Portugal
Discover Portugal
Portugal is a modern country with strong links to its past and people of a friendly and hospitable nature. It has become an acclaimed international tourist and vacation destination due to its many beautiful beaches and long warm summers, a rich gastronomy, historical and cultural heritage. Its fabulous golf courses, giant surf waves at Nazaré, and religious pilgrimage to Fátima are very popular with visitors. Surprisingly, in winter several ski resorts are open for business in the Serra da Estrela region. Portugal has plenty of prehistoric sites along with remnants from the Roman Empire and the Age of Discovery, when Portuguese explorers found the Cape Route around Africa, and completed the world's first circumnavigation. While Portugal is modern and developed, it maintains much traditional culture with handicrafts, cuisine, music, and dance. Portugal is home to 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
What to Experience in Portugal
Famous Beaches
Taste of Portugal...
Portuguese cuisine evolved from hearty peasant food drawn from the land and abundant seafood found in the country's lengthy coast with the cows, pigs and goats raised on the limited grazing land of its interior. From these humble origins, spices and condiments brought back to the country during the exploration and colonisation of South America, Africa, the East Indies and the Far East, contributed to the development of what become regarded as 'typical' Portuguese cuisine which inherently, also helped shape the cuisine in the regions under Portuguese influence, from Brazil and Cape Verde to Thailand and Japan. Today, traditional Portuguese cuisine is served alongside the latest trendy and fusion cuisine styles. Several establishments have been awarded Michelin stars. Soup is an essential first course of a Portuguese meal. The most popular is the Minho speciality, caldo verde, made from kale, potatoes and spiced smoked sausage. You will see another Portuguese staple bacalhau (salt cod) everywhere. Locals will tell you that there are as many ways to cook this revered dish as there are days in the year, or even more. The most common of Portugal's delicious fish (peixe) dishes revolve around sole (linguado) and sardines (sardinha) although salmon (salmão) and trout (truta) are also featured heavily, not mentioning the more traditional mackerel (carapau), whiting (pescada), rock bass (robalo), tuna (atum), frog fish (tamboril) and a variety of turbot (cherne).
Culture & Religion
Religion
Although nominally a Catholic country, since almost 90% of Portuguese consider themselves to be Roman Catholic, only about 19% actively practise this faith, and modern Portugal is generally a rather secular society. As a result, when discussing religion with the average Portuguese person, don't expect much input about church practices or support towards some of their beliefs and opinions (e.g. use of condoms, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, etc.). In Portugal, religion is not seen as a valid argument when discussing politics unless you do it with a practicing Catholic. Abortion in Portugal was legalised in 2007 and same sex marriage in 2010. The constitution guarantees separation of church and state and freedom of religious practice and many non-Catholic faiths have grown in membership. Although there are no strict rules, when visiting churches or other religious monuments, try to wear appropriate clothes, and please keep silence.
A Rich Past
Explore the historical roots that shaped Portugal into what it is today.
Portugal was founded in 1128 by its first king D. Afonso Henriques. Despite being a relatively small country, it has played a crucial role in world history. Its borders have remained the same longer than any other European country's, and it maintains the longest existing alliance in the world (since 1386) with the United Kingdom, known as the "Treaty of Windsor". So in otherwise neutral Portugal, this alliance was invoked during World War II, allowing the British to establish a military base in the Azores which was later on, under NATO agreements, transferred for use by the USA during the Cold War. British troops headed to the Falklands War used it as a staging point. In the mid-15th century, Prince Henry, the Navigator, from his Escola de Sagres promoted and sponsored the maritime exploration of the Atlantic Ocean, finding the archipelagos of Madeira, Azores, reaching Greenland and later on leading to the naming of Terra Nova (Newfoundland), Lavrador (Labrador) and the founding of colonial enterprises on the west coast of Africa. After his death, successors continued to voyage further and further throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, enabling Portugal to begin a major chapter in world history with the New World Discoveries (Descobrimentos) and monopoly over trade between the Orient and Western Europe. Portugal established the Cape Route to India, and colonised the Madeira and Azores archipelagos....
Festivals & Events
Experience the vibrant festivals and cultural celebrations of Portugal.
Besides the "Carnaval", there are many fairs organised throughout the country, specially after the end of Summer season and particularly in Northern Portugal. During the Summer, music festivals are also very common. In the north of the country two of the oldest festivals are in Paredes de Coura and Vilar de Mouros. The regions chosen for the festivals are usually surrounded by beautiful landscapes and pleasant villages. Lisbon and Porto have their "Marchas Populares" (Popular street Parades). In the southern region the most famous one is Festival do Sudoeste, in the southwest coast with a summer landscape and never ending beaches. Elsewhere, traditional and religious Parish festivals to mark special dates, harvesting times or other important occasions are also part of the yearly calendar in most cities and villages, with religious themed processions going around street circuits accompanied by philharmonic bands while being followed by outside visitors and locals congregants alike.
