Portugal Please: Wão. What a Trip!

Does it ever seem like far too many folks are stuck in the same tired rut of a far too well beaten path, only hitting a few main sites in a short selection of only a few Western European countries – namely Spain, France, and Italy – and never realising that there’s so much more to explore just as close, just as scenic, just as steeped in tradition … and often accessible at far greater value than most of the EU? Not you and me though. We’re going to Portugal!

In actuality, I’m just back from a fantastic week wining and dining my way across this gorgeous little country and am now most keen to share the best of those experiences and help you make the most of planning your own perfect Portuguese itinerary.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love Spain, France, and Italy too. I’m keen to carry on visiting all three and would be hard pressed to come up with any list of my all time favourite destinations without including places in these countries. Still, I don’t see why you hear so much about this trio and hardly ever anything about Portugal. And when you do hear about travelling to Portugal, it’s all about the Algarve (somewhere I’ve never been but hear is ace for beach-y breaks). I reckon Portugal’s an overlooked, underrated and in many ways an ideal place to visit – no matter what you’re into.

Me? I’m into food and wine, ancient history, scenic country driving, getting away from it all, meeting friendly salt-of-the-earth people …. and to be sure Portugal had all that and more.

For my Portugal Please road trip, I flew from Gatwick to Porto and wound my way down via the Centro region by car to the Alentejo, eventually flying out of (but spending no time in) Lisbon for Heathrow. I flew with TAP and experienced no hassles or delays. I would be more than happy to recommend the airline to anybody thinking about flying to Portugal or any of TAP’s routes. Heck, I even enjoyed the simple tuna sandwich I had as my meal on each of the flights.

My itinerary was a blend of two press trips. One, a tasteful tagalong with the Discover the Origin campaign to the Douro Valley to find out about (and drink lots of!) the region’s phenomenal wines as well as Portugal’s most iconic quaff, Port. The other, an especially delectable opportunity to “road test” the new Festival of Food offering from British tour operator, Sunvil. I had a wonderful time during both legs of my trip and really look forward to blogging about my adventures over the next week or so.

Significant aspects of my trip were made especially splendid through the hard work of kind folks at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto (big thanks to Maria Cabral for being such an excellent host); Visit Centro de Portugal (Muito obrigado Silvia Aires for sharing your time and expertise); and Turismo do Alentejo (Patrícia Martins in Portalegre was particulary generous with her time and efforts).