Facts at a Glance
Full country name: Portugal
Area: 92,389 sq km (36,030 sq mi)
Population: 10.5 million
Capital city: Lisbon (pop 650,000)
People: 99% Portuguese, 1% African
Language: Portuguese
Religion: 99% Roman Catholic, 1% other
Government: parliamentary democracy
President: Jorge Sampaio
Prime Minister: António Guterres
Portugal lies immediately west of Spain, buffeted along its southern and eastern coast by the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of Europe's smallest countries, measuring 560km (350mi) north to south and a paltry 220km (135mi) from east to west. The northern and central regions are heavily populated and characterised by rivers, valleys, forests and mountains - the highest range is the Serra da Estrela, peaking at Torre (1993m/6540ft). The south is less populated and, apart from the rocky backdrop of the Algarve, much flatter and drier.
Portuguese portraits (18K)
The lush landscape of the north is rich viticultural country but also features corn, potato and rye. The central and southern regions are less green, yet they support corn oaks, olive groves, vineyards, and orange and fig trees, and are a delight in spring when the almond blossoms are in full bloom.
Lush countryside near Cabo da Roca (28K)
Portugal's climate is temperate. The country is generally warm from April to October, though somewhat less so in the north, while the southern region of Algarve can experience uncomfortably hot temperatures in midsummer. During winter, the north receives plenty of rain and temperatures can be chilly. Snowfall is common in the mountains, particularly the Serra da Estrela range.
Portugal's history goes back to the Celts who settled the Iberian Peninsula around 700 BC. The region soon attracted a succession of peoples and was colonised by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Visigoths. In the 8th century, the Moors crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and commenced a long occupation which introduced their culture, architecture and agricultural techniques to Portugal. But resistance to the Moors grew and they were finally ejected during the 12th century.
Marvão has been a fortified settlement since Roman times (25K)
In the 15th century, Portugal entered a phase of overseas expansion due to the efforts of Prince Henry the Navigator. Mariners set off to discover new trade routes and helped create an enormous empire that, at its peak, extended to India, the Far East, Brazil and Africa. This period marked the apogee of Portuguese power and wealth, but it faded towards the end of the 16th century when the country was occupied by Spain. Although the occupation lasted only a few decades, the momentum of the empire declined over the following centuries.
At the close of the 18th century Napoleon sent expeditionary forces to invade Portugal but they were forced back by the troops of the Anglo-Portuguese alliance. During the 19th century the economy faltered and republicanism took hold. National turmoil led to the abolition of the monarchy in 1910 and the founding of a democratic republic.
Portugal's democratic phase lasted until 1926, when a military coup ushered in a long period of dictatorship under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. His reign came to an end in 1968 when he sustained brain damage after falling off a chair. Anachronistic attempts to hold onto colonies in the face of nationalist independence movements resulted in costly wars in Africa and led to the Revolution of the Carnations, a bloodless military coup on 25 April 1974.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Portugal underwent some painful adjustments: the political climate vacillated between right and left, and the economy suffered from wrangles between government and private ownership. The granting of independence to Portugal's African colonies in 1974-5, resulted in a flood of over 500,000 refugees into the country. Entry into the European Community (EC) in 1986 restored some measure of stability, which was buttressed by the acceptance of Portugal as a full member of the European Monetary System in 1992. Portugal's remaining overseas territories include Macau, which is scheduled to be handed over to the Chinese in 1999, and the semi-autonomous archipelagos of the Azores and the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
GDP: US$78 billion
GDP per head: US$7,893
Annual growth: 3%
Inflation: 5.2%
Major industries: Textiles, tourism and agriculture
Major trading partners: Spain, Germany, France & the UK
Portugal's architecture is renowned for its Moorish and surrealist flourishes, culminating in the development during the 16th century of the Manueline style characterised, by the extravagant use of twists, turns, spirals and nautical themes for decoration. The nation's best-known musical form is the melancholic fado (songs believed to have originated from the pinings of 16th-century sailors), while traditional folk dancing remains popular in rural towns. The most striking craft is the making of decorative tiles known as azulejos, a technique the Portuguese learnt from the Moors. Portugal's rich literary tradition also has its origins in the 16th century, with the publication of works by the dramatist Gil Vicente and the poet Luís de Camões. Arguably the country's finest poet and dramatist to emerge this century is Fernando Pessoa.
