Portugal
Portugal Travel Guide — Wild Coast, Alentejo, Nazaré & the places most guides skip
It started with an HBO documentary. We watched 100 Foot Wave during lockdown, watched Garrett McNamara surf waves the size of buildings off a small Portuguese fishing town, and made a promise to ourselves. The moment travel reopened, we went to Nazaré. We've been going back to Portugal ever since.
Lisbon is beautiful — we're not going to tell you to skip it. Sintra is worth it, especially if you stay overnight instead of taking the day trip bus back. The Algarve's cliffs are everything the photos suggest. But the Portugal we keep coming back to is the other one: the Alentejo's endless cork forests and bone-white hilltop villages, the wild Atlantic beaches that nobody's heard of, the Costa Vicentina coastline where the waves are too strong for swimming and perfect for everything else. The one where breakfast is local cheese, warm bread, and a view that makes you rearrange your whole itinerary on the spot.
Portugal does boutique hotels exceptionally well too — centuries of convents, quintas, olive oil mills, and fishing houses converted into places with character. Once you've stayed in one, you won't want to go back to a chain.
Oh, and the pastéis de nata. There's a reason they sell them in tubes.
This is our full Portugal guide — region by region, with our take on where to go, where to stay, and what to skip.
Jump to: Lisbon Area · Sintra · Sesimbra · Nazaré & Ericeira · Alentejo & Costa Vicentina · Algarve · All Portugal Articles
Lisbon Travel Guides
Sintra Travel Guides
Sesimbra Travel Guides
Nazaré & Ericeira Travel Guides
Alentejo & Costa Vicentina Travel Guides
Algarve Travel Guides
All Portugal Articles
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Portugal is compact enough that a 10-day trip can cover real ground, but spread enough that trying to see everything at once is a mistake. Most Portugal travel itineraries use Lisbon as the entry point, then head either north toward Sintra, Nazaré, and Ericeira, or south through the Alentejo and down to the Algarve. The coast and the interior feel like different countries, which is part of what makes a Portugal trip so rewarding. If you want help building a route around your specific interests and dates, we offer personal 1-hour consultations.
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A Portugal road trip along the west coast is one of the most satisfying drives in Europe. The classic southern route runs from Lisbon down through the Alentejo, along the wild Costa Vicentina, and into the Algarve. The northern version takes you up through Sintra, Nazaré, and Ericeira, where the surf culture and boutique hotels make it easy to stay longer than planned. Either direction, having a car is the difference between a good trip and a great one — the best places in Portugal are not on bus routes. Read our guide to the best places in Portugal off the beaten path.
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Very. Portugal solo travel is straightforward and welcoming. English is widely spoken, the country is consistently ranked among the safest in Europe, public transport connects the main cities reliably, and the culture is genuinely warm without being overwhelming. Solo travelers tend to do particularly well here because the smaller guesthouses and boutique hotels create easy conversation, and the food and coffee scene rewards people who are happy to sit at a counter and see what happens.
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Portugal beaches range from the dramatic limestone cliffs of the Algarve to the wild, wave-hammered stretches of the Costa Vicentina where swimming is beside the point. The Algarve gets the most attention and deserves some of it, but the less visited beaches further north and along the Atlantic coast are where Portugal really surprises you. We've put together a full guide to Portugal's wild and underrated beaches, including access tips and a map, for anyone who wants to get beyond the crowded ones.
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Yes, and it works well if you keep it geographically logical. The most popular Spain and Portugal travel itinerary pairs Lisbon with Seville and the Andalusia region, connected by a direct train. You can also combine Porto with Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, which is a shorter and underrated pairing. Trying to add Madrid or Barcelona to the same trip tends to stretch things thin. Two weeks gives you enough time to do one combination properly.
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The Alentejo is the answer most people aren't expecting. Cork forests, bone-white hilltop villages, some of the best boutique hotels in the country, and almost no crowds even in summer. The Costa Vicentina, which runs along the southwestern tip, has wild Atlantic beaches that get too rough for swimming and too beautiful to leave. Sesimbra, just south of Lisbon, is the kind of fishing town that feels like it should be more famous than it is. And Nazaré, famous now for its big wave surfing, has a character well beyond the surf season.