From our guide to Portugal
Wrought-iron balconies, colourful window mouldings and gleaming beamed ceilings - this is every inch the handsome Portuguese townhouse. And to find it on the busy Algarve coast is a treat...
Portugal has punched way beyond her weight for centuries and travelling about is as rich an experience as you might expect, especially if you wander beyond the sun-drenched Algarve. For a relatively small country there is a wonderful diversity, from the misty moist Minho of the north, home of crisp dry ‘vinho verde’, to the timeless borderlands of the Alentejo. As for Lisbon, it is barely possible to be unaware of its glorious (and inglorious) past; it is endearingly human in scale but has buildings as mighty as any in Europe.
All Special Places from our Portugal selection »
