Portugal Holidays 2024 & 2025 - Tailor-Made from Audley Travel UK (2024)

Salted cod, grilled sardines fresh off the boat, creamy custard tarts — Portuguese food is fresh, simple, and delicious. Medieval trade routes brought tropical spices to Portugal and over the centuries, cinnamon, saffron, cloves, and cumin have been embraced wholeheartedly and woven into a complex range of hearty soups and fish and seafood dishes.

A staple in the Portuguese diet is bacalhau (dried salted cod), which was traditionally taken on long sea journeys. Fish and seafood features heavily on menus in coastal areas, while inland, tasty soups such as caldo verde (kale, potato, and chorizo soup) are popular. For a sweet treat, don’t miss pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts), a local delicacy that originated in the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon.

While Portugal is renowned for its fortified port wine, it’s also becoming increasingly acclaimed for its wines. Look out for vinho verde, a young, crisp white from the Minho region.

Key destinations in Portugal include Lisbon, Sintra, the Douro Valley, and the Algarve. In sophisticated Lisbon you’ll find trams and funiculars navigating the hilly streets between exuberant Baroque churches and the narrow laneways of the Moorish Alfama.

Northwest of Lisbon, Sintra is known for its fairytale parks, gardens, and palaces, while further north, the terraced hillsides of the Douro Valley are blanketed in vineyards in one of the world’s oldest demarcated wine regions.

For golden sands and Moorish and Roman ruins head to the Algarve, but if you’d like to get away from it all, the nine volcanic islands that make up the Azores offer dramatic craters and steaming fumaroles as well as sun-drenched vineyards and gushing waterfalls.

Far more than a bed for the night, hotels in Portugal offer an insight into local life and history with stays in 16th-century convents, 300-year-old wine estates, and opulent former palaces. History is never far from the mind with a stay in a characterful former monastery, an elaborate boutique hotel set in a 15th-century palace, or converted country mansion with vineyard views.

If you prefer something sleek and modern, you’ll find chic, sophisticated hotels in the heart of Lisbon and sleek apartments made from volcanic stone in the Azores, while along the coast, we’ve found smart resorts on secluded beaches and boutique retreats set in lush gardens.

To get a better idea of what’s on offer, browse our collection of places to stay in Portugal.

Roman, Moorish, and Baroque architecture, terraced vineyards, and sunny beaches await in Portugal. Portugal offers rich culture, historic streets, and memorable food and wine experiences. While here, you could wander Moorish alleyways, explore the crypts of medieval cathedrals, or see whimsical palaces and gardens built by royalty to escape the summer heat.

Explore the vast Palácio Nacional de Mafra, an 18th-century palace-monastery with more than 1,200 rooms, listen to melancholy but entrancing fado music, join elaborate Holy Week processions, feast on custard tarts, or learn about the country’s long history of wine making.

You can retreat to the coast for sunshine and sandy beaches, cruise down a river in a private yacht, or head for the far-flung islands of the Azores to discover crater lakes and lava tubes, hot springs, and heavenly hiking.