. The official site says the pousada has been in the castle since 1951. It gives both a fifteenth-century date for the castle and older elements. As of the end of October 2026 the official page showed dinner only on Fridays and Saturdays, with lunch from 13:00 to 15:00; that is the sort of detail that changes, so check it before you go.

Évora (Convento dos Lóios). A former fifteenth-century convent, opened as a pousada on 27 March 1965 according to the Portuguese site Echo Boomer, in a piece marking its 60th anniversary in March 2025, with 36 rooms in the former cells. The official page showed the restaurant closed at lunchtime, with a bar open from 12:30 to 15:00.

Estremoz. The castle was built by King Dinis for Queen Saint Isabel in the thirteenth century, according to the official site; the pousada is named for her.

Guimarães (Mosteiro de Santa Marinha da Costa). A monastery founded in the twelfth century by the Augustinians, partly burned in 1951 according to the official site. It opened to the public as a pousada in 1985 and has 51 rooms and suites, according to Pestana’s own publication.

Flor da Rosa (Mosteiro do Crato). A Gothic monastery, adapted as a pousada in a design by João Luís Carrilho da Graça, commissioned by ENATUR in 1990. For dates, check the pousada’s own page.

Where this sits in the bigger picture

The Portuguese model, a state network run by a private operator under a time-limited concession, is the one now up for renewal. If you are weighing it against Spain’s state hotels, our piece on the Cardona castle parador is a good place to start, and our News section carries anything else of the kind. How we work and what we check is explained on the About page.

What I will be watching

Three things, in order: whether a tender notice appears, whether the government announces an extension to avoid a gap on 1 January, and whether the audits publish anything. This page will be updated when something official is announced.