Discover
Destinations told one at a time, each with the trip that goes with it — ready to make your own.
Wide open spaces
The lagoon of the Ria Formosa, the golden limestone cliffs of Benagil and Lagos, then Cape St Vincent, which the ancients held to be the end of the inhabited world. A week’s loop from Faro, by way of the wild coast running north towards the Alentejo, and the Serra de Monchique.
Coast and islands
Between the country’s two great cities lies almost the whole of Portugal’s history: the palaces of Sintra, the royal abbeys, the wave at Nazaré, the old university of Coimbra. A week heading north, from Belém, where the caravels set sail, to Porto, which gave the country its name.
Heritage and culture
Upstream from Porto, the Douro flows between slopes of schist that generations of winegrowers have shaped into terraces. Six days on a loop, from the port lodges of Gaia to the far reaches of the Douro Superior, by way of Lamego, Pinhão and the viewpoints.
Wide open spaces
From Chaves, a stone’s throw from Galicia, to Faro, on the edge of the Ria Formosa, a single road crosses the whole of Portugal through its interior. Eight days of vines, pine woods and cork oaks — provided you leave the motorway to those in a hurry.
Wide open spaces
South of the Tagus, inland Alentejo is a region of cork-oak plains, white villages on their hilltops and fortresses facing Spain. A six-day loop from Évora, by way of the Guadiana, Lake Alqueva and the ridge of Marvão.
Wide open spaces
In northern Portugal, facing Galicia, the Minho is a land of granite, rain and maize, and it was here that the kingdom was born. Six days on a loop from Braga, through Peneda-Gerês park, its mountain villages and the border river down to the Atlantic.
Mountains and passes
In the heart of the country, the highest range in mainland Portugal still bears the marks of glaciers, of flocks and of a long-contested border. A six-day loop from Guarda, from the fortified villages of the Beira to the lakes of the plateau, and on to the schist houses of Piódão.
Wide open spaces
For more than a hundred kilometres the river carves the border between Portugal and Spain. From Bragança to Foz Côa the villages stay perched, the road switches banks over the crests of the dams, and the viewpoints make the whole journey.