Portugal

Travel destination popular things to do or visit in Portugal

There is a ritual to sipping coffee in Portugal: slow, steady, and always with a view of laundry flapping somewhere nearby. Walking the steep streets of Lisbon, you will count more tiled walls than steps, or maybe it is the other way around after a glass of vinho verde. Fado music leaks from doorways after sunset, as if the city itself is sighing. In Sintra, mist hugs the palaces until late morning, and peacocks scream like alarm clocks you cannot snooze. Locals recommend taking a tram, but sometimes they forget to mention which one, so you might end up at the flea market instead of the castle – but that’s half the fun.

Surfboards outnumber umbrellas on certain Atlantic beaches, where the wind flips hats and spirits alike. The Douro Valley has grapes, yes, but also a tendency to lose visitors in its maze of vineyards. Sometimes, the best hotel in Portugal is found by following the scent of baking bread. If your map fails you, just ask someone’s grandmother; she will point you in three directions and offer a slice of chouriço for the road. You can try to see everything, but Portugal prefers you miss a bus or two, so you stay just a little longer (or forever, as one Belgian backpacker did, though he still claims he is "just passing through").