Pousada in Marao
Pousada in Marao – Hotel Sao Goncalo
Situated on the Marao Mountain range and about 20 kilometres from Amarante and Vila Real in Portugal, the Pousada do Marao provides delightful hotel accommodation and magnificent views of the mountains and Tamega valley.
Guests staying at the Pousada should take the opportunity to visit the Palace of Mateus.
This beautiful house is the home of the Earl of Vila Real. 
The picture of the house became famous worldwide by appearing on every bottle of Mateus Rose – it is believed a payment of 1 escudo was received per picture.
The adventurous might like to take an early morning bus to Amarante and then the train for the twelve kilometre trip down the Tamega River valley to Livracao.
Here you might want to change to the main line for the journey along the Douro to Regua.
Yet another train, this time narrow gauge, takes you up the River Corgo to Vila Real where you catch the Amarante bus back to the Pousada. One of the most interesting train journeys in Europe.
In spring the hills are covered with yellow flowering broom.
Service was excellent with attentive, friendly staff. Great views although the proximity of a busy road was a little disconcerting. Food was good but slightly repetitive. Certainly a good choice to explore the Douro valley region.
My elderly mom and I stayed in this pousada for 2 nights and enjoyed our stay immensely. We felt like we were at a hunting lodge out in the middle of the mountains. It was a great base to visit the Mateus Palace and Amarante, Vila Real area. Wonderful and kind friendly staff. Try the local wine, excellent. Accommodations were very comfortable but yes lighting in bedroom was rather dim. Beautiful views to wake up to, excellent food and very caring staff. Nice , small and intimate yet very accommodating to meet every need. We were very pleased but those curvy roads !!!!!
This was the second pousada on our journey and we loved it. Once again, due to the lack of reservation info, we had to figure out parking after arrival, but our room was comfortable, breakfast was very good, the staff was friendly and the views are stunning. Dinner was disappointing, but the commanding vistas compensated. Bed-side reading lights in all the pousadas we visited were abysmal.
Marao – was by far the best of all (8 Pousadas). Location spectacular, room and hotel very clean and comfortable, staff exceptionally pleasant and helpful.
Food and service were superb.
I stayed in this Pousada last month and luckily it snowed for a couple of days. Although this was not good news to local working inhabitants I had a lot of fun. The landscape became something you only see in postcards.