A hand-picked portfolio of exciting and unusual places to stay in some of the world's most beautiful and fascinating locations - put together by a small team of passionate travellers, and backed up by an award-winning online booking service…
read more >Choose from over 1,000 boutique hotels, stylish villas, city apartments, eco-retreats, safari lodges and tailormade tours. We visit them all and pick only our favourites.
Much of Portugal remains blissfully undiscovered. Most of us know
it only for the sun-drenched beaches of the Algarve and there
lingers a collective assumption that somehow the rest of the
country is unworthy of our interest. This theory couldn’t be
wider off the mark.
Portugal is a treasure trove of natural wonders with magical
Mediterranean landscapes in abundance. There is great diversity
too: the wild west coast from Sagres to Setúbal with its
endless sandy beaches populated by small colonies of benign
surfers; the pomp of Sintra with its palace in the sky; the ancient
walled town of Obidos stepped in history; and the grand old city of
Lisbon, a monument to supreme shabbiness. Nowhere caught our
imagination more than the eastern borderlands of the Alentejo,
where time lags a century behind the rest of the country;
whitewashed hilltowns shimmer above olive groves, dogs laze in the
shade, cockerels crow and the old boys gather in the village bar
for an evening drink. And do not forget the Portuguese island of
Madeira,
an enchanting - and increasingly hip - holiday destination all year
round.
The most surprising discovery of all in Portugal was its food. Head
to the coast for the freshest seafood – squid, octopus, giant
prawns, oysters and crab; or inland for fabulous old country
recipes and exquisite peasant fare: delicious cheeses,
locally-cured hams, succulent cuts of pork and wild boar straight
from the forests. What’s more, you can wash your meal down
with wonderfully earthy wines, none of which cost a bomb.
The biggest downside in Portugal is the summer sun, which is fierce in July and August; temperatures can creep past 40 degrees. But most restaurants, shops and hotels are cooled by air conditioning. Outside the motorways which link Porto - Lisbon - Algarve - Spain, you’re confined to small roads. But there’s not much traffic and the scenery is easy on the eye, so if you’re not in a hurry, you won’t mind. We were also surprised at the high cost of Lisbon - given that the city supposedly has the lowest cost of living in the EU.
Lisbon
Click image for forecast
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