Algarve Portugal

The Algarve's 200 kilometre stretch of southern shoreline is one of Europe's most popular holiday destinations. The region has attracted visitors since the time of the Phoenicians, but today it caters for millions of tourists a year with its stunning coastline, excellent golf courses and pleasant year round climate. Bordered on two sides by the Atlantic, the Algarve is divided from the rest of Portugal by a series of low lying mountains. In the east, the Guadiana River forms a scenic border with neighbouring Spain. The region's capital, Faro, is built around a charming harbour at the edge of a wide lagoon. Its main attractions include a maritime museum and a 13th century cathedral. Along the coast to the east stands one of Europe's most luxurious resorts, Quinta do Lago, where visitors can play golf or explore the Ria Formosa Nature Reserve. Equally famous is the resort town of Vilamoura located in the centre of the Algarve. The 1,600 hectare development comprises several high quality hotels, restaurants and an impressive range of sports facilities. Albufeira to the west is the region's largest holiday resort, alive with tourist activity right through the year. 

Porto Portugal

Known worldwide for its rich brand of wine, port, which is drunk internationally with high quality cheeses, as well as Europe-wide for the fast-paced attacking play of the local football team (who also go by the name Porto), Porto’s industrial center is a UNESCO World Heritage site, though undoubtedly not one of the prettier ones. The locals are known throughout Portugal as ‘tripe eaters’ - due to meat rationing for the supply of local ships – while the city is widely considered within the country to be a tad crass, with many people from other regions seeing Porto as a different country altogether from the rest of Portugal.

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is like a city on display, draped across the hillsides above the Rio Tejo, and a beautiful display it is, too. Dig deeper into Portugal’s capital, though, and you’ll quickly find that it’s unpretentious about its beauty; welcoming and lively, yet still hiding sumptuous corners unchanged since the 1930s, and brimming with the kind of charm that had you traveling in the first place. It might have tinges of the old and antiquated – and alluring ones at that – but parts of Lisbon are extremely up to the minute. The MUDE Fashion and Design museum will take fashionistas through the latest of the minute styles, while there’s plenty in the way of modern art, art deco and gorgeous fusion cuisine to track down, too.

 The old parts of the city, though, are very much as they’ve always been, with tables set out on cobbled back streets serving olives and local wine, and the same rustic, about-to-break trams winding through the streets that have been their for decades. The historical sights haven’t changed much, either. Most of them sit at the top of the many hills, giving spectacular views from the undulating peaks down to the shimmering coastline. The Belem Tower is the city’s iconic sight, a towering seaside turret that from certain angles looks like it’s disconnected from the shore altogether. The Jeronimos Monastery was built in the 16th century to commemorate Vaso De Gama’s departure for India, and is now a world heritage monument coated in sculpture and hosting the explorer’s tomb. Look up, and you can hardly miss the Castle of St. George, which dates back in parts to the 6th century, and – though very peaceful now – still hosts cannons, a guarding moat and a full on multimedia exhibition to help you understand it all.