Northern Portugal
Exceptional holidays, beautifully local & certifiably responsible
End of the world Roman road House speciality Stopped in our tracks Life on the Douro More vegetables?
From A Guarda, Galicia
Isabel led us across the Spanish border into Galicia. She promised that we’d love the views… of Portugal.
And she was right, the perspective from there was gorgeous!
After enjoying a nice walk along golden sandy beach, we followed a rugged granite coast to the fishing town of A Guarda. With the big open ocean on our left and the Monte Santa Trega rising on the other side, I really got a sense of reaching the end of the world, just as it was to Europeans in the olden days.
From Caminho, Minho
From the stellar views over the Lima valley, the downward descent was easy on our tired legs. Settling into the rhythm, we realised we were walking onto the old cobbled Via Romana, passing gorgeous houses, crumblings ruins and a medieval Roman bridge.
We even saw what was, according to the local legend, the first ever yellow Camino de Santiago arrow marked down. Beware, the veracity of this story might be up for debate!
From Arcos Valdevez, Minho
We asked what time the little restaurant opened. "Come back at 7pm" she said, then looked in the kitchen. "Well no, 7:30pm". This gives you an idea of how uncomplicated life is.
At 7:35pm the place was filling. We ordered an espetada - a huge brochette of different meats - just because it sounded nice. But when we finished our delightful dinner and left, we realised it's probably the specialty of the house as every table ordered the same.
From Sistelo, Minho
The morning started with a homecooked breakfast delivered directly to the door and continued with a walk around the 'socalcos' - the iconic terraced landscapes give Sistelo. We followed cobbled paths eroded by centuries of animal wagons and passed several old granary barns, still standing strong in retirement.
It was a day of being stopped in our tracks - by a new view, by a herd of cattle being led along the paths and by the sight of a short-toed eagle flying above our heads, a little snake dangling in its claws.
From Pinhão, Douro Valley
Far from being a posh winery, this is resolutely relaxed, undiluted by practiced panache. José and Manuela, both 82, work on the selection table, separating the good grapes from the bad. Their son Paulo gives the tour, and a proper insight into life above the vines and famous waters of the Douro, on which we'd earlier sailed.
The company, food and wine are all so personal, a blend of everything good about the Douro and their little pocket of it.
From Pinhão, Douro Valley
I’m watching the river drift slowly past the side of my table and admiring the pretty little quinta on the opposite shore, while savouring the delicious output at DOC by Rui Paula, Portugal’s most famous chef. Suddenly I realise the waiter is hovering - no, wait - it’s not a waiter, it’s the man himself!
Here I am, lingering over some of the best meat I’ve ever tasted, and he asks me if I would like some more vegetables.
Tucked up in the far north, on the border with Spain, is a scenic pocket of Portugal unaffected by tourism, where no one is ever in much of a hurry and where the clocks seem to tick a little slower.
- Trip ideas to Northern Portugal
- Best times to visit northern Portugal
- Northern Portugal Travel Guide
Windmills, waves & wild beaches
Up here, between the Minho and Lima rivers, next to the old windmills of Montedor and along the sandy walkways of the coastal ecovias, Portugal’s beaches feel wild again, entwined with a storybook of tales from an Age of Discovery.
It’s therefore a place that rewards you tying up your walking boots and nosing around, infinitely more than unfolding a deck chair and whipping out a bestseller.
It’s therefore a place we’d love to share with you.
Back in the Middle Ages, Portugal was a small nation with grand notions of expansion and exploration. Bound in by its bigger and stronger neighbour to the east, it was to the infinity of the Atlantic that its people looked to broaden its horizons.
The Atlantic ocean gave it all to Portugal, and still today gives the country one of its main tourist resources as an international surfing destination and a beloved beach getaway. But the long coastline offers so much more than its showcase beaches down south...
The first sailors to battle the high seas made it to Terranova, modern day Canada, and returned with the cod for which the country is now famed. Later expeditions discovered trade routes to the east and unchartered territories to the west, flooding wealth into the palaces and churches in towns like Minho’s Viana do Castelo, where our Inn to Inn walk ends and a refreshing drink on a shady terrace starts. Barely known beyond its nation’s borders, Viana became a thriving maritime trading post, packing up and posting off its wine, fruit and salt to the busy ports of northern Europe.
Just like those early sailors, we too look to the clear blue to broaden your horizons in northern Portugal. We look to a quiet stretch of sand dunes, rocky cliffs and empty white beaches. We look to abandoned sea fortresses and graceful windmills, to ancient rock carvings and to salt pans from a bygone era.
We do so because walking along the ocean is always special. The light playing on the water, the waves breaking onto the shore, the fresh salty smell filtering into your nose. The sheer vastness of it all. The centuries of human heritage... And if you’re tempted in for a swim along the way, we can only encourage such behaviour.
From the tucked away terraces up in the Peneda mountains, to pathways shared with pilgrims and a web of flowing waterways which spill out into the Atlantic over which you now direct your gaze, a well-planned walking holiday carries you through an awful lot of diveristy in a little pocket of Portugal that few have ever heard of, let alone unpacked a suitcase in.
More on that below.
North Portugal Inn to Inn Walking Holiday
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£1,485 ppn/a
- 10 days
North Portugal Inn to Inn Walking Holiday
When: Apr-Jun; Sep-Nov
Price: £1,485 per person
Duration: 10 days
Walk through timeless mountain valleys, chat with passing pilgrims, drink wine by the river and stroll past Atlantic dunes in Portugal's peaceful north.
Great Road Trips: Portugal from Porto to Lisbon
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£3,750 ppn/a
- 23 days
Great Road Trips: Portugal from Porto to Lisbon
When: Apr-Jun; Sep-Nov
Price: £3,750 per person
Duration: 23 days
World class wine and delicious seafood; hilltop villages and clifftop trails. Enjoy this and more on our relaxed journey between Portugal's greatest cities.
Travel Positive with Pura Aventura
Exceptional holidays in exceptional places.
Exceptional Holidays
From the moment you start planning to the lifelong memories you bring back, your holiday will be truly exceptional and tailored to a degree that is difficult for others to achieve.
Beautifully Local
Your holiday will be deeply rooted into its local surroundings, from the people you meet and the places you stay, to the food on your plate and the wine in your glass.
Certifiably Responsible
As one of the first travel companies in the UK to certify as a B Corp, we ensure your holiday will have a positive impact for the planet, our partners and the places you visit.