Azulejos (decorative tiles) and passive sentry (22K)
Portuguese food is cheap, delicious and served in gut-expanding portions. Classic Portuguese meals include sardinhas assadas (charcoal-grilled sardines), pastéis de bacalhau (cod fishcakes) and caldo verde (a soup of cabbage and potatoes with slices of sausage). Seafood dishes such as linguado grelhado (grilled sole) and bife de atúm (tuna steak) are appetising staples. Meals can be washed down with Portugal's good-quality wines (vinhos) or port - the drink synonymous with Portugal.
Pointer to a Portuguese plateful (25K)
Portugal abounds with romarias (religious pilgrimages), festas (festivals) and feiras (fairs) which bring whole towns to a standstill. At the core of many are religious processions. The further north you go, the more traditional and less touristy these celebrations get. Carnival is one of the biggest events, featuring partying, parading and painted faces about six weeks before Easter. There are vast and colourful processions during Braga's Easter or Holy Week Festival. The Festa de São João in June is biggest in Porto where everyone dances through the streets, amicably hitting each other over the head with leeks. The Feira de São Martinho (Golegã; November), showcases all manner of horses, riding contests and bullfights.
Visas: Nationals of all EU countries, as well as those from Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand and the USA can stay up to three months in any half-year without a visa.
Health risks: Sunburn in summer
Time: GMT/UTC
Electricity: 220V, 50Hz
Weights & measures: Metric (see conversion table)
Tourism: 10 million visitors per year
Currency: escudo
Relative costs:
- Budget meal: US$4-6
- Restaurant meal: US$8-10
- Budget hotel: US$10-15 (dormitory bed)
- Mid-range hotel: US$40-80 (double)
Although costs are beginning to rise as Portugal falls into fiscal step with the EU, this is still one of the cheapest places to travel in Europe. On a rock-bottom budget - using hostels or camping grounds and mostly self-catering - you could squeeze by on about US$25 per person in the high season. With bottom-end accommodation and the occasional inexpensive restaurant meal, daily costs would hover around US$30. Travelling with a companion and timing your trip to take advantage of off-season discounts, you could eat and sleep in relative style for about US$70 for two. Outside major tourist areas, prices dip appreciably.
Though travellers' cheques are easily exchanged, and at rates about 1% better than for cash, they are very poor value in Portugal because additional fees are so high - sometimes up to 13% for a US$100 cheque. The exception is American Express travellers' cheques which can be exchanged commission-free with Amex agents. Plastic is overall a more sensible alternative and there are Multibancos (ATMs) in all tourist centres of any size where you can withdraw cash from credit and debit accounts. Keeping a small cash stash in US dollars or pounds sterling is a very good idea.
If you're not unhappy with the service, a reasonable restaurant tip is about 10%. For a snack, a bit of loose change is enough. Taxi drivers appreciate about 10% of the fare. Good-humoured bargaining is acceptable in markets but you'll find the Portuguese tough opponents. Off season, you can sometimes bargain down the price of accommodation.
When to Go
Portugal's climate is temperate, and you'll find agreeable weather just about everywhere from April to October, and nearly year-round in the Algarve. Overall the wettest season is from November to March: the soggiest regions are in the extreme north and in the Serra da Estrela mountain region in the country's centre. The ski season is from January to March but February is best. Peak tourist season is roughly from mid-June to September, except in the Algarve where it really only quiets down in the dead of winter. Carnival and Easter are two holidays celebrated with gusto all over the country and are worth going out of your way for.
