Luxury Portugal Holidays

Portugal is a favoured destination for many thanks to its long, sunny days and mild winters. During spring and summer the air is sweetened by clouds of bougainvillea that waft invitingly from the roadside, around swimming pools or clinging from precipitous cliffs. In the north you will find rolling vineyards and attractive cities, their streets lined with the traditional blue and white tiles known as azulejos, buildings painted a cheery buttercup yellow. Here you can sample port wine in the cellars by the harbour in charming, dilapidated Porto, or hop aboard a tram to propel you around Lisbon’s seven hills, pastel de nata in hand – that’s an egg custard tart, to you and me.
Day trips from Portugal’s pleasant cities can be made to the windswept beaches of glitzy Cascais and ethereal Sintra. In the former you can stroll among the shady plazas lined with that traditional Portuguese design of black and cream wavy tiles on the way to the beach, and in the land climb up into the high hills beyond Lisbon to a land of fairy-tale castles painted deep vermillion and Crayola yellow. In the south you’ll find more beaches still, tiny tavernas heady with the scent of roasted garlic and old world charm blending with exotic Arabic influences. Morocco is just across the way, and you can feel its influence in Portugal’s deepest south.