Reasons to visit Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal skyline at Alfama, the oldest district of the town.
Destination Portugal has everything: historic cities, world-renowned cuisine, natural landscapes, plus some of the world’s most spectacular beaches – are 10 of the greatest places to go to in Portugal here.
Once the world’s maritime leader and the longest-lived of Europe’s modern empires, Portugal includes a complex history to explore dramatic geographic landscapes alongside, turquoise beaches, a rich gastronomy scene, and all of the Port and bacalhau (salted cod fish) it is possible to require. Trace the many civilizations which have crossed Portugal in the castles, palaces, and narrow cobbled streets typical round the national country. But Portugal has some surprises, &ndash too; whale watching, natural springs, a village built from boulders, and a chapel manufactured from human skeletons, to mention some of Portugal’s top sites to see.
1. Surf the beaches of the Algarve
The Algarve, in the south of Portugal, is well-known for its stunning beaches – you can find 150 – and spectacular waves. Pun intended, the crowded south coast and head west to the less developed area of the Algarve where huge Atlantic rollers lead to awesome surfing for experts and beginners alike. Praia do Amado, on the Costa Vicentina, is Portugal’s best-known surfing beach. While its big waves have attracted international body surfing and boarding competitions, it’s family friendly with sand dunes also, cliffs, rock pools at low tide and its particular surf school. May be the wide sweep of Praia de Bordeira nearby, the most spectacular beaches in Portugal with limestone cliffs, swathes of sand dunes, great 3km and waves of golden sand. It is possible to surf, body or windsurf board at Praia do Martinhal in the Bay of Baleeira, near Sagres and enjoy garlic and oysters prawns at the wooden restaurant behind the sand dunes. At Praia do Amoreira, beyond your little town of Aljezur just, the surf is good, you can find plenty of starfish-filled rock pools to help keep youngsters happy but bring your personal picnic. To learn more, see Algarve tourist information portal.
2. Explore the castles, palaces and royal retreats of Sintra
far from Lisbon
Not, on the central western Portuguese coast, will be the forested hilltops and opulent palaces and castles of Sintra. Probably the most fantastical of the may be the gloriously decadent, colorful and styled Palá eclectically;cio da Pena. The palace was built-in the 19th century for Ferdinand II because the summer residence of the Portuguese royal family and continues to be useful for state occasions. Among the Seven Wonders of Portugal, its 19th-century Romantic architecture is really a Gothic, Renaissance and moorish mash-up. The Castelo dos Mouros is really a Moorish castle built-in the 8th and 9th centuries with amazingly well-preserved towers and ramparts. The Palácio Nacional de Sintra has iconic conical chimneys, courtyards, columns and hand-painted tiles. The Palácio Nacional de Queluz is really a Roccoco confection dating to the 18th century back, whilst the Palácio de Monserrate is from the 19th century – and the list continues on and on. Unsurprisingly, Sintra has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.
3. Go hiking in the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela
Go hiking or climbing in the rugged mountainous landscape of the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela in the heart of Portugal. It’s Portugal’largest protected section of countryside &ndash s; a lot more than 1,000sqm of rock-strewn meadows, gushing waterfalls and rivers, forested slopes, terraced fields and icy lakes – and where you’find Portugal&rsquo ll;s highest peak, &lsquo or torre;tower’ at 1,993m. There are several hikes and trails plus some dramatic drives, from Manteigas or Covilhã especially; to Torres up. On the true way around the rocky gorges, consider casais, traditional one-room stone shepherds’ huts thatched with straw. Sheeps’ wool made that one of Europe&rsquo once;s biggest wool-producing regions – there’s a museum that tells the complete story in Covilhã. The mountain town of Manteigas, using its cobbled streets and picturesque houses, makes an excellent base to explore the certain area.
4. Have a boat or perhaps a train across the Rio Douro valley
Famed because of its production of the sweet dessert Port along with other wines, the valley of the river Douro, especially the Alto (upper) Douro, includes a spectacular landscape of steep hillsides covered with vines and unbelievably, and there here, wine-producing farms quintas called. Making the trip by car shall enable you to go to the wineries, spend a night or two in just one of the quintas and even interact the grape harvest on the way but roads are winding and sometimes stomach-churningly precipitous. When you have the proper time, take the train: the Linha do Douro is among Europe’s great railway journeys, connecting Portugal’s second city of Porto with Peso da Regua along with other towns across the 200km route. Boats also make the trip up (and down) river between Porto and different points across the Alto Douro.
5. Stroll around atmospheric Lisbon
The capital of Portugal has everything: a sensational hilltop location on the river Tegus, magnificent plazas, icing-sugar cathedrals and the cobbled alleyways of the old Moorish Alfama quarter. Go to the vast waterfront mosaic square Praça do Comércio (commerce square) surrounded on three sides by 18th-century arcades and ornate facades. Don’t skip the Mosterio dos Jerónimos, a honey-colored stone confection of arches, pillars, turrets and columns and where you’ discover the body of 1 of Portugal&rsquo ll;s most well-known sons, explorer Vasco de Gama. See when you can spot the rhinos on the 16th-century Torre de Belém. Absorb the city’s jump and vibe using one of the city’s yellow trams, have a pastel da belém in a patissiere, or pay attention to mournful fado singers on an outdoor restaurant. Take the Elvador da Gloria around the top of 1 of Lisbon’s fabled seven hills, Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara – the hilltop district of Bairro Alto is where you’ll find a number of the city’s nightlife best.
