With a lush landscape dotted with golden beaches, historic villages and picturesque coastal towns, Portugal offers everything you’re looking for and more in a European escape. These are the top places in Portugal that you won’t want to miss.
Lisbon
Stretching along the banks of the Tagus River near the Atlantic, Portugal’s capital and largest city is perched atop seven hills. Alleyways charmingly snake between the colorful, centuries-old buildings and the elegant St. George’s Castles peek out onto the skyline. It’s famous for its almost always sunny weather, beautiful nearby beaches, tasty cuisines and bargain prices, at least compared to many of Europe’s other major cities. If you want to find well-priced souvenirs, you’ll often find unique treasures cheaply priced at the historic Feira da Ladra flea market. One of the best ways to experience it is to take one of the vintage trams – the popular Tram 28 winds past beautiful gardens, historic quarters and many of the city’s top attractions.
Sintra
In 1809, Lord Byron penned a letter to his friend Francis Hodgson that read, “I must just observe that the village of Cintra in Estremadura is the most beautiful in the world.” One of the most beautiful small towns in Portugal, it sits at the edge of Europe and has charmed countless visitors for centuries. The Romans made it a place of cult moon worshiping, and since 1840, Pena Palace has been the highlight as one of the continent’s most fantastic palaces, surrounded by mystical Pena Park, filled with a variety of trees and exotic plants from the former colonies of the Portuguese empire, ponds, fountains, and black swans. The palace itself includes two wings that are ringed by a third architectural structure that’s a fantasized version of a castle, with walls that one can walk around that comprise watchtowers, battlements, an entrance tunnel and a drawbridge.
Porto
While it’s world-famous for its production of fine port wine, Porto has got a long list of other things to do. At its heart is the Ribeira, an atmospheric pedestrian zone on the river, with live music, cafes, restaurants and street vendors. Its winding, cobbled streets were made for wandering. Most of its beauty is seen in the historic city center where the churches and public buildings are truly works of art, including the Church of Sao Francisco with an elaborate Gothic rose window and a niche with a figure of the saint on the main façade. The 12th-century fortress-cathedral where Prince Henry the Navigator was baptized is also a must-see, along with the majestic Palacio da Bolsa, Porto’s former stock exchange.
Madeira Island
Known as the “Floating Garden of the Atlantic,” this Madeira Island is a fertile oasis in the North Atlantic, located about 250 miles north of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It’s popular for its mild climate, lush green landscapes, flower gardens and wines. It’s a great place for kayaking, where one can paddle to enchanting bays and marine caves that are only accessible by watercraft, as well as for hiking, with its eastern region a nature reserve that offers panoramic views of the Atlantic and striking volcanic rock formations. Other highlights include visiting the Orchid Garden and the Laurissilva Forest, which harbors the world’s largest concentration of laurel. Funchal, its capital and largest city, is home to historic churches, fortresses, tourist resorts and restaurants as well as the tree-lined Lido Promenade.
Braga
Sometimes referred to as Portugal’s spiritual heart, Braga is known for its exquisite Baroque churches, like the 17th century Igreja de Santa Cruz which features an intricate stone façade. The town is also famous for its sprawling cathedral. Situated in its historic center, construction began back in the 11th century and was influenced by a combination of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. The Roman ruins of Bracara Augusta, a city founded by Emperor Augustus between 300 BC and 400 AD, can still be seen here as well.
Peneda Geres National Park
Peneda Geres National Park is a beautiful park in the extreme north region of Portugal. It borders Spain and is rugged, wild and breathtaking. A jumble of lush green valleys, oak forests, plateau peat bogs and 300-million-year-old granite peaks, paved trails that once linked villages to upland summer pastures now serve as scenic hiking trails. The park is home to some of the few wolves in Europe, as well as deer, wild boar, ibex, fox and otters. You might even spot some wild ponies – the Garrano ponies are among its most famous inhabitants, native to the region since the Celtic era during the first millennium BC. By visiting in April or May, you can enjoy the spring flowers in full bloom.
Aveiro
This hidden gem sits on the Atlantic coast and is often referred to as the “Venice of Portugal,” with its beautiful setting of picturesque canals filled with colorful gondolas and boats all connected by lovely bridges. It also boasts a number of attractive Art Nouveau-style buildings, many of which sit along the main channel. Be sure to check out the city’s many popular sights like Aveiro Cathedral, the São Gonçalinho Chapel and the Convento de Jesus. With the combination of magnificent scenery, historic sites and delicious cuisine, Aveiro is truly a place not to be missed.
Evora
For a small town, Evora offers a lot, including a history that dates back over 2,000 years that can be glimpsed through its well-preserved Old Town. It shelters more than 4,000 historic structures, including Roman walls and temples, as well as the 13th-century Cathedral of Evora, one of the most important Gothic structures in the country. One of the best-known monuments in this ancient city is Capela dos Ossos, or Chapel of Bones, a small interior chapel that sits next to the entrance of the Church of St. Francis. It gets its name because the walls are covered with human skulls and bones as the final resting place for hundreds of bodies that were exhumed from city graves.
Cape St. Vincent, Algarve
The most southwestern point in Europe, this vast nature reserve is some of the most stunning protected coastline in Europe. It stretches for more than 60 miles from Porto Covo in the Alentejo to Burgau in the Algarve. One of its highlights is the lighthouse at the tip of the Cape, where you can watch some of the most glorious sunsets in the world. Many people head here, especially in the summer, to celebrate the sun going down by playing bongos and other percussion instruments. When the last ray of light dissipates, the crowd begins to applaud. The lighthouse dates back to 1846 and was constructed on the old ruins of a Franciscan monastery which paid homage to Saint Vicente, whose bones were reputedly found in the cliffs and after whom the headland is named.
Coa Valley Archaeological Park
This unique park is home to a magnificent collection of rock carvings from the Upper Palaeolithic period – it narrowly escaped destruction during a proposed dam-building project before being created in 1996 to protect and turn local rock art into a museum. Today, the park has a system that promotes the balance between enjoying the space and preserving the engravings that date back thousands of years, as well as the landscape that shelters them. Guided tours via all-terrain vehicles will take you to the four most important nuclei of the valley, Penascosa, Canada do Inferno, Ribeira de Piscos and Fariseu.
