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Curated itineraries, local tips and inspiration for your next adventure in Portugal.
Fifteen minutes from Mértola, an abandoned mine looks like another planet. Forty minutes away, Serpa guards the Alentejo's best cheese. An hour south, you can zipline from Portugal to Spain. Mértola isn't just a destination, it's a launchpad for full days of exploration.
While everyone plans their Algarve pilgrimage, Almada has kilometres of nearly empty coastline from March to June. From Costa da Caparica to the coves of Arrábida, this is the guide for beach days without crowds, and good bars at sunset.
At Easter, the municipality of Mafra becomes an artisan pastry operation. From overnight-leavened folares to sugar-coated almonds presented with bureaucratic solemnity, this guide takes you from Ericeira's bakeries to the confectioneries of central Mafra.
The Guy Fino Tapestry Museum alone justifies the drive to Portalegre, but the city has more to offer, and one museum you can skip without guilt. An honest guide to which collections are worth your time in the Upper Alentejo.
Portalegre doesn't appear on anyone's top ten, and that's exactly the point. The capital of Upper Alentejo has a tapestry museum unlike anything in the world, unfussy Alentejo cooking, and the Serra de São Mamede right next door. A weekend for two for under €250.
In Portalegre, the daily set menu costs under €12 and includes black pork migas made by people who still raise their own animals. In an Alentejo without too many tourists, the table is honest, and that makes all the difference.
Portalegre has no beach, no airport, and the nearest train stops in Elvas. But it has medieval quarters with traces of the old Jewish community, a tapestry museum that rivals any Lisbon gallery, and old-town tascas where lunch with wine stays under €15.
Portalegre has the best museum nobody visits, a mountain range with Iberian lynx and full dinners for €15 with wine. The Alentejo that locals know but never recommend, because nobody asks.
Caldas da Rainha doesn't make the usual hiking lists in Portugal. In April, with deserted cliffs, the Óbidos Lagoon at full capacity, and perfect walking temperatures, that might be just fine, more trail for those who know where to look.
Braga's Holy Week is Portugal's largest religious celebration, hooded, barefoot farricocos carry torches through darkened streets in processions dating back centuries. A practical guide covering 2026 dates, where to watch, what to eat, and how to get there.
In April, the Alentejo plains become one of Europe's most underrated botanical spectacles, from wild orchids on the N370 roadside embankments to entire fields of poppies near the Alqueva reservoir. Santarém is the ideal base for exploring it all.
Sines is more than refineries and container ships. Vasco da Gama's birthplace hides an Atlantic-facing castle, near-deserted beaches to the south, and fried cuttlefish that rivals the best in Setúbal.