Sights of Portugal. Top 10

With cities that have become swanky tourism hotspots and a gor­geous coast­line where you can still avoid the crowds, Por­tu­gal is enter­ing a new era of trav­el with an upbeat vibe. In this selec­tion, you will find ten of the most beau­ti­ful places to vis­it in this coun­try. These are the his­tor­i­cal, cul­tur­al, archi­tec­tur­al and nat­ur­al sights of Por­tu­gal that deserve atten­tion. By includ­ing these places in your trav­el list, you will be able to appre­ci­ate all the beau­ty of the coun­try, cov­er­ing all the most inter­est­ing as much as pos­si­ble.

1. Lisbon. Capital of Portugal

As the cap­i­tal of Por­tu­gal, Lis­bon is the obvi­ous place to start your trip. The city is much qui­eter than oth­er Euro­pean cap­i­tals, but can eas­i­ly equal them in beau­ty and charm. Its biggest attrac­tion lies in its his­to­ry, which is deeply root­ed. This is a beau­ti­ful com­bi­na­tion of old and new, his­to­ry, cul­ture, archi­tec­ture and tech­nol­o­gy, shops, restau­rants. Vis­it Goth­ic cathe­drals, his­toric cafes, vin­tage trams and nar­row alleys of beau­ti­ful Lis­bon. Don’t for­get the vibrant cof­fee shops and incred­i­ble restau­rants. The city is based on a chain of hills, so wher­ev­er you are, you will be guar­an­teed a mag­nif­i­cent view of the sights.

2. Sintra

Lord Byron’s favorite place in Por­tu­gal, this vil­lage is ready to sur­prise any­one with rich col­ored build­ings and breath­tak­ing archi­tec­ture. Palaces, tur­rets, a roman­tic Moor­ish cas­tle and a fog­gy dense for­est — this is what this small, but very beau­ti­ful set­tle­ment is famous for. The veg­e­ta­tion here is lush and exot­ic due to the spe­cial micro­cli­mate. There are a lot of his­tor­i­cal mon­u­ments, includ­ing dozens of man­sions with impec­ca­ble lawns and dec­o­ra­tive dec­o­ra­tions. The sights of Por­tu­gal sur­prise and delight.

3. Porto

With its 14th cen­tu­ry walls, medieval wind­ing streets, col­or­ful­ly pic­turesque build­ings, bell tow­er and dec­o­ra­tive tiles, Por­to has a spe­cial place on the list of Por­tu­gal’s attrac­tions. Just sit under the arch­es at Pla­ca da Ribeira (Prom­e­nade Square) and watch the boats float by. You will be giv­en the tran­quil­i­ty and grandeur of this city. Most of the apart­ments in the area have ter­races that over­look the calm waters. Declared by UNESCO as a World Her­itage Site, Por­to is a com­bi­na­tion of old world­ly charm and bustling met­ro­pol­i­tan cul­ture, mak­ing it a very intrigu­ing trav­el des­ti­na­tion.

4. Douro Valley

The Douro Riv­er car­ries its waters through Spain and North­ern Por­tu­gal. Once it was a wild tur­bu­lent riv­er, but the clever con­struc­tion of eight vast dams tamed it, and now the flow here is calm and peace­ful. The beau­ty of the area is not lim­it­ed to the waters of the riv­er. Numer­ous hills and almond groves, gor­geous nature — this is tru­ly the most beau­ti­ful part of Por­tu­gal. The area remains large­ly untouched, with zigzag roads through the moun­tains and riv­er cruis­es in boats gen­tly glid­ing through the water. The Douro Val­ley is famous for its vine­yards and some of the best wines in the coun­try.

5. City of Obidos

It is an ancient for­ti­fied city locat­ed in the province of Extremadu­ra. In the 13th cen­tu­ry, the Por­tuguese Queen Isabelle was so enam­ored with the vil­lage of Obidos that her hus­band, King Denis I, gave her the land. This led to the tra­di­tion of the Por­tuguese kings buy­ing this pic­turesque vil­lage for their queens, which last­ed for cen­turies. When you vis­it this beau­ti­ful place, you will under­stand exact­ly why Isabelle fell in love with Obidos.

6. Seaport of Cascais

Once a qui­et lit­tle fish­ing vil­lage, Cas­cais is now a chic coastal resort famous for its great beach­es, nightlife, water sports and oth­er adven­tures. Favored by arti­sans, writ­ers and artists because of its grace­ful land­scape, Cas­cais has a won­der­ful art col­lec­tion proud­ly dis­played at the Museo Con­da de Cas­tro Guimar. Anoth­er high­light of the city is the new mari­na filled with yachts that shim­mer and glis­ten in the bright sun­light.

7. Marinha Beach, or Praia da Marinha

Because of its prox­im­i­ty to the over­ly touristy Algarve region, many don’t ven­ture to the beau­ti­ful beach at Pra­ia da Mar­in­ha. How­ev­er, it is worth a vis­it, if only because it is con­sid­ered by many to be the best beach in Por­tu­gal. Mar­in­ha Beach is clas­si­fied as one of the 100 best beach­es in the world. An ide­al beach for snor­kel­ing and explor­ing the rocky cliffs, it’s no won­der this des­ti­na­tion is so pop­u­lar among Por­tu­gal’s many attrac­tions. You can take an excit­ing jour­ney through South­ern Por­tu­gal to explore even more amaz­ing places like Mar­in­ha.

8. Marvau

Mar­vau is a beau­ti­ful medieval moun­tain­side town in Alen­te­jo where the orig­i­nal 13th cen­tu­ry walls still remain. The ancient archi­tec­ture makes Mar­vau a very beau­ti­ful place to vis­it. There is some­thing to see in every part of the city, and the beau­ti­ful Pusa­da Hotel is the per­fect place to stay.

9. Salema

Locat­ed three hours south of the cap­i­tal of Por­tu­gal, near Cape Sagres, Sale­ma is a beau­ti­ful, peace­ful place with an excel­lent beach. This pret­ty vil­lage remains rel­a­tive­ly untouched by the rav­ages of tourism, offer­ing tra­di­tion­al cui­sine, an old mar­ket, a small main street and a clus­ter of white stuc­co hous­es. This peace­ful fish­ing vil­lage is nes­tled between two sharp cliffs with a gor­geous sandy beach in between.

10. Evora

We fin­ish sight­see­ing in Por­tu­gal with the city of Evo­ra in the east of the coun­try. Évo­ra is a Por­tuguese city in the munic­i­pal­i­ty of Évo­ra. The beau­ti­ful­ly pre­served his­toric city has been clas­si­fied as a UNESCO World Her­itage Site and when you vis­it it you will imme­di­ate­ly dis­cov­er why. Évo­ra is home to the 2000 year old Tem­p­lo Romano, a 16th cen­tu­ry aque­duct and the incred­i­ble Chapel da Ossos, an omi­nous crypt con­tain­ing the skele­tons of over 5000 Évo­ra res­i­dents. Read more about this in a selec­tion ded­i­cat­ed to the cities of the dead and famous crypts of the world.

Final­ly, vis­it also a selec­tion of charm­ing vil­lages in Por­tu­gal, where you will find a large num­ber of inter­est­ing pho­tos and land­scapes of the coun­try.