north of Portugal

The green and pleasant north of Portugal is a place of traditional merry-making where annual festivals are ablaze with colourful costumes, lively processions and frenetic folk-dancing followed by a feast of fireworks.

Named after the two mountain ranges it encompasses, Peneda-Gerês National Park (Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês) is an area of outstanding scenic beauty in the extreme north of Portugal.

The story of Pedro and Inês is an intriguing one; Portugal’s very own Romeo and Juliet. In essence, it’s a story of forbidden love.

From Atlantic-fresh fish to the wild meats of the mountains, Portuguese food is distinctive and varied with many of the most popular regional dishes having evolved from age-old recipes based on locally-grown ingredients.

Bordering the south-western edge of the Iberian Peninsula, with around half of its periphery surrounded by water, Portugal’s shoreline has been a source of attraction as well as a gateway to the rest of the world for hundreds of years.

Dazzling in the theatricality of both its location and conception, Bom Jesus is a place of pilgrimage like no other – a Jacob’s ladder of religious symbols topped by an imposing church.

There’s a feeling in some parts of Portugal that bread is sacred – ‘pão é sagrado’, they say – and that it sustains life like the wafer taken at Communion.

In Portugal, a love of all things sweet is perhaps a lip-smacking legacy of the country’s long period of Moorish occupation, especially in the south of the country.

The year 1942 was a very turbulent one but it did spawn one of the world’s most iconic and popular table wines.

Located on a hill above the River Cavado, Barcelos is one of the prettiest places in the north of Portugal.

For independent visitors travelling under their own steam, there are several routes to the Portuguese capital from the Spanish frontier and other outlying areas of the country, each offering a wide variety of sightseeing opportunities along the way.