Portugal: Northern vs. Southern??
 

My DH and I are planning a trip to Spain & Portugal this July/Aug and would love opinions on whether we should go to the Northern or Southern regions? (We know it's the most crowded time everywhere). We're looking for the most picuturesque areas with great dining options.
Northern we're looking at Porto and the Duoro River and Southern we're looking at the Algarve region.
Any Suggestions??
Thanks in advance.,

We like the north more, to us towns like Braga, Coimbra and Viana do Castelo are more interesting than the beach resorts of the south.

***would love opinions on whether we should go to the Northern or Southern regions***
More than likely the north then.
https://www.visitportugal.com/en

You don't want to go to the Algarve in July/August.

Thank you for your quick responses...it looks like you're all in agreement which makes the decision much easier!
IMDonehere, thank you for the towns suggested, I will look into each of them. Do you also have any hotel recommendations (we like higher end personal inns with character & charm rather than larger hotels. Any experiences that we shouldn't miss while there?

If anyone else has other towns, accomodations or experiences you can recommend, I'm all ears (or eyes)!
Thanks!

Also, which airport do you recommend flying in and out of?

There only a few airports in Portugal which handle international commercial flights. All are listed on this website.
http://www.ana.pt/en-US/Pages/Homepage.aspx
For hotels maybe you should look at Booking.com. Reviews by those who have actually stayed in the accommodation filters for things like price, location and facilities. Booking is immediate . app for phones which means you do not have to reserve hotel until you are on vacation.
Coimbra and Viana do Castelo are in the mid of Portugal.
How long are you going for and method of transport.

Viana do Costelo is almost at the border of Galicia and Coimbra is north of Lisbon.

oh no another bloody spammer. When are these posts going to be removed? Dearest moderators, you are doing nothing about this, again.

Yep apologies to the error.
Coimbra however is south of Oporto. For me more in the middle of the country.
Viana do Castelo is in the north.

Loved the Douro! There are many beautiful Quintas you can stay in. We stayed at Quinta Nova and it was fantastic.

I totally agree with the advice above - we loved the small towns more than Lisbon and Porto. If you go to Evora eat at Tasquina De Oliveras - best meal in Lisbon was at Eleven (very pricy), and not pricy but wonderful was Bistro Xipura (I think was the name see our trip report). Favorite small towns in Portugal were Tomar and Obidos. Enjoy

While I enjoyed the small towns of northern Portugal, Oporto was a pure fascination to me, given my interest in architecture and architectural embellishment. Two cautions about Oporto, however: Both sides of the river are TOTALLY touristy, and geared toward a particularly obnoxious kind of "cheap flight, cheap eat and drink" kind of week-end tourism. If you go away from those areas, however, Oporto -- on both sides of the river -- is really quite interesting. There are other touristy nodes but there are also large swathes of Oporto that are utterly to their own.

The other caution is that, while I am a museum rat and really enjoy modern art, I found the much-acclaimed museum of contemporary art a big blah, despite nearly every single guidebook touting it as a top attraction. Some of my reaction was shaped by the temporary exhibits there when I visited. Had they been more agreeable, I might have found my time there more rewarding. But unless you have a very specific reason for wanting to go, I found it much more interesting to hang around historic Oporto, or get a glimpse of the seaside at Foz.

As for small northern towns, I was much more taken with Guimaraes than Braga, and I found it immensely rewarding to cross the border to the first town in Spain of Tuy (Tui), which has a spectacular cathedral and it altogether a curious tiny town with some lovely views.

Also look at the towns of Guimarães and Ponte de Lima in the north, the Minho region. We enjoyed all of Portugal but the northwen area was our favorite. Adjacent Galicia, Spain was another favorite for us.