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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 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.

Spectacularly located at the confluence of the Douro and Pinhão rivers, just 22 kilometres (14 miles) upstream from Peso da Régua, the pretty town of Pinhão lies at the very heart of northern Portugal‘s famous Port wine-making region.

Nestling in a vast mountain bowl a thousand metres deep, the small whitewashed village of Curral das Freiras is one of Europe’s hidden gems and the most majestic place on the Atlantic island of Madeira.

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.

To get close to Lisbon and its residents there’s nothing better than a nostalgic roller-coaster ride in an elétrico, one of the capital’s old streetcars, which are constantly rumbling through the city’s narrow streets passing old, weather-beaten façades in one of Europe’s most dignified … Read more

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.