Lisbon
Lisbon (Lisboa), the country's capital, stands breezily on the banks of the Rio Tejo. The city's low skyline, unpretentious atmosphere and pleasant blend of architectural styles conspire to make it a favourite with many visitors. Orientation is fairly straightforward - apart from the puff required to negotiate the hills - with most of the daily activity centred in the lower part of the city.
A clear choice for Lisbon's finest attraction is the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. Construction began about 1502 and was completed towards the end of the century. It survived a great earthquake in 1755, and is today the principal remnant of Manueline architecture found in the city. Nearby is the Torre de Belém, a Manueline-style tower which stands in the Rio Tejo, and is probably the most photographed monument in Portugal.
The peaceful cloister of Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Lisbon (25K)
Lisbon has a number of attractive museums including the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, which contains superb displays of decorative tiles; the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, which houses the national collection of works by Portuguese painters; and the immense Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, considered the finest museum in Portugal, with exhibits of paintings, sculptures, carpets, coins and ceramics from around the world.
Other places of interest are the districts of Baixa and Alfama. Here you'll find some of the city's oldest and most rewarding sights: anarchic cobbled streets, squares and alleys; markets and craftspeople, and colourful buildings and brooding castles.
Fetching façades, Alfama, Lisbon (16K)
Lisbon has a wide range of budget accommodation and cheap eateries, mostly found in the central parts of the city. Lisbon's nightlife is boisterous, and includes drinking in bars, raving at discos, bopping to jazz and African rhythms or puzzling over fado. Local soccer matches and bullfights are the biggest daylit thrills.
The town of Sintra lies immediately north-west of Lisbon and was long favoured by Portuguese royalty and English nobility (Lord Byron was mad about it) as a summer destination. Its appeal is still evident today, with its thickly wooded setting, romantic gardens and ramshackle glamour. Dominating the town are a number of palaces and ruins, including the Palácio Nacional de Sintra, an interesting amalgam of Manueline and Gothic architecture and the Palácio Nacional da Pena. Just outside the town are the rambling Monserrate Gardens, while further out is the Convento dos Capuchos, a tiny 16th-century hermitage enclosed in forest, with cells hewn from rock and lined with cork.
Kooky Palácio Nacional da Pena, Sintra (13K)
Évora
The walled town of Évora is one of the architectural gems of Portugal. Situated in a landscape of olive groves, vineyards, wheat fields and brilliant spring flowers, it's a charming town with one-way backstreets so narrow that car wing mirrors have the potential to be lethal.
Évora's narrow lanes & Lisbon's sun-drenched streets (23K)
The focal point is the Praçado, and its attractions include the Sé cathedral, which has a museum of ecclesiastical treasures; the picturesque Roman temple; and the Igreja de São Francisco, which contains a ghoulish ossuary chapel constructed with the bones and skulls of several thousand people.
Cramming in at the ossuary chapel, Évora (28K)
Lagos, on the south coast of the Algarve, is one of the country's most popular tourist resorts. Most visitors are drawn to the superb beaches which include Meia Praia, a vast strip of sand to the east, and the more secluded Praia do Pinhão to the south. The town has abundant facilities for renting bicycles, mopeds and horses, and there are also boat trips from the main harbour. Apart from the sun and sand, the resort's other highlight is the municipal museum, which has eccentric displays of ecclesiastical treasures, handicrafts, and preserved animal fetuses.
Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês
This wilderness park in the far north of Portugal, near the Spanish border, has spectacular scenery and a wide variety of flora and fauna. It's extremely popular with Portuguese daytrippers and holidaymakers, but they tend to stick to the main camping areas, leaving the rest of the park to hikers. There are plenty of good short-distance trails with places to swim along the way, as well as facilities for horse riding and canoe rental.
