Roughly rectangular in shape and with a population of around ten million people, Portugal has much to offer the modern visitor – young and old alike. It’s a land of fine wine, fairy-tale castles and palaces and long sandy beaches … Read more
Listen to the Portugal Travel Show, the podcast for people planning a trip to sunny Portugal. Tune in for lots of travel tips, destination features, sightseeing suggestions, cool music and everything else you’ll need for a happy holiday in Lisbon, … Read more
Put a note in your diary, June is the month of the Festas de Lisboa when the city explodes into life with merrymaking in the streets and sardines sizzling on every corner.
One of the most joyful expressions of love and happiness can be witnessed in the faces of the Noivas de Santo António (Brides of St Anthony) who take their wedding vows in the hallowed setting of Lisbon’s magnificent Sé Cathedral each … Read more
Along with the imposing Castle of São Jorge, Lisbon’s strikingly eye-catching Tower of Belém is one of the city’s most iconic edifices.
Portugal is a land of pageants, processions, lively country fairs and other joyful folklore-based festivities where tourists who happen upon them by accident can expect the unexpected.
When visitors arrive in Lisbon‘s historic centre of Belém, the first building they see is the imposing Jerónimos Monastery, impressive for its sheer size and without doubt one of the most spectacular monuments in the whole of Europe.
The Iberian wolf might be an endangered species but several of them can be seen roaming free at the Centro de Recuperação do Lobo Ibérico (CRLI) near Mafra in central Portugal.
Lying at the east end of a rocky range of mountains just 26 kilometres west of Lisbon, the fairy-tale setting of Sintra is one of the oldest and most charming places in southern Europe.
The Glória Funicular (known locally as the Ascensor da Glória) was the second of its kind to operate in the heart of the Portuguese capital.
Comprising a palace, monastery and church, the vast royal edifice of Mafra is one of the largest historical buildings in Europe and a must-see monument for people visiting the Greater Lisbon area.
Blessed with a prime location on Europe’s south-west coast, Portugal offers visitors a great variety of leisure options with a wide range of sports activities to match, not to mention a temperate climate with plenty of year-round sunshine.
Charles Lindbergh might have received global recognition for his solo air crossing of the Atlantic in 1927, but it was two Portuguese pilots – Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral (pictured left and right, respectively) – who had previously set the … Read more
One epic achievement still much talked about and celebrated the world over is that of Ferdinand Magellan, the intrepid Portuguese navigator who led the first fleet of vessels to successfully circumnavigate the globe in the early 16th century.
Crying out to be traversed and fully explored, the Minho region in the north-western corner of Portugal is the oldest and arguably the most characteristic part of the country.
Looking upwards on a clear night, it’s difficult not to wonder how the heavens guided Portugal’s great discoverers towards new horizons in the late Middle Ages.
Portugal’s most celebrated poet, Luís Vaz de Camões (c 1524-1580), lived an extraordinarily eventful life by any stretch of the imagination.
A short drive to the north-east of Fátima lies Ourém, a loftily-perched medieval town clustered around an ancient, well-preserved castle.
Visible from most parts of Lisbon and beyond, the imposing statue of Christ the King (Cristo Rei) stands a striking 82 metres (270 feet) high on its angular pedestal overlooking the south bank of the River Tagus.
The year 1942 was a very turbulent one but it did spawn one of the world’s most iconic and popular table wines.
Set in sprawling gardens in the Sete Rios district of Lisbon, the Jardim Zoológico (Lisbon Zoo) has been operating for over a hundred years.
Laid out flat between the Atlantic and the Alentejo like a vast patched picnic blanket, the Estremadura region is one of the most varied in the whole of Portugal.
Known as the Venice of Portugal, Aveiro is surrounded by salt-flats, beaches and lagoons and dominated by the Central Canal running through the centre of town.
When William Shakespeare mentioned Madeira wine in his late-16th century play ‘Henry IV, Part 1’, it seems he was already very well aware of its intoxicating virtues.
It’s easy to see why the Algarve has become such a popular holiday destination over the past 30 years or so. Mile upon mile of superb golden beaches stretch along Portugal’s southern tip – and they really are golden, powdered down … Read more
The world’s most original and attractive elevator tower is a filigree-style metal construction looming over downtown Lisbon.
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.
One of the jewels in Portugal’s tourism crown is the rocky, windswept headland called Cabo da Roca, mainland Europe’s most westerly point.
Built into the side of a thickly wooded hill on the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal’s Estádio Nacional is one of the more intriguing football stadiums in Europe.
Located on a hill above the River Cavado, Barcelos is one of the prettiest places in the north of Portugal.
When King Manuel II sailed off into the sunset on the 5th of October 1910, it marked the end of the Portuguese monarchy.
Latin but not Mediterranean, cosmopolitan but not over-crowded, Portugal is a country where a fair portion of the population still lives as people have always lived – in peaceful places far away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.
With its colourful vistas, wide-open roads and dazzling whitewashed villages, the great expanse of the Alentejo is perhaps the most vivid of Portugal’s landscapes.
One of the highest sea cliffs in the world is Cabo Girão, a rugged headland that looms menacingly over Madeira’s southern shoreline, just 15 kilometres west of the island’s capital, Funchal.
Although Catarina de Bragança, the queen-consort of Charles II, didn’t introduce tea to England, she certainly made the afternoon tea dance fashionable, and due to her influence tea has become the widely-drunk beverage we enjoy today.
Once a rich and powerful city, Silves today is a sleepy town lying in the foothills of the Serra de Monchique mountains in the western Algarve.
