How many days do you need in Portugal?

Ten days covers Lisbon, Sintra, Porto and a night in the Douro without a rushed morning. A week means choosing between the north and the south, and the trip is better for choosing.

What is the best month to visit Portugal?

May, June and September. Warm enough for the coast, quiet enough for the cities, and outside the August weeks when the whole country takes its holiday at the same time.

Do you need a car in Portugal?

Not for Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra or Sintra: the trains link them and the cities are walkable. The Alentejo, the Douro valley and the western Algarve are the parts that only open up with one.

Do people speak English in Portugal?

Widely, and more readily than in most of southern Europe. Portuguese television subtitles foreign films instead of dubbing them, which is the usual explanation.

Is Portugal still cheap?

Cheaper than most of Western Europe, and no longer the bargain it was a decade ago. Lisbon and the Algarve in August are the exceptions. Eating and drinking well is where the value has held.

Top 10 Things To Do in Portugal (City Guides) Wimup

Quick answer · where to go in Portugal

A first trip is Lisbon, a day in Sintra, then the train north to Porto and a night in the Douro. Add the Algarve if you want the coast, the Alentejo if you want the quiet, and give Madeira or the Azores a week of their own. The best windows are May to June and September.

Jump toCity guides Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Portuguese Food FAQ

5 Portugal city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

Portugal and England have been formally allied since 1386, which makes it the oldest alliance still in force anywhere in the world.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Portugal is a cheaper version of Spain"

The realityDifferent language, different food, and nine centuries as a separate state with borders that have barely moved since 1297. The two countries share a peninsula and very little else on the plate or in the ear.

"It rains all the time in Porto"

The realityThe north is greener than the south because it is wetter, but the rain concentrates between October and March. Summers in Porto are dry, and in July the city is cooler than Lisbon and no wetter.

"Everyone drinks port after dinner"

The realityIn Portugal port is as often an aperitif, usually white port long with tonic. What is actually on the table at dinner is Douro red, Alentejo red or a cold vinho verde.

"The Algarve is one long resort strip"

The realityThe building is concentrated in the central stretch either side of Albufeira. West of Lagos the coast runs into protected park land, and east of Faro the Ria Formosa lagoon is a nature reserve of islands and channels.

"Fado is a tourist show"

The realityThe staged dinner version exists, but so do the fado vadio houses where anyone in the room can stand up and sing. The form is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list, and Lisbon and Coimbra sing two different kinds of it.

Azulejo tiles on every other wallFado in a basement in AlfamaCustard tarts at the counterTrams grinding up a hillCork wallets, hats and floorsCalçada cobbles, lethal in rainRabelo boats under the port lodges

Cultural notes that actually help

A coffee is a bica in Lisbon and a cimbalino in Porto. Ordering "um café" gets you a small strong espresso either way.
Lunch starts around one and dinner rarely before eight. Kitchens off the tourist streets keep those hours strictly.
The bread, olives and cheese that arrive unordered are the couvert, and they are charged for. Waving them away is completely normal.
Portuguese is not Spanish, and opening in Spanish lands worse than opening in English. Bom dia and obrigado go a long way.
Football allegiance is local and serious. Benfica, Porto and Sporting are a conversation, not small talk.
Queues are formalised: take a numbered ticket in pharmacies, post offices and anywhere with a counter.

Famous Portuguese faces

The names behind Portugal's sport, writing, music, art, exploration and science. Pick a field.

Fernando Pessoa

Poet who wrote as dozens of invented authors and left the Book of Disquiet unfinished.

José Saramago

Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998, the only Portuguese writer to do so

Amália Rodrigues

The voice that carried fado out of Lisbon back rooms and onto the world stage

Cristiano Ronaldo

Born in Funchal, the all-time leading goalscorer in men’s international football

Álvaro Siza Vieira

Portugal's first Pritzker architect, in 1992, and the reference point for all since.

Egas Moniz

Shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949, Portugal’s first Nobel laureate

Eusébio

Top scorer at the 1966 World Cup and the striker who made Benfica a European name

Rosa Mota

Olympic marathon champion in 1988 and three times European champion

José Mourinho

Won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 before a career spent managing elsewhere

Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Poet of the sea and the light, and the first woman to win the Camões Prize, in 1999

António Lobo Antunes

Novelist whose years as an army doctor in the Angolan war run under almost all he writes.

Mariza

Took fado into concert halls worldwide and made it a young singer’s form again

Carlos do Carmo

Fadista who sang Lisbon itself, and the first Portuguese Latin Grammy lifetime honoree.

