Hidden Portugal

Arrive in Oporto, meet your tour manager and board the coach for the short transfer to your chosen hotel.

Spend a relaxed day in the hotel and its surroundings, with the chance to join your tour manager for a leisurely guided stroll or the area in which your hotel is based.  

Our first included excursion, taken in the company of your tour manager, is a full day visit to Portugal’s second city, Porto. The city that gave its name to the country is ancient, time-weathered, and clings haphazardly to the hillside above the beautiful River Douro. During the day, you'll also visit one of the city’s many famous port wine lodges, and have the chance to enjoy lunch in a riverside restaurant. An optional boat trip on the Douro will also be available (payable locally). 

You’ll return to your hotel for dinner. 

Today, you’ll travel travel into the heart of the Douro Valley. The tour will first make its way to the city of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, located in the UNESCO-listed Foz Côa Valley. This open-air Palaeolithic rock art site features over 1,000 rocks with engravings illustrating animals and armed hunters.  

Next, you’ll travel to Favious, an authentic wine village, backed by rugged mountains and one of two places in the country where the sweet dessert wine, muscatel is produced. You’ll be able to taste a few glasses and experience a tour of a local adega while taking in the surrounding vista. You’ll then enter a local bakery that creates a distinctive four-cornered loaf from locally grown wheat, which is baked in a wood-fired oven. While sampling this bread, a baker will tell you about how the recipe was passed down through generations and you’ll get to see the original wooden ovens. The Bread and Wine Museum will follow, and it’s housed in an 18th-century building lined with exhibits detailing the area’s culinary history.  

A delicious lunch, made with fresh ingredients, will then be served at the winery, Quinta Avessada, as you listen to the owner talk about the production process before tasting a few labels. Afterwards, the tour will travel along the river Douro on the EN222 – considered one of the most beautiful roads in the world.  

Today’s full-day optional tour takes in Barcelos, home to Europe’s largest open-air market – a colourful, bustling hive of activity offering a huge range of locally produced goods.

From here you’ll continue to Braga, the former Catholic capital of Portugal. Set in the heart of the verdant Minho region, this ancient university seat is one of the country’s oldest settlements. See its great cathedral, and explore the verdant acres of Bom Jesus park and the Escadaria (Baroque staircases) which climbs through it, past chapels, fountains and statues, to the hill-top church.

You can embrace a free day, taking advantage of your hotel’s facilities or exploring the surrounding area.  

Your final included tour takes in the beautiful coastal region of the Minho. Your first stop will be the typical seaside town of Viana do Castelo, on the northern bank of the estuary of the River Lima. One of the town's highlights is the Basilica de Santa Lucia, which has wonderful views over the surrounding area.

You'll also head further inland, through the Vinho Verde vineyards, to the historic market town of Ponte de Lima, famous for its 18th-century fountain and Roman bridge.

Bid “Adeus” to this delightful region of Portugal, and head back to the airport to check in for your flight home, at the end of a hugely enjoyable holiday.