Our Story
We embrace life that's about “Creating great memories”
A Dutch couple, Mitch de Ruijte (40 years) and Marianne van Groeningen (36 years), emigrated end of 2023 to North Portugal to realize their dream: sharing their passion for travelling and creating great memories.
Mitch has a background of 22 years in Electrical Engineering, and Marianne has worked 15 years in HR, including former roles as HR-Director and European Talent Management.
After travelling to 40+ countries with a special passion for Asia (10 places visited), the name Portobali is chosen to blend the best of North Portugal with the best of Asia.
When we´ve renovated our former home in the Netherlands, we envisioned to create a place to create great memories with our families and friends.
The picture above is from our former garden, where we created our mini-resort with Zen-garden, realizing that we need to make this our profession.
We care about nature, and care about eco.
Being passionate about nature and aiming to make the most out of our life, we´ve decided to develop 4*/5* Ecoresort Portobali.
We believe sustainability & luxury can go hand-in-hand!
Via our sustainability commitment we want to contribute to a cleaner nature and better health of our guests. Examples of this are toxin-free toiletries, cleaning materials and reduce (plastic) waste.
But it doesn´t stop here, our commitment to an eco-friendly and therefor sustainable tourism accommodation goes beyond.
Our Ecoresort is dedicated to sustainability, providing an eco-conscious and luxurious experience for our guests.
Local Impact:
- Local products: Purchasing from local businesses helps keep money within the community, creating jobs and boosting the local economy.
- Local Food: Local food products are typically fresher as they don't need to travel long distances, which can also mean they retain more nutrients and flavors.
- Local Suppliers: Partnering with local suppliers helps minimize transportation emissions and strengthens community ties.
Environmental Impact:
- Eco-friendly Products: We source eco-friendly products, to take care of our guest’s health and the environment. Many toiletries and laundry products contain damaging toxins that harm people´s health and pollute nature.
- Energy-Efficient Architectural Design: Our resort is designed to maximize energy efficiency, utilizing LED and natural lighting, and harnessing natural ventilation for temperature regulation.
Circular Economy Practices:
- Upcycling: We repurpose materials into functional and artistic elements, maintaining luxury and comfort.
- Recycling: We implement rigorous recycling programs to minimize environmental impact.