571 Best Sights in Portugal

Home to the National Orchestra of Porto and Portugal's Baroque Orchestra, this soaring postmodern temple to music was designed by legendary Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas ahead of Porto's stint as the European Culture Capital in 2001. There are frequent musical events, but the gravity-defying building deserves a visit even when the stage is bare. Book in advance for hour-long English-language guided tours.

Portugal’s best known contemporary artist, Paula Rego died in 2022 but her legacy lives on in her incredible body of thought-provoking work, much of which is showcased at this modern building in the Cascais Museum Quarter. Designed by the renowned architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, the eye-catching pyramid-like building houses a permanent display of many of Rego’s works, along with visiting exhibitions from other celebrated modern artists.

Designed by Eduardo Souto de Moura, one of Portugal's preeminent architects, the striking terra-cotta-colored buildings of this museum are as intriguing as the notable work shown inside. The building houses some of the works of Portugal's best-known contemporary artist, Paula Rego, and there's a small amphitheater on-site that sometimes hosts speakers and literary and art events.

An exceptional baroque mansion believed to have been designed by Nicolau Nasoni (architect of Porto's dashing Clérigos Tower), the Casa de Mateus sits 4 km (2½ miles) east of Vila Real. Its U-shape facade—with high, decorated finials at each corner—is pictured on the Mateus Rosé label (though that is the full extent of the association, as the wine's producer is not based here). You may visit the house museum using an audio-guide, but if you take a guided tour (€26) you willl not only also take in the chapel, with its still more extravagant facade, but be free afterwards to explore the formal gardens, which are enhanced by a "tunnel" of cypress trees that shade the path. 

Thought to have inspired the James Bond novel (and subsequent movie) Casino Royale, the glitzy Casino Estoril retains a glamorous allure. It's one of the largest casinos in Europe, with a nightclub, art gallery, bars, and restaurants alongside the gambling salons. You can make an evening of it here, with dinner and dancing to live music or DJs, but it's a pricey night out.

For a close look at this storybook castle on a craggy island in the Tagus River, take the 1½-km-long (1-mile-long) dirt road leading down to the water from the N3. The riverbank in this area is practically deserted, making it a wonderful picnic spot. From here, a small motorboat will ferry you across (€4 round-trip) to the castle and its modern Templar Interpretation Center (the last trip over is 40 minutes before the center closes). For a more leisurely river cruise, book ahead by phone or email  [email protected] to board a larger vessel (€6) at the quay just downstream in the village of Tancos. The sight couldn't be more romantic: an ancient castle with crenellated walls and a lofty tower sits on a greenery-covered rock in the middle of a gently flowing river. The stuff of poetry and legends, Almourol was the setting for Francisco de Morais's epic novel Palmeirim da Inglaterra (Palmeirin of England), about two knights fighting for a princess's favor. Your boat ticket includes admission to the castle and its small museum.
 

The former royal palace, an impressive hilltop fortress towering over the city, is the highlight of any visit to Estremoz (it now functions as a luxury pousada). The palace was built in the 13th century by Portugal's King Dom Dinis. It's named after his wife, Queen Isabel of Aragon, who died here in 1336. An explosion in 1698 destroyed much of the medieval structure except the Torre das Três Coroas (Tower of the Three Crowns), which you can still climb today for fantastic views of Estremoz and the surrounding countryside. The palace was restored after the ammunition blast and fire. The interior houses an impressive collection of 17th- and 18th-century artifacts and furniture.

One of the most beautiful in the region, this huge castle towers over the city. It includes an ancient porta da vila (city gate) that could be closed during attacks, a casa da guarda (guard station), and a dramatic torre do relógio (clock tower). You can climb onto the outer fortifications and walk around the complex for a 360-degree view of the town and the sweeping plains beyond. It's also a pleasant walk up to the castle through the winding, steep side streets lined with 17th-century manor houses and ornate doorways.

The outer walls of the fine medieval castle enclose the entire town, and it's great fun to walk their circumference, viewing the town and countryside from above—but take great care as there is no inner wall or railing for the most part. Extensively restored after suffering severe damage in the 1755 earthquake, the multitower complex has both Arabic and Manueline elements. Most of the keep is now a pousada.