6. Go with time in Monsanto back, the village built from granite boulders
The sun-baked plains, olive groves and granite outcrops in Beira Baixa in Eastern Portugal may be the land that point forgot – and where you’ll look for a village which could have recently come out of GOD, THE FATHER of the RIngs straight. Perched 2,486ft above sea level sufficient reason for breath-taking views, the village of Monsanto grew and around gigantic up, and precariously balanced seemingly, granite boulders on the relative side of the vertiginous Mons Sanctus. The boulders have already been used as floors, walls and also (nerve-wrackingly) roofs in houses that date back 500 years; consider the Casa de Uma Só Telha, the homely home with only 1 tile – an enormous lump of granite. You might see villagers singing with square Moorish tambourines called adufe, donkeys because the main type of transport round the narrow cobbled streets, and rag dolls called marafonas used to defend against sorcery. Several kilometers to the north may be the horseshoe-shaped mediaeval village of Sorthelha using its ruined castle – and much more granite. This can be a region explored by car as public transport is infrequent and slow best.
7. Party in Porto
On the mouth of the Rio Douro (river of gold) lies Porto: the town that gave its name to the united states and its most well-known export, Port. Today, Porto is Portugal’s second city and a colorful mixture of medieval relics, extravagant churches, and Beaux Arts buildings and a lively music scene. The Cais da Ribeira riverfront may be the heart of the town: tall old buildings created from granite and tile line the river front, narrow streets lie behind and Roman ruins lie underneath. You can find plenty of wine caves open for tastings. It’s not absolutely all port and historic buildings though – the populous city attracts the world’ s rock best, jazz and electro musicians; don’t skip the leading edge Musea de Arte Contemporânea and the concert space the Casa da Música.
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8. Search for a chapel created from human skeletons in Évora
The old walled citadel of Évora lies at the foot of a mountain selection of exactly the same name in your wine region of Alentejo and is among Portugal’s best-preserved medieval towns. Start in the Praça do Giraldo, that was (rather gruesomely) used being an execution ground through the Spanish Inquisition, follow the city&rsquo then;s narrow streets into light-filled squares, and pass courtyards and fountains to find the rose granite towers of Sé de Évora (the fortress-like medieval cathedral), the Corinthian columns of the Templo Romano (a Roman temple that became a medieval fortress then your town’s slaughterhouse) and the Igreja Real de Sao Francisco and the 16th-century Capella dos Ossos (chapel of bones) where human skulls along with other bones – some 5,000 bodies may be the estimate – are cemented in to the walls. Outside the populous city, you can view proof even older inhabitants: Neolithic stone circles.
9. Whale watching and thermal springs in the Azores
The Azores, some 1,500km (930 miles) to the west of Lisbon in the Atlantic Ocean, have one of the better marine habitats in the global world for marine mammals – 25 % of the world’s known species have already been identified off its coasts. Some say it’s because underwater cliffs on the Azores create an ideal feeding ground. Escape on boat anytime of year and you may be prepared to see pilot and sperm whales and several various kinds of dolphin. April to June you could also see blue from, humpback, orcas, fin, minke, and several other whales. On dry land back, relax in a spa. The hawaiian islands were created out of erupting lava an incredible number of years back (even though youngest island, Pico, is 300,000 yrs . old). You can find huge extinct volcanoes, steaming fumeroles and geo-thermal springs – hot, cold, sulphurous, salty, sparkling, water gushes from the rock face still. It is possible to bathe inside it, drink it, and cook food in the bottom.
10. Have a gondola ride round the canals of Aveiro, the Venice of Portugal
Hop aboard among the brightly painted, flat-bottomed barcos moliceiros to explore the labyrinthine waterways of Aveiro, a town lying on the edge of a massive lagoon in the Baixo Vouga sub-region of Portugal. Dating to the Romans back, who called the area Aviarium (‘host to birds’), Alveiro prospered as a seaport in medieval times. The Newfoundland cod-fishing grounds were discovered by Alverio’s João salt and Afonso from Alveiro’s salt pans was used to preserve the fish bacalhau, an attribute ingredient in Portuguese cuisine. Later a storm blocked the mouth of the river Vouga rendering it inaccessible to sea-faring vessels also it wasn’t before 19th century that Alveiro was reconnected to the ocean via the Barra Canal, and its own fortunes were reversed; the pastel-colored Art Nouveau houses lining the canal are out of this right time. A ride using one of the original seaweed-gathering barcos moliceiros will provide you with the very best views of the city and the São Jacinto Nature Reserve on the salt marshes. There’s a lively fish market and the 15th-century Convento de Jesus includes a museum.
