Casa do Pinheiro Manso - Country House in Vila Praia de Âncora, Viana do Castelo

Quinta Trás o Rio is a large house, set in the hills outside the coastal town of Viia Praia de Âncora. It has six bedrooms, a swimming pool, large garden and ample parking. Its location in the hills ensures cooling breezes for a comfortable temperature in Summer. Porto airport is 50 minutes away. The house itself is stone built and rather rambling once inside. There are numerous stairs both inside and out. My ten year old grandson christened it : The House of Stairs. Families with toddlers should take care. The house is fully furnished in a rather old fashioned style. And could do with a refresh. The kitchen is small (we were 10 adults, plus five children) and large families will find this awkward at mealtimes. The owner and his assistant were helpful in fixing one or two issues that arose during our stay. Overall, my extended family really enjoyed our two week stay at the house. Two major points though. Firstly, the pool is not heated and hence quite cold, despite our mid-July stay. Houses at this price point should have pool heating, and other owners who do have this charge a weekly Eu 200/ week or so for this. Which most visitors are very willing to pay. Secondly, the Wi-Fi is virtually non-existent. The mini router in the house has a range of 5 metres, and the speed of an old modem. This is not acceptable for a house of this quality. Finally, the VRBO listing shows air conditioning under the facilites offered at the house. There isn’t!

This villa provided us with excellent, spacious family accommodation, ideal for children who love to explore.. The pool was a good size and thoroughly enjoyed by all. We would definitely recommend this property for large family groups.

The grounds are unbelievably beautiful and well maintained. The owner greeted us on the first day and provided some vinho verde. The house was spacious and perfect for the size of our group. The kids loved it, too. We had lovely meals in the backyard while hearing the chimes from the nearby church and the bells from the adorable goats next door. I would stay here again. It is worth knowing that the pool is not heated and some of the amenities are dated. All worth it to stay here. This place was a dream!

We (5 families) spent wonderful and relaxing holidays in this beautiful property. The house and the surrounding park are great and well-maintained, the view is amazing. As heavy users of the kitchen we miss a little more professional equipment, the WiFi is weak sometimes, the washing machine a little eccentric ;-) but we enjoyed very much the time at Tras-O-Rio and the service from Maria and the whole team. I'm sure we will come back.

Excellent place, where we - 3 families, 1 persons total - really enjoyed our stay.

We had a wonderful stay at Quinta Tras o Rio. The house was well maintained, well equipped, and had ample space with all the bedrooms and bathrooms. The pool and patio were relaxing, and the gardens were extraordinary, truly beautiful. A wonderful property. Thank you,

The house is very beautiful and typical. It is ideal for a group of 15 people ! We could enjoy the huge garden and the swimming pool plus visiting many interest places in the area (Guarda, Porto etc...). The owner was very nice and easy to communicate with. I highly recommend this place !

3 Swedish families, 14 people, shared this beatiful house for a week! Our host, Fransisco was most friendly and helpful! The house was well planned and well equipped! We loved both the house and the beautiful garden surrounding it!

We have just returned from 2 weeks in Tras O Rio, with a family party of 12. The property is magnificent. It is set in beautiful grounds with the best furnishing indoors. The owner, Francisco, could not have been more welcoming and accomodating, even driving us around the local sights with his English speaking daughter to accustomise us to the area. As mentioned in a previous review he even supplied us with boxes of wine following our arrival. There were around seven bikes available for our free use, with around 20 minutes ride to the nearest beach and supermarket. Overall a fantastic holiday . I would not hesitate to recommend Quinta Tras O Rio for any large gathering.

Our stay at Quinta Trás o Rio was nothing short than magnificent. We were a group of 16 student friends from Germany and this house was the best place in Portugal to spend time together. The villa and the surrounding garden are enormous and very spacious. The house is well equipped, well looked after and tidy, with enough bed- and bathrooms for this amount of people, plus a dining room and a living room. The kitchen provides everything one needs, there is even a brick oven for pizzas. The garden is really beautiful and every dinner we were sitting outside at a big table, having a barbecue or else, enjoying the surrounding area and the sun set. The house is set in a very friendly, rural area not far from the beach. You can easily reach it by bike or walking. The area invites you to do many outdoor activities. We for example had a wonderful time surfing, biking and hiking. Vila Praia de Ancora itself is quite a nice place to enjoy good restaurants, cafés or a stroll around the city. The owner Francisco Verde Lírio was always really helpful, but discreet and was quickly reached via phone if there were any questions. It was very kind of him to give us two boxes of wine. So all in all everything came true as promised in the description and these 10 days at Quinta Trás o Rio will remain in our memory as one of the nicest holidays we ever had. I recommend a stay there 100% :)