Although the castle was constructed by the Moors, the site had previously been fortified by Romans and Visigoths. Just outside the entrance is a statue of Dom Afonso Henriques, whose forces besieged the castle in 1147 and drove the Moors from Lisbon. The ramparts offer city panoramas as far as the towering Ponte 25 de Abril. A residence of the kings of Portugal in the medieval period, the palace now houses a small museum showcasing archaeological finds. From the periscópio (periscope) in the Torre de Ulísses in the keep you can spy on visitors going about their business below. Beyond the keep, traces of pre-Roman and Moorish houses are visible thanks to recent archaeological digs, as well as the remains of a palace founded in the 15th century. The castle's outer walls encompass a small neighborhood (Castelo), the medieval church of Santa Cruz, restaurants, and shops.

Serpa's 11th-century aqueduct forms an integral part of the walls of the 13th-century castle, from which there's a stunning view of town. The huge ruined sections of wall tottering precariously above the entrance are the result of explosions ordered by the Duke of Osuna during the 18th-century War of the Spanish Succession.

Sitting high above the city is the Castelo de Sesimbra, which was conquered in 1165 by Dom Afonso Henriques but fell back into the hands of the Moors until 1200. The castle lost importance and fell into disrepair during the next several hundred years until Dom João IV ordered that it be adapted for the use of artillery in 1648. Classified as a National Monument, reconstruction was done to restore it to its previous glory after the great earthquake of 1755. From Sesimbra, a steep marked walking trail leads up the side of the pine-covered hill to the castle grounds. Aside from the incredible views of the ocean and the city below, there is a chapel, a small museum, and a café with an outdoor patio where you can enjoy a gin and tonic or a bagaço (a clear Portuguese liquor) as the sun goes down.

With high red walls that overshadow the little whitewashed houses below, this polygonal sandstone fortress was built between the 8th and 13th centuries and survived untouched until the Christian sieges. You can walk around inside the remaining walls or clamber about the crenellated battlements, taking in bird's-eye views of Silves and the surrounding hills. Its gardens are watched over by a statue of King Dom Sancho I, and its capacious water cistern is now a gallery space devoted to temporary exhibitions.

Above the village of Sortelha are the ruins of a small yet imposing castle. The present configuration dates back mainly to a late-12th-century reconstruction, done on Moorish foundations; further alterations were made in the 16th century. Wear sturdy shoes so that you can walk along the walls, taking in views of Spain to the east and the Serra da Estrela mountains to the west. The three holes in the balcony projecting over the main entrance were used to pour boiling pitch on intruders.

Housed in a spooky yet stately 18th-century jailhouse, this stellar museum hosts an ever-changing rotation of exhibits of works by modern Portuguese photographers, reflecting their work both at home and abroad. Photography buffs will appreciate the permanent collection of analog cameras housed on the top floor.

Within the walls of the Cidadela, you'll find the Castelo and the Domus Municipalis (Latin for "Municipal House"), a rare Romanesque civic building dating to the 12th century; it is always open. The nearby Igreja de Santa Maria, a church with Romanesque origins, has a superb 18th-century painted ceiling. A prehistoric granite boar, with a tall medieval stone pillory sprouting from its back, stands below the castle keep, or Torre de Menagem, which now houses the Museu Militar (€3). The latter displays armaments from the 12th century through World War I, but the structure itself is the main attraction, with its 108-foot-high Gothic tower, dungeons, drawbridge, turrets, battlements, and vertiginous outside staircase.

With a beautiful Moorish-style atrium, the city's movie museum hosts exhibitions on film history and screens classics from all over the world, usually in the original language and with Portuguese or English subtitles. Arrive early to check out the treasures displayed around the building, like the first Lumière projector used in the country. There's a café with a pleasant terrace.

