Europe

Portugal

Portugal is a country in Southwestern Europe. Its capital is Lisbon and its official language is Portuguese.

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Europe

Explore Portugal

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A place to begin in Portugal

City

Braga

Braga is a city in northern Portugal and the seat of its municipality and district; the municipality traces the city's origin to the Roman city of Bracara Augusta. XTOUR maps Braga Cathedral, the Biscainhos Museum, the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte and the Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães in Braga municipality, and treats the Peneda-Gerês National Park, which lies in other municipalities, as a place reached from Braga.

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More destinations in Portugal

11 destinations

City01

Coimbra

Coimbra is a city on the Mondego River in central Portugal and the seat of its municipality; the Centre of Portugal tourism board says it was once the capital of the Portuguese kingdom and that its university is a UNESCO World Heritage site. XTOUR maps the university's Paço das Escolas, the Old Cathedral, the Monastery of Santa Cruz, the Machado de Castro National Museum and the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in the city, and keeps Conímbriga and the Buçaco forest, which lie in other municipalities, apart from it.

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City02

Funchal

Funchal is the capital of the Madeira archipelago, a city on Madeira's south coast that was raised to city status in 1508. XTOUR maps the places inside Funchal municipality, among them the cathedral, the Mercado dos Lavradores, the Monte Palace and Madeira botanical gardens, the cable car and Monte church, and treats sites elsewhere on the island separately.

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City03

Guimarães

Guimarães is a city in northern Portugal and the seat of its municipality; its municipal tourism site says it is known as the cradle of Portugal for its link with the first king, Afonso Henriques, and that its Historic Centre (2001) and its Couros zone (2023) are UNESCO World Heritage. XTOUR maps Guimarães Castle, the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza and the Church of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira in the city, and treats the Citânia de Briteiros, which lies at Briteiros in the same municipality, as a place reached from Guimarães.

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City04

Lagos

Lagos is a walled coastal city in the Algarve that, according to its municipality, was a port from which Prince Henry sent out caravels and was raised to city status in 1573, when it became the capital of the Kingdom of the Algarve.

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City05

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, on the Tagus. Wikidata records the city and its municipality as one entity, whose parishes include Belém, Santa Maria Maior and Misericórdia.

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City06

Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada is a city on the island of São Miguel in the Azores and the seat of the municipality of the same name. XTOUR maps the city gates, the Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião and the Carlos Machado Museum there, and treats the island's crater lakes and Furnas separately.

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City07

Porto

Porto is the city at the Douro River estuary that is the seat of Porto municipality and district; Visit Porto, the city council's tourism site, says its historic centre was declared UNESCO World Heritage in 1996. XTOUR maps the cathedral, the Clérigos church and tower, the Palácio da Bolsa, the Soares dos Reis National Museum, Bolhão Market and the Serralves museum and park in the city.

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Town08

Sintra

Sintra is the town that is the seat of Sintra municipality in Lisbon District, Portugal. Parques de Sintra, the publicly owned company set up in 2000 after Sintra's Cultural Landscape was classified a World Heritage Site in 1995, manages the main estates in its hills; XTOUR maps the palaces, park and castle that lie inside the town's parish union.

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City09

Tomar

Tomar is the city that is the seat of Tomar municipality in Santarém District, Portugal; Museus e Monumentos de Portugal dates its foundation by the Templars to 1160, the year their castle there emerged. XTOUR maps the Convent of Christ, the Synagogue of Tomar and the Pegões Aqueduct in the municipality.

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City10

Évora

Évora is a historic city in the Alentejo, founded or refounded by the Romans as Ebora Liberalitas Julia, whose historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986, according to the Municipality of Évora. The municipality describes the old city as enclosed by three successive walls: Roman, medieval and Vauban-style.

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Town11

Óbidos

Óbidos is a walled medieval town in Óbidos municipality, Leiria District, Portugal; the Centre of Portugal tourism board describes it as encircled by medieval walls and crowned by a castle that is now a pousada. XTOUR maps the castle with its walls and the Church of Santa Maria.

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Guides to Portugal

Lisbon01

Azulejos explained: Portugal's glazed tiles and where official pages date them

Azulejos are the glazed ceramic tiles that line Portuguese churches, palaces, stations and façades. This article explains where the word and the craft come from, what the National Tile Museum's collection covers and why, according to Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, the museum was closed in October 2026, and how official pages date tiled buildings in Sintra, Coimbra, Óbidos, Porto and Funchal, from the reign of Manuel I to the 20th century, with an undated panel by Siza Vieira in Évora.

