So you’ve fallen truly, madly and deeply in love with the idea of Portugal day trips? Wise move! Portugal is a beautiful country with fascinating ancient roots, awesome natural landscapes, fabulous food, unique local wines and ports, mouth-watering food and a coastline to die for. Medieval castles and ancient villages with cobblestone streets. Exciting cities, sandy beaches, dizzying sea cliffs, and the valley of the mighty River Duoro with its vineyards and wineries. This place is utterly captivating.
You’d need a thousand day trips in Portugal to soak it all in. So where do you begin? This article delves into some of the best things to do in Portugal, including the wonders of the famous N2, which bisects the country end-to-end to give visitors over four hundred miles of road trip heaven.
A bit about Portugal in general
A small country with a big heart, Portugal is an intimate place, but at the same time it’s just as dramatic and varied as many bigger nations. Thanks to thousands of years of human occupation and invasion, this is a place of contrasts. It’s where the Roman Empire sits beside the Stone Age and Visigoth culture alongside the Moors, creating a diverse culture with cuisine to match.
Portugal’s complex geology means the landscapes are just as varied. They’re often epic. Awe is not an unusual feeling. From the rugged westerly coast to the mountains, the cooler, greener north to the flat and sunny south, this is the ultimate in Instagrammable holiday destinations.
Portugal has been called Portugal for 870 years, making this one of the world’s oldest countries. It’s home to a crop of the world’s greatest explorers including Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus. Between them they dominated the seas and discovered countless new lands.
Set against this thrilling backdrop, there’s a great deal to do. Perfect for foodies, great for adventurous spirits, popular with people who just want to lie on a lovely sandy beach, there’s something for everyone. Culture, architecture, art and history fans flock here. Think music, carnivals, parades, festivals, live music, bars and restaurants, watersports and hilly hikes. Oh, and let’s not forget the glorious wines.
Discover happy-sad Fado music
Fado is the ultimate in happy-sad music, a sweet-savoury style of music that has been awarded a place on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. It’s full of emotion, thrillingly raw and melancholy, and the pace is slow, slow, slow.
Simply made with strings and vocals, you’ll find it played live in Lisbon’s ‘casa de fado’ or Fado Houses. Find a casa that also serves food and you’ve hit the jackpot. What a fine way to spend an evening immersed in local culture. If you’re there in September there’s an entire festival dedicated to Fado, the Santa Casa Alfama.
Surf it – or just marvel at Nazaré’s gigantic waves
Head for the west coast to find Nazaré, where the surfing is only for the bold and brave. Luckily the beach is spectacular too. The vast waves that typify Nazaré’s winters were made famous by the American surfer Garrett McNamara, who rode a 24m high monster – that’s about eight storeys high – to break the world record. That was 2011. Now the once-small fishing village on Portugal’s west coast is known the world over for giant wave surfing, a mecca for the finest surfers on the planet.
If the very thought of surfing gives you the willies, the views alone are worth the trip. Those from the lighthouse at São Miguel Arcanjo Fort are spectacular: the huge waves crash-land far below, the spray flies, the water roars like a mythical beast and you get a real sense of nature’s dangerous power. Your photos will be amazing.
Wonder at dark skies full of billions of glittering stars
Great Lake Alqueva, an enormous artificial lake in Alentejo, is your destination for clear skies, minimal light pollution, and more stars and planets than you could hope to see in the UK. This is the world’s first starlight tourism destination. There’s an observatory to visit and magical stargazing tours to take, night and day.
See the ancient rock art at Vale do Côa
Portugal is no stranger to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and this is just one of them. The rock art at the Vale do Côa site is the best on the Iberian Peninsula. The Museu do Côa is just brilliant, as is the entire archaeological site and its open-air art gallery of rock engravings from the Palaeolithic and Iron Age.
You don’t need to know about art to be moved by the experience. These artists were our direct ancestors, modern humans who were exactly like us. Some of the art is 22,000 years old. It makes us more aware of our humanity and mortality, touching in a way we might not have expected.
