The real question with Portugal is: what took us so long? Fresh seafood, flower-filled meadows, empty beaches and handsome cities — they’ve always been there. Now, finally, a critical mass of us is aware, too. Year-round flight deals and the crazy-cheap cost of living are helping to take us beyond the Algarve to all sorts of gorgeous spots that still somehow feel secret.
Want a weekend city break? Well, there’s Lisbon, of course, squeezed between the hills where the blue Tagus meets the shimmering Atlantic, and with buzzing nightlife in the boho Bairro Alto neighbourhood and beyond. But it’s Porto, in the north, that’s really on the up. Millennials come to party in the bars and clubs that spill down to the River Douro. Wine buffs searching for Portugal’s Bordeaux should cruise upstream to the stepped vineyards of the Alto Douro valley, to sample Iberia’s finest reds and soak in a string of luxurious hotels.
Done that? Then there’s Coimbra — Portugal’s bonsai Bologna, where the glittering, baroque Joanina Library, ancient university and shambling hillside alleyways all echo with plaintive fado music. Or Evora, for its Roman ruins, crag-perched castles and monumental megaliths.
If sand and sea beckon, you don’t have to go as far south as the Algarve. Portuguese holidaymakers tend to give the overly popular region a miss, opting instead for a week or so in Cascais (the Portuguese answer to St Tropez) or on the quieter, wilder and often cooler Alentejo coast, south of Lisbon. Book a villa in low-key Troia for bottle-green waves crashing on endless strands, or around the fishing village of Vila Nova de Milfontes for gentle coves and toddler-friendly, clear-water rivers, packed with trout and lined with sand.
Longing for empty landscapes? Take a week, a car and a series of day walks around the Serra da Estrela (on the Spanish border, three hours’ drive from Lisbon), hiking between medieval villages that seem little changed since the Middle Ages: Linhares has stone houses built around giant boulders; Piodao is a cluster of tiny hobbit homes perched on a hillside above a rushing stream. Or join the growing number of hikers here for a week or two wandering the Vicentina Coast. Along the strip between Odeceixe and Burgau, on the Atlantic coast, you can stroll from fishing village to fishing village, across deserted beaches, past craggy cliffs crammed with nesting storks and through wildflower meadows.
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The “now” spot is tiny Comporta village, which draws low-key glam types looking for sand-between-your-toes comfort. There are endless beaches; chic-shack sardine cafes on the sand; casual restaurants serving the rice that’s grown nearby; and luxe villas, tucked away behind the pine trees and sand dunes.
The “next” spot? The wolf-hunted wilds of the Peneda-Geres National Park — Portugal’s Pyrenees, with primordial crags, steep valleys, still lakes and stone villages. It’s easy to reach (two hours north of Porto), there are several great hotels, including a pair of Pousadas de Portugal (the country’s equivalent of the Spanish paradors)… and you’ll spot more eagles than foreign tourists.
Sunvil offers tailor-made city-break and fly-drive trips from £450pp, B&B (sunvil.co.uk). EasyJet and TAP fly to Porto, Lisbon and Faro
This is a shortened version of an article that appears in the January edition of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, our glossy sister publication. Get the next five issues delivered direct to your door for just £10 (UK direct debit only). Quote the code STOFFER0118 (01293 312214, sttmsub.co.uk). See the website for full terms and conditions
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