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Óbidos02

Batalha and Alcobaça: two monasteries, two towns, and Óbidos as a base

The monasteries of Batalha and Alcobaça are separate World Heritage monuments in two separate towns, one Dominican and built to mark the victory of Aljubarrota, the other a Cistercian abbey founded in 1153. This guide sets out what each operator's pages say about them, where the official accounts disagree, and what XTOUR does and does not know about reaching them from a base.

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Braga03

Braga Cathedral and Bom Jesus do Monte: the cathedral's routes and the Confraria's sanctuary

Braga's cathedral (the Sé) and the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte on the hillside above the city are both working places of worship, but they are run by different bodies and visited in different ways. This guide sets out what the cathedral's three visit routes cover, what the Confraria do Bom Jesus do Monte says about its sanctuary, funicular, guided visits and 2019 World Heritage inscription, where official pages disagree, and what XTOUR does not know.

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Porto04

The Camino Portugués: which itineraries Portugal has certified

Since a 2019 decree-law, Portugal certifies individual itineraries of the Caminho de Santiago through its own national commission, and Turismo de Portugal lists six certified Portuguese ways as of October 2026. This article explains how certification works, who manages each certified itinerary, what Turismo de Portugal says about its length, stages and endpoints, and where its pages disagree.

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Travel Guide05

The Carnival of Podence and its Caretos, explained

The Carnival of Podence, known locally as the Entrudo Chocalheiro, is a winter festivity in a village of Macedo de Cavaleiros, in north-east Portugal, that UNESCO inscribed in 2019. This article sets out what UNESCO, the municipality and the Caretos' own association say about the masked Caretos, their costumes and the ritual, and where the three disagree, including on how many days it lasts.

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Coimbra06

Visiting the University of Coimbra: the Joanina Library, the Palace of Schools and the ticket programmes

According to UC Tourism, the University of Coimbra's own tourism service, the visit is sold as programmes, and only some of them include the Joanina (Baroque) Library, which is entered at a date and time fixed when the ticket is bought. This guide sets out what each programme covers, what the Palace of Schools' three visitable spaces are, where the university's pages and the regional tourism board's page disagree, and what XTOUR does not know.

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Porto07

The Douro Demarcated Region, as the IVDP describes it

The Douro Demarcated Region is the wine region of northeast Portugal where Port and Douro wines are made, regulated by the Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP). This guide sets out what the region is, how its three sub-regions differ, what the IVDP and the region's museums say about visiting, and where their pages disagree.

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Évora08

Évora's Roman temple and Chapel of Bones: two monuments, two keepers

Évora's Roman temple and its Chapel of Bones are different kinds of monument with different keepers: a first-century Roman temple standing in the city's historic centre, and a 17th-century chapel lined with bones inside the Church of São Francisco, visited on the church's own single ticket. This guide sets out what each is, who publishes what about visiting it, where official pages disagree, and what XTOUR could not find out.

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Lisbon09

Fado: what UNESCO lists, and where it is performed

UNESCO inscribed fado in 2011 as the urban popular song of Portugal and describes it as a Lisbon practice, performed on the concert circuit, in small fado houses and in neighbourhood associations. This article sets out what the inscription says, what Lisbon's Museu do Fado adds about the genre's history, and how the University of Coimbra presents the Song of Coimbra, which the UNESCO text does not mention.

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Funchal10

Funchal as a Madeira base: what is in the city and what is reached from it

Funchal is Madeira's capital, a municipality of ten parishes on the island's south coast, and the base XTOUR uses for the island. This guide separates the sights inside the municipality, from the cathedral and the market to Monte, from places such as Cabo Girão that are reached from it, and sets out what the city's own history pages say about its old centre, including where they disagree with the tourism board.

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Guimarães11

Guimarães historic centre and the Couros zone: what the World Heritage extension means

Guimarães' historic centre has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 2001, and in 2023 the inscription was extended to the Zona de Couros, the old tanning quarter below it, under a new name. This guide explains what the municipality, which manages the area, says the extension covers, how its account and the tourism office's differ, which monuments the tourism office's routes name, and what XTOUR does not know.

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Lisbon12

Jerónimos Monastery and Belém Tower: two monuments, two tickets

The Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower share one management under Museus e Monumentos de Portugal, but each has its own ticket, its own time slots and its own daily limit, and the monastery church is not on the cloister ticket. This guide explains what each monument is and how the official pages say a visit works.

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