The 10 Best Travel Experiences in Portugal

Portugal's Douro Valley is carved by centuries of hand-terraced vineyards climbing steeply from the river below, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and the birthplace of port wine, still transported by traditional flat-bottomed rabelo boats that once carried barrels downriver to Porto.

The schist-terraced hillsides shift colour with the seasons.

Terracotta-roofed houses stack up the steep riverbank of the Douro in Porto's Ribeira district, a tangle of narrow lanes barely changed since medieval times.

The double-decked Dom Luis I Bridge, engineered by a student of Gustave Eiffel, carries a metro line across the top and traffic below.

Port lodges line the far bank at Vila Nova de Gaia, where the wine is still aged, blended and tasted.

Golden limestone cliffs riddled with sea caves and arches line this stretch of southern Portuguese coast, best known for the Benagil Cave's near-perfect circular skylight.

Small boats and kayaks squeeze through narrow rock archways to reach hidden beaches accessible no other way.

The cliffs shift from ochre to deep orange depending on the light.

A Romanticist fantasy on a crag above Sintra, painted in egg-yolk yellow and vermilion with Moorish domes, Manueline carving and a mythological triton over the main arch.

Built in the 1840s on the ruins of a monastery, it stands high enough that cloud regularly drifts through the terraces.

The park below runs to eighty-five hectares.

Regularly ranked among Europe's best beaches, this small Algarve cove sits below golden limestone cliffs riddled with arches and sea stacks.

A clifftop walking trail runs the length of the coastline above, and a flight of stairs drops to a narrow strip of sand that fills quickly once the day gets going.

The sheltered, clear water makes for excellent snorkelling around the rock formations.

Portugal's hilly capital rises above the Tagus estuary in tiers of pastel façades, azulejo tilework, and rattling yellow trams.

Alfama's medieval lanes climb past fado bars toward São Jorge Castle, while Belém's monuments trace the Age of Discoveries and the modern LX Factory anchors a livelier scene.

It rewards slow wandering more than a fixed itinerary, with river-view miradouros around every third corner.

A volcanic island in the mid-Atlantic nicknamed the "floating garden," Madeira packs cloud forest, terraced vineyards, and sea cliffs over 500 metres tall into an area smaller than greater London.

A 19th-century irrigation network of levadas laces the interior with walking trails through laurel forest and past hidden waterfalls, while a glass skywalk cantilevers out over Cabo Girão, one of Europe's highest sea cliffs.

A domed sandstone chamber on the Algarve coast with its own crescent of beach and a circular hole in the roof that drops a column of sunlight onto the sand.

It can only be reached from the water, by kayak, paddleboard or tour boat, since swimming across from the neighbouring beach is now restricted.

A tiny medieval town entirely enclosed by 14th-century walls an hour north of Lisbon, Óbidos was once a traditional wedding gift from Portuguese kings to their queens.

A single cobbled main street runs between whitewashed, bougainvillea-draped houses to a hilltop castle, and the full circuit of the ramparts can be walked in under an hour for views over the surrounding countryside.

A river cruise from Porto into the terraced vineyards of the Douro Valley, Portugal's oldest wine region and a UNESCO World Heritage landscape.

The ship locks through a series of dams as the valley narrows, with port wine estates, or quintas, visible on the hillsides at every bend.

Stops usually include a quinta tour and tasting, and sometimes the historic town of Pinhao.

Autumn turns the vine terraces gold and copper along the whole route.