EYWandBTV

Hello all,

We are planning a return trip to Portugal in October. We had such a wonderful time last October on our first visit to the country that we needed to go back. I am just gathering ideas for our new trip and I am wondering about Guimaraes. It seems a very beautiful small city with a well preserved historic center.

I would welcome opinions and impressions of Guimaraes. Thanks!

memejs

I really enjoyed my day trip to Guimaraes. There is a very cute historical center in the middle of a larger city. I visited the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza, ate at a very good vegetarian restaurant - Cor de Tangerina, and walked around the castle. If you have ample time in Portugal, I'd recommend Guimaraes as a day or 1/2 day trip.

Maribel

Guimarães, "the birthplace of Portugal", is a wonderful, very authentic city in the Minho, and I think you'll find it very much worth your time. It has a UNESCO World Heritage designation.
We visited the well preserved castle, several beautiful churches, the excellent Alberto Sampaio Museum, filled with important religious art, the 15th Palace of the Dukes of Bragança (heavily restored) and the Archaeological Museum, which has artifacts from the Citânia de Briteiros, just northwest of the city. We also visit the Citânia, the remains of a Celtic Iron Age hill settlement dating from 300 BC and its museum. It's quite well preserved.

We stayed atop the city at the 12th century monastery Pousada Mosteiro Santa Marinha with very pretty views over the city (and easy parking/pool for summer), but when we return I'd probably choose the Hotel da Oliveira right in the historic center, the contemporary transformation of a former pousada.
Or if I wanted a rural base, I might choose the Casa de Sezim, a manor home that's also a vinho verde wine producing estate. There are several manor homes in the area. Or for something contemporary, the cottages of the Vale de S. Torcato Houses (but I haven't seen them).

You could easily combine Guimarães with a visit to Braga, the Portuguese ecclesiastical capital, and to the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte with its monumental terraced Baroque staircase. You could also drive further north to attractive Ponte de Lima, which could be a base to visit its twice-monthly Monday outdoor market (the oldest in Portugal), and the one in Barcelos (Thursdays). We really like Ponte de Lima.
https://juliedawnfox.com/charming-ponte-da-lima/.

The Minho for me, at least, could be a complete mini vacation, with a stay in Viana do Castelo (also has a Pousada above the city), for me the prettiest city in the northern Minho. From there we visited the attractive vinho verde producing villages of Melgaço and Monçao along the River Minho on the Portugal-Spain border.
https://juliedawnfox.com/things-to-d...na-do-castelo/.

Just some ideas.

aulop

Hi
We visited Guimaraes as part of a trip that included Porto, Braga, Aveiro, which you may consider to add to your trip if you have the time.
The following are helpful sites to find info about Guimaraes.
https://www.visitportugal.com/en/con...ccessible-tour , this site has a walking tour map.
https://www.yellowbustours.com/en-GB...raes-Tour.aspx , we use yellow bus which is a hop on hop off tourist bus.
https://www.guimaraesturismo.com/pages/169 , this site has tour guides, it's in Portuguese but a google translation is possible. We did not use the tour guides so no recommendation is made.
We visited the castle and the palace of the Duques of Braganca , in between is a small chapel with the graves of the first Knights of the realm ( the round crosses carved into the stone are identifiers). Near by is also the statue of first king of Portugal.
At the church of Nossa Senhora da Consolacao e Santos Pacos we saw a mummified saint, a somewhat macabre sight if nor prepared.
At the church Igreja de Sao Francisco we were able to see the sacristy ( usually the public is not allowed) because a caretaker allowed it. We found this church beautiful.
We also took the gondola ( Teleferico da Penha) to Penha which is on a hill and allows for a good view of the area.
Happy travels

Maribel

Another source in English about visiting Guimarães-
https://juliedawnfox.com/guimaraes/.

EYWandBTV

Thanks to all of you, this is great information!

xyz99

Maribel,
We will stay in Guimaraes for a few nights in Sept, and we're booked at Pousada Mosteiro. Should I read between the lines and maybe switch our reservation? Or would you stay somewhere else only to try a different location? Thanks.

ms_go

Adding our thanks, as well, for the links and information. We will be visiting this area in a couple of months - staying in Braga but also visiting Guimarães.

Maribel

We did enjoy our 2 nights there in this historic 12th century Pousada, but this particular Pousada is very "Old Europe", a bit formal in service, which may or may not appeal, But it had easy and free parking and lovely views of the city below.

Our particular room, a "classic" room (booked at the sr. rate) was "monastic" or "monkish" in size and again Old European style, but we did have access down the hall to an enormous stone covered terrace where we sat at night with a glass of wine to enjoy the views, and we had it entirely to ourselves. And there is a pool. The superior rooms measure 25-31 square meters in size, so those are ones that I would book if I were to return.

All that said, it does receive a 9.1 score on booking.com (guests who review on booking, in my experience, are rather generous in their ratings), so it's probably best to review some of the the almost 700 comments yourself to decide if it's the place for you. It's also a member of Small Luxury Hotels. a big plus, and a member of Secret Places, and you can read the reviews there.

