Other culinary adventures include learning to bake bread in a wood-fired oven, vineyard tours and courses in how to blend and bottle your own variety of wine. Alternatively, a road trip along the country’s west coast will offer windswept bays, whitewashed towns and lunches of freshly grilled sardines. These diverse landscapes can be explored by rail or by sea – on a whale-spotting cruise in the Azores, for example. On the remote Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Azores, you will discover smoking fumaroles, crater lakes and some of the world’s last remaining forests of emerald laurel trees.
The countryside beckons, be it the rolling vineyards of the Douro Valley, the steamy thermal spas of the Serra da Estrela mountain or the rugged hiking trails through Portugal’s sole national park, Peneda-Gerês, where shepherds and wolves share the woodlands. Then there are the buzzing cities for short breaks: Lisbon with its vintage trams and Unesco-listed landmarks Porto and its picture-perfect Ribeira district and Coimbra for its majestic university.īut that is only part of the story. Portugal’s appeal is ever-enduring, thanks to 300 days of annual sunshine and 432 Blue Flag beaches, from the cliff-backed coves of the Algarve to the black volcanic sands of the Azores. To devotees, this may come as no surprise. According to surveys by Post Office Travel Money, Lisbon ranks as 2023’s best-value European city break and the Algarve as the cheapest overall holiday destination in the Eurozone.
The country has long been lauded for its beaches, sumptuous wines and culture-soaked cities, but this year it has also emerged as Europe’s top-value holiday spot. Planning a European getaway this summer? You will struggle to beat Portugal for both traveller satisfaction and value for money.
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