Convento do Espinheiro is a hotel destination wedding venue in Évora, Portugal, hosting up to 250 guests (Aisle estimate), where a wedding for 80 guests costs about €29,000 (our estimate), reached from Lisbon Humberto Delgado (LIS), 1 hour 20 minutes by car.
Convento do Espinheiro
A 15th-century convent two kilometres outside the walls of Évora, built where a chapel had stood since at least 1365, used by Portuguese kings as a retreat, and converted into a 92-room hotel that kept the church, the cloister, the chapter house and the vaulted cellar intact.
About Convento do Espinheiro
A 15th-century convent two kilometres outside the walls of Évora, built where a chapel had stood since at least 1365, used by Portuguese kings as a retreat, and converted into a 92-room hotel that kept the church, the cloister, the chapter house and the vaulted cellar intact.
It is the largest historic venue in this collection: weddings run up to about 250 guests, with the ceremony in the Gothic church, drinks in the cloister and dinner either in the ballroom or outside in the gardens.
The 16th-century cistern is now the wine cellar, which is where the small dinners happen. Évora itself is a UNESCO World Heritage town ten minutes away, with the Roman temple, the bone chapel and enough restaurants to keep a hundred guests occupied for two days, and Lisbon is an hour and twenty by motorway.
For a large Portuguese wedding that has to be somewhere genuinely old rather than a modern hotel with old furniture, this is the most capable building in the country.
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Capacity, rooms and facilities
Money
- A wedding for 80 guests
- About €29,000, rooms extraAisle estimate
- Price
- €120 to €220 per headAisle estimate
Getting there
- Nearest airport
- LIS, 80 min by carAisle estimate
Venue highlights
- 15th-century convent with its church, cloister and chapter house intact
- Takes up to about 250 guests, the largest historic venue here
- 16th-century cistern converted into the wine cellar
- 92 rooms, so a large guest list sleeps on site
A sample wedding weekend
See the day-by-day outline+
Use this as a starting point and adapt it to your bookings and guests.
- 19:00Welcome drinks in the cloister, dinner in the wine cellar
- 11:00Guided morning in Évora, ten minutes away
- 17:00Ceremony in the convent church
- 18:00Drinks in the cloister and the gardens
- 20:00Dinner and dancing in the ballroom
- 12:00Late breakfast, then wine estates or the road back to Lisbon
Costs and booking details
- Getting there
- LIS · about 1 h 20 by carAisle estimate
Guests fly into Lisbon Humberto Delgado.
Questions about the venue
How many guests can Convento do Espinheiro seat?+
Reported wedding capacity runs to about 250 guests, with banquet seating in the ballroom quoted as high as 300 in some listings. The cloister and the wine cellar handle smaller numbers. Confirm the layout and the exact seated figure with the hotel.
Can we marry in the church?+
The convent church, Our Lady of the Hawthorn, is on the property and is used for religious ceremonies. Catholic weddings need the Évora archdiocese to authorise it and paperwork lodged months ahead, so raise it at the first enquiry.
Is there enough accommodation for our guests?+
The hotel has 92 rooms and suites across the convent and a newer wing, which covers most guest lists in one place. Évora is ten minutes away and holds plenty more if you need overflow or cheaper options for younger guests.
What is there for guests to do?+
Évora is a UNESCO World Heritage town with a Roman temple, the chapel of bones, a cathedral you can climb and a dense set of restaurants. Alentejo wine estates are 20 to 40 minutes out, which makes an easy Friday activity for a group.
How far is Lisbon?+
About one hour twenty by car on the A6 motorway, which is the easiest run of any Alentejo venue in this collection. There is also a direct train from Lisbon Oriente to Évora in around 1 h 30, then a short taxi to the convent.
Could this be your venue?
Ask about pricing and availability for the month you have in mind. You do not need a fixed date.
Still deciding? Elena is Aisle’s AI wedding planner. Give her a month and a guest count and she will forecast the budget, work out how your guests would travel, and put a first plan on paper. No account needed.
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- Dom José Beach HotelQuarteira, FaroAnother hotel
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Sources and booking notes
Confirm your dates, guest numbers, room arrangements and inclusions with the venue before booking. An enquiry does not reserve a date. Figures labelled Aisle estimate are modelled from regional rates and public sources; they are not venue quotes.