The only reason, really, that I mentioned staying on our next trip at a hotel in town or in a manor outside of town was to have a different experience.

xyz99

Thanks, Maribel - and sorry EYW for highjacking your post. We booked a superior room, and it's so different than a regular, new, modern hotel...very tempting to keep the reservation. My only concern is getting into the town for dinner, but I think taxis will not be a problem. What was your experience? How was breakfast? Thanks.

Maribel

Taxis aren't a problem. We used them to go into town for dinner.
Breakfast is the usual Pousada large buffet, similar to those at the Spain Paradors. While breakfasts are fine and plentiful at the Pousadas/Paradors, they're not known for their fab evening dining (except for the Pousada in Bragança that has a Michelin star). But the dining room with its medieval stone arches here is very pretty.

Guimarães is known for its pastry shops and does have some very nice dining options. There's the República do Polvo for octopus à lagareiro (baked, smothered in olive oil), Solar do Arco & Casa Amarela are traditional, A Cozinha has a Michelin star and Historic by Papaboa and Le Babachris are both Michelin Bib Gourmands for value, but the latter offers 2 tasting menus only for dinner. Lots of good options in town.

EYWandBTV

Maribel, thanks for all of your ideas. We almost booked the Pousada Mosteiro but saw that it was a half hour walk from the historic center and we will not have a car. We decided to book the Hotel da Oliveira. It's right in the center. It's an historic building, a former pousada. And the interior has been renovated by Paulo Lobo. He has done beautiful work in many places (Lisbon = Cafe Central, Porto = Pregar as examples). We like to stay in historic buildings which have been redesigned. Last October we stayed in Memmo Alfama, a similar story: three old buildings in the Alfama district, one of which was a big bakery. The hotel company bought the three, gutted them inside and rebuilt the interiors while saving some of the components. The waiting room for the elevator, for example, was the giant brick oven for the bakery. Fascinating.

Maribel

Yes, that's a good city center choice since you like the designs of Paulo Lobo.
He also designed the quite impressive Enoteca 17.56 in Gaia for Real Companhia Velha, the Vogue Café inside the Hotel Sagres in Porto (now belonging to Taylor's), Praia da Luz in Foz and a hotel I'm eager to visit, the Monverde-Wine Experience Hotel outside of Amarante.

Your photos of the Memmo Alfama are wonderful.

HappyTrvlr

We enjoyed Guimares and the Minho region. They bumped us out of the Pousada Mostiero to a Pousada in the town center due to a wedding that wanted to take over the whole place.
. We were initially upset but preferred being in town. The city Pousada is gone now though. The whole Minho area is historic, charming.

Maribel

The Pousada are popular wedding venues, as are the Spanish Paradors.

The city Pousada, is no longer a Pousada, as it's been completely redone by Paulo Lobo, now called the Hotel de Oliveira, as I mentioned in post #3. But in my post I forgot to mention another activity that aulop mentioned, the trip on the cable car/gondola up to the woods/park of Penha mountain. This cable car is currently closed for maintenance but scheduled to reopen this year in April. Its hours change monthly so it's best to ask at the tourist office. The web page is in Portuguese here:
https://www.turipenha.pt/index.php/c...t/article?id=5

progol

Hmmm, I’m resurrecting this older thread because I now have a dilemma. I now have a reservation at both Hotel de Oliveira AND the Pousada Mostiero. We’ll be here for 3 nights and will have a car.

We normally prefer staying in town because we much prefer being able to walk around in the evening, walking to dinner and walking back. We’re much less likely to leave the pousada for dinner if we have to take a taxi back, and a half hour walk seems too long.

OTOH, I’ve read many recommendations for the Pousada and how this one is special. We do have a superior room. I’m still inclined to cancel it, however, because the inconvenience of going back and forth. How hard is it to drive in and out of Guimaraes? It looks like a fairly large city, so that might be a headache, too.

progol

Never mind the above. I changed the reservation to Hotel de Oliveira as I much prefer to stay in town. However lovely the place might be, I prefer the convenience of being in town.

Maribel

You have other accomodations of charm, so you should (and did!) go with your preference of staying in town. The Hotel de Oliveira was once Guimarães' center city Pousada, but was taken over by another hotel group and given a spiffy, contemporary look. It will be a change of pace from the traditional Portuguese style you'll have at Chalet Saudade.

progol

Many thanks, Maribel. I hated to cancel it because it does sound so charming and I know several people who loved it. Nonetheless, I know we are not about to take cabs back and forth or walk a half mile to the pousada at night. We love the chance to stroll through a place in the evening, so I’m happy with the decision.

HappyTrvlr

The Minho was our favorite area of Portugal. We stayed in the center of Guimares after the Pousada outside of city center canceled our reservation due to a large wedding that was booked after we made a reservation. But it worked out fine as we enjoyed the inner city location. Charming city with so much history.