Since the 1970s, the picturesque fishing town of Albufeira in the central coastal region has been the undisputed tourist capital of the Algarve, in winter as well as summer.
One of the best travel books about Portugal was written by the English author Rose Macaulay just after World War II.
The attractive little town of Luso on the north-west slope of the Serra do Buçaco lies just 3 km from the northern tip of Buçaco Forest, one of the jewels in the central Portugal‘s tourism crown.
Named after St Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, Santana is a village of hedgerows and flowers on the north coast of Madeira Island.
Portugal’s most acclaimed piece of art is the six-panelled 15th-century painting by Nuno Gonçalves depicting a group of 58 people assembled together as a monumental representation of both the Portuguese royal family and a cross-section of the country’s high society.
The Berlengas form an archipelago of extraordinary red rock formations located twelve kilometres off the coast of Peniche in central Portugal.
Benfica’s magnificent Stadium of Light is a modern version of the one built in the early 1950s, which began life as a large open bowl before floodlights were added four years later.
Rich from centuries of trade, the ancient city of Porto is as much a cosmopolitan centre as it is a place steeped in the historical events of the past.
Falconry has been practiced in the fertile plains, mountains, forests, rivers and meadows of old Portugal since the 12th century in a tradition that has remained largely unchanged for centuries.
Having existed as a country for almost nine centuries, Portugal is one of the oldest places in Europe with strong traces of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic culture to be seen across the land.
Overlooked by one of Portugal‘s most important shrines, Lamego is an ancient episcopal centre lying within the Upper Douro’s demarcated port wine area.
Running the length of Portugal’s south-eastern border with neighbouring Spain, the River Guadiana rises up from the heart of the Spanish province of Albacete at an altitude of 1,700 metres.
Distilled from the fruit of the arbutus tree (also known as the strawberry tree) which grows abundantly in the Monchique and Caldeirão mountains, aguardente de medronho – or simply medronho – is the firewater of choice for many people living in … Read more
Easter is a much-celebrated occasion all over Portugal but Braga, the country’s ecclesiastical capital, transforms itself into a place of pure pilgrimage and intense religious fervour during the popular Holy Week (Semana Santa) festivities.
With its tilting terrain and subtropical climate, Madeira’s flower power ranges from orchids tottering on three-foot-long stems and bougainvillea in bursting shades of red and purple.
Enveloped in a Moorish wall, the diminutive whitewashed village of Óbidos was deemed so enchanting that it was gifted to a queen, not once but many times throughout the centuries.
Approached through attractive wooded hills in the lush, green Minho region of northern Portugal, Citânia de Briteiros is one of the most impressive archaeological sites in Portugal and by far the largest and most thrilling fortified Celto-Iberian settlement in the … Read more
Perched high above the River Guadiana close to the frontier with Spain, the tiny medieval walled village of Monsaraz to the east of Évora is one of the most atmospheric places in the entire Alentejo region.
Set on a great granite escarpment with sweeping views across the vast plains of the Alentejo region, the walled village of Marvão is one of the prettiest places in the whole of southern Europe.
With its picturesque beaches and quaint fishing boat-bobbing waters, Cascais is far removed from the hustle and bustle of nearby Lisbon.
Portugal’s highly-regarded and much-savoured Pastel de Belém celebrates its 188th birthday this year, but its ingredients remain a closely guarded secret.
Compact and cosmopolitan, Lisbon is a walker’s dream come true with much to see in just a couple of hours and plenty of refined refreshment breaks along the way.
The great earthquake of 1755 wasn’t exclusive to Lisbon; in fact, the epicentre was calculated to have been out in the Atlantic some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south-west of the Algarve.
The Portuguese have a very strong attachment to their beliefs, customs and capabilities, which thankfully means that Portugal’s traditional art of handicrafts hasn’t been discarded as a result of the country’s rapid modernisation since the 1974 revolution.
The Phoenicians first brought olive trees across the Mediterranean to Portugal and the Romans were successful in cultivating the groves and pressing the olives to attain the precious oil.
One of the more unusual features in the streets around Rossio, Lisbon’s bustling central square, are the small bars with their dated interiors selling ginjinha, the local name for morello cherry brandy.
It is widely claimed that Portugal is the land of the azulejo painted tile and in no other country and by no other people has it been used on such a vast scale or in such an original way.
One of the most memorable times to be visiting Portugal is late winter/early spring when the country explodes into a frenzy of song and dance as the annual carnival season gets underway.
Taking a stroll down Lisbon‘s memory lane, through the historic square mile of Belém, the place from which Portugal‘s fearless adventurers set sail for unknown lands in the 15th and 16th centuries, is one of the highlights of any person’s visit to the capital.
One of the most legendary and influential figures of Portugal’s long and chequered history is Afonso Henriques, the country’s first king.
The story of Évora dates back more than twenty centuries to Celtic times. This fascinating museum-city reached its golden age in medieval times when it became the residence of Portuguese kings.
As its name implies, the lovely town of Caldas da Rainha (Queen’s Spa) an hour’s drive north of Lisbon in central Portugal preserves the eternal and loving memory of one of the country’s most popular queens – Leonor – whose … Read more
Along with its glorious stretch of golden coastline, Lisbon was a hive of spying activity during World War II, with many secret agents from both sides operating under the cover of their diplomatic status.
Sitting comfortably between the Lima Estuary and the rolling hills of Portugal‘s enchanting Minho region, Viana do Castelo boasts an extended history with vestiges of human habitation dating back as far as the Stone Age.