Fodor's Expert Review Vivenda Dos Palhacos

This 100-year-old restored Portuguese home—with a lovely front porch, elegant dining room, and cozy living room—has lots of pizzazz thanks to owners Simon and Charlotte Hayward, and yet maintains an intimate feel. The rooms and bathrooms evoke the spirit of the siblings' experiences in Bengal and Tamil Nadu—an all-white loungy Ooty Room, named for a hill station; an antique-filled plush Alipore (a posh neighborhood in Kolkata) Room with a narrow, elongated bathroom; a red-hued room, evoking rural Madras, with an outdoor bathroom. The inn's gem might just be the Lorry Bar, an actual lorry (cargo truck) that's been modified to become a watering hole. The rural setting means possible street encounters with stray dogs, pigs, and roosters—not unusual in Indian villages.