Salvador Sobral

Won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 with Amar Pelos Dois, Portugal’s first victory

Maria João Pires

Pianist whose Mozart and Schubert recordings are a standard reference

Joana Vasconcelos

Contemporary artist who builds monumental sculpture out of domestic objects

Eduardo Souto de Moura

Second Portuguese Pritzker laureate, in 2011, who cut Braga's stadium into a quarry.

Maria de Sousa

Immunologist who first described the T-cell areas of lymphoid organs.

Luís de Camões

Wrote Os Lusíadas, published in 1572 and still the national poem

Vasco da Gama

Reached India by sea in 1498 and rerouted the spice trade away from the Mediterranean

Paula Rego

Painter of unsettling, story-driven pictures, with her own museum in Cascais

Ferdinand Magellan

Led the first voyage around the world, and was killed in the Philippines in 1521.

Henry the Navigator

Bankrolled the Atlantic voyages out of the Algarve that opened the Portuguese sea empire

Pedro Álvares Cabral

Made landfall in Brazil in 1500 while sailing for India

Pedro Nunes

Sixteenth-century cosmographer whose work on navigation gave the nonius scale its name

Must-try Portuguese food

The classics first, then what each region and island is known for. Pick a category.

Bacalhau à Brás

Salt cod shredded through eggs, onion and matchstick potatoes, finished with olives.

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá

Porto’s version: salt cod layered with potato and onion, then egg and olives on top.

Arroz de marisco

Soupy shellfish rice, ladled at the table from the pan it cooked in.

Polvo à lagareiro

Octopus roasted with smashed potatoes under a great deal of olive oil.

Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato

Clams opened in garlic, coriander and white wine. The bread is not optional.

Caldeirada

The fishermen's stew, layered and never stirred, so nothing falls apart.

Francesinha

Porto’s layered meat sandwich under melted cheese and a beer and tomato sauce.

Bifana

Thin pork steaks stewed in garlic and white wine, pushed into a soft roll.

Alheira

Bread-and-poultry sausage from Trás-os-Montes, invented in the Inquisition years.

Tripas à moda do Porto

Tripe and white beans, the dish that gave the city’s people their nickname.

Caldo verde

Kale shredded to threads through potato broth, with a coin of chouriço.

Peixinhos da horta

Green beans in a light batter, fried and eaten with a drink before the meal.

Queijo Serra da Estrela

Sheep’s cheese set with thistle instead of rennet, spooned out of its own crust.

Queijo de Azeitão

A small, soft sheep’s cheese from south of Lisbon, eaten the same way.

Pastel de nata

Custard tart with a scorched top and a shell that shatters. Cinnamon is contested.

Pastel de Tentúgal

Paper-thin pastry wound around egg cream, still made in the one town it is named after.

Bolo de mel

Madeira's dark molasses and spice cake, traditionally broken by hand, never cut.

Arroz de cabidela

Chicken rice finished with the bird’s blood and sharpened with vinegar.

Cozido à portuguesa

The national boiled dinner: meats, smoked sausage and vegetables out of one pot.

Arroz de pato

Duck rice baked until the top crisps, with sausage laid across it.

Sardinhas assadas

Charcoal-grilled sardines eaten off bread, the smell of every June street party.

Cataplana de marisco

Algarve shellfish steamed in a hinged copper pan that arrives at the table still shut.

Leitão da Bairrada

Suckling pig roasted whole for the crackling, eaten between Coimbra and Aveiro.

Açorda alentejana

Bread, garlic, coriander and a poached egg, assembled in the bowl with boiling water.

Sopa da pedra

Ribatejo’s stone soup, thick with beans and meat, and named after the story.

Canja

Chicken and rice broth, what the country makes for anyone who is unwell.

Pastéis de bacalhau

Salt cod and potato fritters, shaped between two spoons.

Presunto

Air-dried ham, at its best from Chaves in the north or Barrancos in the Alentejo.

Broa de milho

Dense corn bread with a thick crust, the loaf that soup and sardines are eaten with.

Travesseiros de Sintra

Almond cream folded into long pillows of puff pastry.

Ovos moles de Aveiro

Sweet egg yolk paste sealed inside wafer shells shaped like fish and barrels.

Espetada madeirense

Beef threaded onto a bay laurel skewer and grilled over wood.

Cozido das Furnas

Azorean stew buried in volcanic ground at São Miguel and left to cook underground.

Vinho verde

Young, light white from the Minho, with a faint prickle and a low alcohol level.

Port

Fortified Douro wine, drunk here as an aperitif as often as after dinner.

Madeira wine

Deliberately heated in the cask, so an open bottle keeps for years.

Ginjinha

Sour cherry liqueur poured into a small glass, with the cherry left in the bottom.

Top 10s across Portugal

When to visit Portugal