Douro Valley
This valley is one of Portugal's scenic highlights, with some 200km (125mi) of bold, expansive panoramas stretching from the city of Porto all the way to the Spanish border. In the upper reaches, port-wine vineyards wrap around every crew-cut hillside, interrupted only by the occasional blindingly white manor house. The roads which wriggle along the banks of the Rio Douro can be crowded with daytrippers from Porto, but the river has been tamed by five dams and is now navigable along its entire length, making boat cruises an attractive way to soak up the atmosphere in peace.
The quiet highland town of Monchique, dozing on the wooded slopes of the Serra de Monchique, offers a good alternative to the hurly-burly of beach life on the coast. Apart from its beautiful and restive setting, the town's other attraction is the Igreja Matriz church, which boasts an amazing portal - about the closest you'll get to seeing stone tied in knots. Of interest just outside the town is the sleepy spa of Caldas de Monchique, and it's worth driving or hiking through thick forest to Foia, the `rooftop' of the Algarve. The panoramic views from the top are terrific.
This tiny fishing port is perched on dramatic, windswept cliffs at the south-western extremity of Portugal. The village's proximity to Lagos means that it's not entirely devoid of holiday-makers, but the port is still a centre for boat-building and lobster-fishing. Legend has it that Henry the Navigator established a nautical think-tank here, priming the explorers who later founded the vast Portuguese empire. Nearby are several pleasant beaches and the barren, throne-like Cabo de São Vicente, Europe's south-westernmost point.
Budget accommodation is mostly in private rooms or at a well-equipped camping ground. Sagres is around 30km (20mi) west of Lagos and frequent buses connect the two. There are less frequent coach connections direct to Évora and Lisbon.
Water sports such as swimming, snorkelling, windsurfing and big-game fishing are popular along the Algarve Coast while surfing is big along the west coast. With advance notice, organisations can also provide a weekend of canyoning and hydrospeed near Porto. Southern Portugal is dense with championship-standard golf courses. Other activities include hiking and pony trekking in the Serra da Estrela and Peneda-Gerês regions.
TAP (Air Portugal), the national airline, has direct flights to Lisbon from a number of destinations including England, France, Spain, the USA and Canada. There are also international flights to Porto and Faro. International departure tax is US$13, but this is included in the price of your ticket. Direct and regular bus services operate from France, Spain and England. Train connections from France and Spain are just as routine, with a number of scenic stops en route. You can also drive, ride, pedal or walk into Portugal, with major border posts open around the clock. If you're driving from England, the quickest route is via the Plymouth-Santander or Portsmouth-Bilbao ferries to northern Spain and then on to Portugal.
Flights inside Portugal are expensive and hardly worth considering, given the short distances involved. Trains are much cheaper, but it's almost always quicker to go by bus - especially as a number of private companies operate express services between major cities and the Algarve. There are dozens of car-rental agencies in Portugal, though you should bear in mind that petrol is pricey. Bicycles can also be rented in some tourist areas. Local transport includes trams, buses and plentiful and cheap taxis. Lisbon has an underground metro (which is being expanded) and some stately funiculars.
Tramming it in Lisbon (23K)
- The best general overview of the country is the very readable The Portuguese: The Land and its People by Marion Kaplan. Another good read is Rose Macaulay's They Went to Portugal, which follows the experiences of a whole host of travellers from medieval times to the 19th century.
- For a look at Portuguese fiction in translation, try The Lusiads by Luís de Camões, the cornerstone of classical Portuguese literature, and works by Fernando Pessoa (Selected Poems), Fernando Namora (Mountain Doctor), José Maria Eça de Queirós (The Maias) and Mario Braga. Also noteworthy is the more recent and very compelling `whodunnit' Ballad of Dog's Beach by José Cardoso Pires.
- Keen walkers should pack the Landscapes of Portugal series by Brian & Eileen Andersen, which features both car tours and treks in various regions, and the more detailed Walking in Portugal by Bethan Davies & Ben Cole.
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