About 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Guimarães you'll find these fascinating remains of a citânia (hill settlement) founded before the Roman invasion. It dates to around 300 BC and was probably not abandoned until AD 300, making it one of the longest-lasting such strongholds, although its residents are now thought to have become gradually romanized. The walls and foundations of 150 huts and a meeting house have been excavated (two of the huts have been reconstructed to show their original size). The site was excavated in the late 19th century by Dr. Martins Sarmento; most of the finds were transferred to the museum in Guimarães that now bears his name but some can be seen in the smaller Museu da Cultura Castreja, housed in Sarmento's family home in the village of São Salvador de Briteiros, downhill from the Citânia. For guided visits to museum or site, phone or email  [email protected]. Local bus company Guimabus serves Briteiros several times daily from downtown Guimaraes, then it's less than 10 minutes on foot to the museum or a 2.5 km (1.5 mile) hike up to the Citânia.

At Conímbriga's entrance is a portion of the original Roman road that connected Olissipo (as Lisbon was then known) and the northern town of Braga. If you look closely, you can still make out ridges worn into the stone by cart wheels. The road is just the beginning of the fascinating footprint left behind by the civilization that once dwelled here. A patchwork of mosaics reveals itself as you work your way across the paths. You'll be able to make out the foundations of several villas, including the House of Cantaber, named after a nobleman whose family was captured by invading barbarians in 465. The most extraordinary villa is the 3rd-century House of the Fountains, covered with mosaics depicting Perseus offering the head of Medusa to a monster from the deep. Private baths included a tepidarium (hot pool) and frigidarium (cold pool). Remnants of the central heating system that was beneath the floor are also visible. Alongside the ruins, an artifact-filled museum chronicles Conímbriga's Iron Age origins, its heyday as a prosperous Roman town, and its decline after the 5th-century barbarian conquests.

A dramatic sight against the greenery of the forest, this sprawling 16th-century monastery is built into the hills of the Serra da Arrábida. The glorious views take in the white sandy beaches and turquoise waters of the coast. Tours, which must be booked in advance, take place on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Atop a hill rising from the Old Town is this remarkable UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can drive to the top of the hill or hike for about 20 minutes along a path through the trees before reaching a formal garden lined with azulejo-covered benches. This was the Portuguese headquarters of the Knights Templar, from 1160 until the order was forced to disband in 1314. Identified by their white tunics emblazoned with a crimson cross, the Templars were at the forefront of the Christian armies in the Crusades and during the struggles against the Moors. King Dinis in 1334 resurrected the order in Portugal under the banner of the Knights of Christ and reestablished Tomar as its headquarters. In the early 15th century, under Prince Henry the Navigator (who for a time resided in the castle), the order flourished. The caravels of the Age of Discovery even sailed under the order's crimson cross.

The oldest parts of the complex date to the 12th century, including the towering castle keep and the fortresslike, 16-sided charola, which—like many Templar churches—is patterned after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and has an octagonal oratory at its core. The paintings and wooden statues in its interior, however, were added in the 16th century. The complex's medieval nucleus acquired its Manueline church and cluster of magnificent cloisters during the next 500 years. To see what the late-Gothic Manueline style is all about, stroll through the church's nave with its many examples of the twisted ropes, seaweed, and nautical themes that typify the style, and be sure to look at the chapter house window, one of the most photographed in Europe.

In 1472, Princess Joana, daughter of King Afonso V, retired against her father's wishes to the Convento de Jesus—established by papal bull in 1461—where she spent the last 18 years of her life. After the last of the holy sisters died, the convent was closed in 1874. It now contains the Museu de Aveiro, which encompasses an 18th-century church whose interior is a masterpiece of baroque art. The elaborately gilded wood carvings and ornate ceiling by António Gomes and José Correia from Porto are among Portugal's finest. Blue-and-white azulejo panels have scenes depicting the life of Princess Joana, who was beatified in 1693 and whose tomb is in the lower choir. Her multicolor inlaid-marble sarcophagus is supported at each corner by delicately carved angels. Note also the 16th-century Renaissance cloisters, the splendid refectory lined with camellia-motif tiles, and the chapel of São João Evangelista (St. John the Evangelist).

Facing a broad plaza in the oldest part of town, the Convent of Our Lady of the Conception was founded in 1459 by the parents of King Manuel I. Favored by the royal family, this Franciscan convent became one of the richest of the period. It now houses the Regional Museum of Beja, and if there's one museum you visit in Beja, this should be it. It's tough to decide which is more impressive, the exhibits inside or the building itself. You walk into an ornate, gold-encrusted chapel with saints' relics, and then proceed through the convent's old cloisters covered in azulejos from the 16th and 17th centuries. At the far end of the second-floor gallery is the famous Mariana Window, named for the 17th-century nun Mariana Alcoforado, whose love affair with a French officer is the stuff of local legend.