Climate
Portugal is one of the warmest and sunniest European countries. Temperatures in the north of Mainland Portugal are cooler than in the south, with snow on the highest mountains in the north such as Serra da Estrela. Madeira and the Azores have a narrower temperature range as expected given their insularity, with the former having low precipitation in most of the archipelago and the latter being wet and rainy. Spring and summer months are usually sunny and maximum temperatures are very high during July and August, averaging 35–40 °C (95–104 °F) in the interior of the country, 30–35 °C (86–95 °F) in the north. Autumn and winter are typically rainy and windy, yet sunny days are not rare either. Temperatures rarely fall below 5 °C (41 °F) nearer to the sea, averaging 10 °C (50 °F), but can reach several degrees below 0 °C (32 °F) further inland. Snow is common in winter in the mountainous areas of the north, especially in Serra da Estrela but melts quickly once the season is over.
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsPortugal is a member of the Schengen Agreement. See Travelling around the Schengen Area for more information on how the scheme works, what countries are members and what the requirements are for your nationality. In summary: In addition, citizens of Andorra may enter and reside in Portugal indefinitely without a visa. Portugal has five airports with scheduled international passenger traffic: While there's a variety of options to choose from to travel directly to Portugal from Europe, Africa or from across the Atlantic, indirect connections also link Portugal with Asia and Oceania. You can also enter mainland Portugal by using airports not far away from the land border: The country's main train operator is Comboios de Portugal (CP). The country is served by numerous seaports that receive a lot of foreign traffic, mostly merchant but also passenger boats (mainly cruisers). Portugal's only land border is with Spain....
Regions
Explore AreasPortugal sits on the western edge of the Iberian peninsula, with two archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean. Despite its small land area, it has many landforms and climates between the Atlantic coast and …...
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
While not the most popular way to travel within Continental Portugal, you can consider flying TAP Air Portugal between Lisbon (LIS), Porto (OPO), and Faro (FAO). Sevenair provides service to smaller airports at Bragança (BGC), Cascais (CAT), Portimão (PRM), Vila Real (VRL), and Viseu (VSE). Ryanair fly Porto-Faro and Porto-Madeira. Airplane is the main and fastest way to reach Madeira and the Azores. It's also the best way to travel within the archipelagos. In addition to TAP, island service is provided by Azores Airlines & SATA Air Açores. Island airports include: Rail travel in Portugal is usually slightly faster than travel by bus on most routes, but services are less frequent and cost more. The immediate areas surrounding Lisbon and Porto are reasonably well-served by suburban rail services. The rail connections between the main regions of Portugal are good.
Where to Stay
The youth hostel network has a great number of hostels around the country. There are also many camping places. 'Wild camping' (camping outside camping parks) is not allowed, unless you have the land owner's agreement. Holiday Villas and apartments are another option to investigate. There's a wide and abundant hotel offering all through Portugal. If budget is a concern and you want a 'typically Portuguese' experience, don't be shy and try a residencial or pensão, the home-like inn's ubiquitous in cities and most towns. In many places you can get a double or triple room with private bathroom for €25-35 off season or €35-40 in season (2017). Be sure, however, of the quality of the rooms. In smaller cities, "pensões" tend to be near transportation hubs like railway stations and bus terminals. If travelling with friends, haggling in a nice way can yield discounts even during high season.
Money & Budget
Portugal uses the euro, like several other European countries. One euro is divided into 100 cents. The official symbol for the euro is €, and its ISO code is EUR. There is no official symbol for the cent. All banknotes and coins of this common currency are legal tender within all the countries, except that low-denomination coins (one and two cent) are phased out in some of them. The banknotes look the same across countries, while coins have a standard common design on the reverse, expressing the value, and a national country-specific design on the obverse. The obverse is also used for different designs of commemorative coins. The design of the obverse does not affect the coin's acceptability.
Language & Talk
Portuguese (português) is the official language of Portugal. Portuguese is one of the world's major languages, ranked 6th according to number of native speakers (approximately 250 million). It is South America's most widely-spoken language, used by almost all Brazilians. It is also an official language in several countries in Africa and Asia. Portuguese is a Romance language. Portuguese speakers can make out many words and much grammar of other Latin-based languages, especially Spanish and Italian, although speakers of these languages will struggle to understand spoken Portuguese due to its pronunciation and sounds. Although Portuguese may be mutually intelligible with Spanish to a wide extent, with about 90% of lexical similarity (both in vocabulary and grammar), it is far from identical.
Safety Information
Safety Overview
The emergency telephone number for police, fire, and medical assistance is 112. This is the national call centre dial in number for any emergency or to report an accident, fire etc etc. Ensure you have this number registered in your means of communication or noted down somewhere in case it becomes necessary to notify authorities or emergency response entities. Portugal is a relatively safe country to visit, but some basic common sense will go a long way. There are no internal conflicts, no terrorism-related danger and violent crime is not a serious problem, as it is generally confined to particular neighbourhoods and is rarely a random crime. There are three main police branches. In major urban areas the PSP or Policía de Segurança Pública (Public Security Police) are in charge of law enforcement. Outside major urban centres and in rural areas, the GNR or Guarda Nacional Republicana (National Republican Guards) take over the law enforcement.
Glimpses of Portugal
Porto, Portugal
Summers of Lisbon, Please follow me on instagram @_aayush_guptaa_
brown bridge with light
Looking out over Alfama, Lisbon
Porto, Portugal
until it turns green
Golden Gate Bridge
come and see money
Praça do Comércio
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Porto, Portugal
Summers of Lisbon, Please follow me on instagram @_aayush_guptaa_
brown bridge with light