For those who do know about art, it’s also a stimulating experience in another way. The carvings are surprisingly sophisticated. Some could be mistaken for Picasso’s work because of their confident semi-abstraction, acute observation, sheer elegance, and clear affection for their subjects. These are not just lines. They’re very carefully considered, flowing lines.
Celebrate with the locals
Santos Populares translates as ‘popular saints’, celebrated throughout Portugal during June. Once religious, these days they’re mostly about the fun. The best known include Lisbon’s St Anthony’s festival in mid-June, and Porto’s St John’s festival later in the month. The cities’ old neighbourhoods are strung with vibrant ribbons. People cook pork steak and sardines in the streets, accompanied by plenty of tipples, and everyone parties late into the night. Meet locals, chat, drink, dance, and enjoy the magic.
Carnavals – the same as carnivals – are celebrated for three days before Ash Wednesday, between late February and early March. Parades are the name of the game at these colourful events dating back to the 1200s, with their roots firmly in ancient Roman pagan festivals. Visit Torres Vedras, Ovar or Loulé for unforgettable carnavals blending local traditions with dazzling Brazilian-like samba. This is passionate stuff. Think Rio Carnival and you get the picture.
Fall in love with Portuguese wine
You can’t say ‘Portugal’ without thinking ‘wine’. Port, too. Portugal is stuffed full of vineyards and wineries, with dense concentrations of red wine activity in the Alentejo region and the Duoro valley, best known for its legendary port. For a different experience try the young wines called Vinho Verde, originating in Minho. They’re delightfully fruity and floral and come in red and white.
Explore a schist village
Let’s talk schist. Schist is a metamorphic rock, which means the original sedimentary rock has been heated, squashed and chemically changed by violent seismic and volcanic activity. The result is often very attractive, a flaky pastry-like silvery rock that glitters and gleams in the sunlight.
Portugal’s often-deserted schist villages are charming places, built where important trade routes crossed in the mountains between Coimbra and Castelo Branco, from an almost-black local schist not found anywhere else. Mostly abandoned by the 1950s, 27 of them have been revived by the Aldeias do Xisto project. Lying like little jewels in a landscape of mountains, lakes and rivers, they make a fascinating visit.
The famously beautiful N2 road – Meet Estrada Nacional 2
Portugal’s most famous road, the N2, awaits road trippers, just a hire car away and a magical drive. It runs all the way from Chaves in the North to Faro in the Algarve, a 453 mile treat to complete in a couple of days, spread over a week or two, or just enjoy for a couple of hours. If you’re in a rush or worried about driving on the right, on a sometimes- scary road, this one isn’t for you. If you’re into a leisurely driving experience with plenty of thrills, it’s quite something.
Some call this the Portuguese Route 66, but it’s far more beautiful. Expect dramatic changes of scenery as you cross eleven rivers and four mountain ranges, driving the often-twisty road through the mountainous north, across the flat plains of Alentejo, to coastal Algarve with its mix of huge cliffs and gorgeous beaches. Dense forests and neat cork oak plantations, endless vineyards, lush valleys and glittering reservoirs are yours en-route, off the beaten tourist track, along with strings of small towns and quaint villages, high-up viewpoints, and curious attractions.
The mountainous area of Chaves is a haven for spa lovers. Vila Real and Santa Marta de Penaguião are lovely places to stop and smell the coffee. The landscapes of the Alto Douro Wine Region are genuinely breathtaking. The historic city of Lamego is en-route, as are the internationally important art treasures at the Dão in Viseu.
Tondela, Penacova, Lousã and Sertã will inspire you with their pretty river beaches, and this is where the centre of Portugal is marked by the Picoto da Melriça milestone in Vila de Rei. Abrantes has a castle with remarkable views, then there’s the Alentejo region with its endless dry clay plains. Mora’s excellent freshwater aquarium showcases local wildlife and Coruche’s Cork Industry Observatory makes a fun visit. Variety is the name of the game on the N2.
Eleven districts later the N2 spits you out in Faro, with its beloved sea views, historical riches, lively vibe and big city night life.
Portugal day trips you’ll love
Take a look at these day trips, covering every aspect and region of this popular European holiday destination. Are you ready to fly away to ‘amazing’?
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