This cooperative was formed in 1949 by a group of local winemakers; by 1961, they had started producing wine using the traditional Verdelho, Arinto, and Terrantez grape varieties. Output remained small until the early 1990s, when the production processes were modernized and more varieties were introduced, including, in 1997, the first fortified wine with a distilled spirit added (Lajido), and in 2001, the first sweet fortified wine (Angelica). Today, the cooperative is the largest wine producer in the Azores, with about 240 members growing grapes. Book well in advance or try your luck stopping by for a tour of the wine production facility.

Across the lagoon from Aveiro is a ribbon of small resort towns, the most delightful of which is Costa Nova, decked out in jazzy candy stripes. It's a pleasant spot for a walk along the ocean and a meal at one of the many seaside restaurants. Hourly buses make the 15-minute trip from Rua Clube dos Galitos in Aveiro, or you can take a quick, relatively inexpensive taxi or Uber. Cycling is also a great option, with an 11-km (7-mile, each way) route that takes around an hour, offering scenic views of the lagoon and coastal landscapes.

If you're interested in horses, you must visit the Alter Stud Farm, 33 km (20 miles) southwest of Portalegre. It was founded by Dom João V in 1748 to furnish royalty with high-quality mounts. Dedicated to preserving and developing the beautiful Alter Real (Royal Alter) strain of the Lusitania breed, the farm has had a long, turbulent history. After years of foreign invasion and pillage, little remains of its original structures, but a huge modern equestrian complex now surrounds the older buildings. Fortunately, the equine bloodline, one of Europe's noblest, has been preserved, and you can watch these superb horses being trained and exercised on the farm. There are also three small but interesting museums here: one documents the history of the farm, one has a collection of horse-drawn carriages, and one has displays on the art of falconry. The town of Alter do Chão itself, with the battlements of a 14th-century castle overlooking a square, is also worth a stroll.

This stunning underground fortress displays archaeological relics from 2,600 years of settlement here. In the mid-1990s, archaeologists discovered traces of an Iron Age settlement from the 6th century BC underneath the town's castle. Structures are believed to have existed here from Roman times, with later castles being built one on top of another through Moorish and medieval times. The current castle and adjacent church are from the 13th century.

About 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Funchal, this miradouro (viewpoint) overlooks the Grande Curral, once thought to be the crater of a long-extinct volcano in the center of the island. Local legend says the surrounding peaks are the fortress of a princess who wanted to live in the clouds so badly that her father—the volcano god—caused an earthquake that pushed the rocky cliffs high into the sky. Today the views are breathtaking in all directions; you can appreciate them even more if you stay the night or dine at the panoramic Eira do Serrado Hotel & Spa. If you are driving here from Funchal, head north toward Curral das Freiras and turn at the sign for Eira do Serrado. The roads do get a little narrow and nerve-wracking at times, but they're worth embracing for the view.

Formerly Curia railway station, this beautifully restored building now houses a wine tourism hub run by the Associação Rota da Bairrada. Dedicated to promoting the wines and gastronomy of the Bairrada region, the space includes a wine bar in the old ticket office and a regional products shop in the former waiting room, decorated with original azulejos. Visitors can sample a rotating selection of Bairrada wines by the glass, as well as regional cheeses, conserves, and other delicacies.

This eye-catching train station was built in the early 20th century (King D. Carlos I laid the first brick himself in 1900) and inaugurated in 1915. It sits precisely where the Convent of S. Bento de Avé-Maria was located, and therefore inherited the convent's name—Saint Bento. The atrium, worth a visit even if you don't have a train to catch, is covered with 20,000 azulejos painted by Jorge Colaço (1916) depicting scenes of Portugal's history—from battles to coronations to royal gatherings—as well as ethnographic images. Designed by Porto-born architect Marques da Silva, it's one of the city's most magnificent artistic undertakings of the early 20th century.