Guides & Articles

Guide

Arraiolos Beyond the Rug: Castle, Convent and Marble Villages

Almost everyone goes to Arraiolos to buy a rug and leaves by late morning. That's a mistake. There's a circular castle on top of the hill, a convent covered in tiles by Oliveira Bernardes, and thirty minutes east the marble quarries of the Vila Viçosa-Borba-Estremoz triangle. This is the rug-less version.

12 May 2026 · Arraiolos

Guide

Tomar's Best Cafés: What to Order at Each

In Tomar, proper breakfast happens at the counter, elbow on marble, galão for a euro. This is the opinionated guide to the cafés worth your time, and exactly what to order at each, without clichés or cocoa-dusted cappuccinos.

11 May 2026 · Tomar

Guide

Tomar with Kids: An Honest Family Guide

The Convent of Christ is enormous and they'll want ice cream by 11am. But Tomar works with kids, on its own terms: stale bread for the Nabão's carp, shade in the Sete Montes forest, and rural quintas 15 minutes from the center where the silence is actually silent.

11 May 2026 · Tomar

Guide

Tomar at the Table: Where Locals Actually Eat

Forget the laminated menus on Rua Serpa Pinto. Locals eat lunch at 12:30 sharp behind plastic strip curtains on the right bank of the Nabão, ten euros for soup, main, and house wine. Here's the honest guide.

11 May 2026 · Tomar

Guide

Tomar Beyond the Templars: The Side Nobody Visits

Everyone climbs up to the Convent of Christ and leaves before dinner. But Tomar only starts after five in the afternoon, when the buses pull out and the town goes back to its locals. Three days, three quintas, and the industrial Tomar nobody bothers to see.

11 May 2026 · Tomar

Guide

The Other Side of Tomar: Beyond the Templars

Most visitors arrive in Tomar for the Convent of Christ and leave at sundown convinced they've seen the city. They haven't. The real Tomar starts at 6pm, when the buses leave, and this is the honest guide to finding it.

11 May 2026 · Tomar

Guide

Festival Med Loulé: World Music in the Algarve

Four nights in June when Loulé's old town closes to cars and opens its squares to over a hundred concerts from the Mediterranean, Africa and the Arab world. Where to sleep, where to eat octopus rice before the first set, and why the small stages are always the best ones.

11 May 2026 · Loulé

Guide

Walking Mogadouro: The Rock-Cut Wine Presses Trail

Twelve kilometres across the Planalto Mirandês, seven wine presses cut into the rock two thousand years ago, and almost nobody on the way. An honest guide to walking Mogadouro with decent boots, a paper map and a room booked at A Casa do Gi.

11 May 2026 · Mogadouro

Guide

Sagres in June: Best Surf Beaches on Costa Vicentina

In June, Sagres has about three weeks when the north wind has not yet settled and the water no longer freezes your feet. An honest guide on which beach to choose, when to paddle out, and where to eat between sessions.

10 May 2026 · Sagres

Guide

Fundão in June: Cherry Festival and the Red Route of Cova da Beira

Three days of festival in June, cherries at €5/kg straight from the grower, and a route of villages on the Gardunha slope that transforms in fifteen days. An honest guide to Fundão's Cherry Festival and the Cova da Beira, with none of the rural-Portugal clichés.

10 May 2026 · Fundão

Guide

Guarda: Wool, Burel and Souvenirs Worth Buying

Guarda is the highest city in mainland Portugal. It is also where the wool tradition survived best. An honest guide to the cobertor de papa, burel, Serra cheese, and what not to waste your money on.

07 May 2026 · Guarda

Guide

Guarda at the Table: Regional Dishes and Where to Find Them

In Portugal's highest city, eating is taken seriously: bucho recheado on Saturdays, runny Estrela cheese in January, and wood-oven kid goat that justifies a 24-hour order. An honest guide to what to order, what to skip, and how to leave Guarda without indigestion.

07 May 2026 · Guarda