Porto
A beautiful coastal city set on the Douro River and known for its beautiful Baroque monuments, stately bridges and port wine production. A great city for sampling local food and wines!

The Douro Valley 
Known as the Port Wine Country located in the north of Portugal, it is a river, a valley and a famous wine growing region and popular river cruising destination.

Lisbon
Portugal’s capital city full of historical treasures and a fabulous gastronomy destination. It is a great city to explore on foot with its historical centre and picturesque suburbs.

The Algarve
Portgual’s southernmost region known for stunning beaches and resorts. Whitewashed villages  surrounded by rolling hills over look the Atlantic where there is over 200km of coastline to explore.

Islands of the Azores
An archipelago in the mid-Atlantic  known for dramatic landscapes, green pastures and sparkling lake filled calderas.

Portugal can be visited year round. July and August can be quite hot.

I adore the Douro – dense forests, groves of impossibly tall thin eucalyptus and vineyards carved into steep ravines. Dotted along the river are villages of whitewashed houses with orange tiled roofs and simple little churches with a plaza in front where the locals meet to chat. The only way to experience it is by cruising – we stop at villages in the morning, then after a three course lunch with local wines we siesta on the sun deck with the odd splash in the pool….

Brett Barclay, Director

Currency Euro

Language Portuguese

Why we love it Cruising the Douro River through spectacular scenery, drinking a local Port wine, dining on some of the incredible seafood and stopping at little villages where life seems to have stood still. Or wandering the boulevards of Lisbon – a favourite city in Europe that many have yet to discover. Spending an evening at a Fado club being swept away by music of such emotion.

Weather The months of May to October and warm and dry, the winter months tend to be colder.

Social customs & quirks Like citizens of many other Mediterranean Sea nations, the Portuguese take great pride in their food, family and fashion. Men in berets and women in black shawls still believe in evil eyes and other ancient superstitions in rural villages. Many Portuguese are very conservative and very polite.

Festivals & events The normally conservative and polite Portuguese have plenty of occasions to let their hair down and celebrate throughout the year. Each community has both its own patron saint and saint’s day celebrated with church processions, dancing, music, wine, and fireworks.  However, no Portuguese celebration is livelier than Carnaval in February. Each community celebrates in its own way, but none is bigger than in Lisbon’s Parque Nações, whose street parades and theatrical performances are filled with elaborate costumes, masks and floats which take several weeks to build. The Algarve celebrates Carnaval by sailing carefully decorated traditional Portuguese boats along the coast.

Health* Currently there are no compulsory health requirements to visit Portugal.

Notes *Please be aware that Health information is subject to change at any time and you should always double check these requirements at the time of booking and before travel.