Enjoy a farm-to-table lunch in the Douro Valley, featuring dishes prepared with regional produce and a tasting of Port wine. Hear how grapes grown on the valley’s terraced hillsides contribute to the wines’ flavour and style.

The Douro’s steep vineyards form one of Portugal’s most recognisable cultural landscapes. This meal connects what is on the plate and in the glass to the farming traditions of the river valley.

Cruise the Douro aboard a traditional rabelo boat, viewing Porto’s pastel-hued Ribeira district from the water. Enjoy traditional flavours at a riverside restaurant as part of the evening experience.

Rabelo boats are associated with the historic movement of Port wine along the Douro. Seeing the city from one connects that river heritage with the colourful waterfront and bridges above. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cruise the calm waters of Lake Alqueva with a local boat captain near Monsaraz. Take in views of the Alentejo countryside from the water while listening to stories of life and boating in the region.

One of Europe’s largest artificial lakes, Alqueva has transformed the scenery around this historic hilltop village. Its wide, quiet expanse offers a different perspective on the olive groves, vineyards and sun-baked terrain along its shores.

Visit the Sanctuary of Fátima, Portugal’s best-known pilgrimage site. See its vast prayer square and explore the sacred precinct, where you may visit the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary or the Chapel of the Apparitions.

The sanctuary centres on reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three young shepherds in 1917. Its scale and atmosphere convey the importance of Fátima to pilgrims who continue to gather here from across the world.

Insight Vacations

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 10 Breakfast (B)
• 2 Lunch (L)

• Monsaraz: Join a local boat captain for a tranquil cruise on Lake Alqueva. Relax and enjoy calming waters, picturesque views and tales of river life.

• Porto: Delve into the history of Port wine and immerse yourself in the story of winegrower Antónia Adelaide Ferreira at Ferreira Cellars. Embark on a guided tour starting at the House of Dona Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, where hundreds of vats and casks age the wine. Then, explore the Vintage Museum and garden before tasting White, Ruby and Tawny Port wine. You’ll be captivated by the tale of “Ferreirinha,’’ who helped the Douro region to develop, modernise and thrive. 
• Lisbon: Portugal offers endless opportunities for the curious traveler. Delve into the culinary world over a Pastéis de Belém cooking class with a professional chef. In this hands-on class, learn how to make the famous and delicious Portuguese pastry and gain insights into the secret behind its crunchy puff pastry. Conclude your class by tasting your creation, paired with coffee, tea or juice.

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a welcome dinner at a local Lisbon restaurant. Share conversation around the table as you settle into the city and the company of your women-only group.

Portuguese food and wine provide a fitting introduction to a country where meals are an occasion for gathering. The hosted evening offers a relaxed way to get acquainted before exploring Portugal together.

Explore Lisbon with a Local Expert, travelling through the broad avenues and shaded squares of Baixa to Terreiro do Paco on the Tagus. In the Belém Quarter, see the riverside Belém Tower and Monument to the Discoveries.

Baixa’s orderly streets reflect the rebuilding that followed the 1755 earthquake. Belém’s landmarks evoke Portugal’s maritime era, when voyages from Lisbon connected the city to trading routes across the world.

Explore UNESCO-listed Évora with a Local Expert, taking in its walled historic centre and the surviving Roman Temple. Visit the cathedral to see its Romanesque and Gothic features, and enter the striking Capela dos Ossos.

Built in the 17th century, the Chapel of Bones is lined with human skulls and bones as a reflection on mortality. Together, these sites reveal layers of Roman, medieval and religious history within Évora’s compact streets.

Walk through whitewashed Monsaraz, a hilltop village surrounded by olive groves and vineyards. Wander among its castle ruins and look out across Lake Alqueva and the plains toward Spain.

The village’s stone lanes and defensive walls preserve its medieval character. From this high vantage point, the deep blue reservoir stands in contrast to the Alentejo’s dry, open landscape, making the setting as memorable as the village itself.

Share an Alentejo Highlight Lunch at Sem Fim, a Monsaraz restaurant housed in a former olive mill. Sample a succession of tapas-style dishes showcasing local flavours in a lively, communal setting.

The building’s earlier life connects the meal to an enduring part of the region’s agricultural heritage. Olive groves shape the surrounding countryside, while the generous spread offers a convivial introduction to the food traditions of southern Portugal.

Taste wines at the family-run Casa Relvas estate in the Alentejo, including varieties such as Touriga Nacional. Learn how the dry regional climate influences vineyard work and the character of the wines in your glass.

This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® experience also introduces the family’s efforts to reduce water use, reforest land with native species and support education in nearby villages. It connects a regional tasting with the practical choices behind more responsible wine production.

Choose a Local Expert visit to Tomar’s Convent of Christ, the UNESCO-listed hilltop complex begun as a Templar stronghold in the 12th century. See the circular Charola chapel and the richly decorated Manueline Window.

The castle and convent trace the site’s evolution from the Knights Templar to the Order of Christ. Your guide brings its defensive features and religious spaces to life, including what daily life meant for a warrior monk. This is one of two included Tomar choices.

Choose a guided walk through Tomar and visit its 15th-century synagogue with a Local Expert. Follow the town’s streets to one of Portugal’s few surviving medieval synagogue buildings and see its small collection relating to local Jewish history.

The visit reveals a strand of Tomar’s past beyond its Templar associations. The former place of worship recalls the Jewish community that lived here before the upheavals of the late 15th century. This is one of two included Tomar choices.

Walk Coimbra’s Old Town with a Local Expert, following steep lanes associated with the former royal palace and the city’s long academic tradition. See the streets and student haunts that give Portugal’s one-time capital its distinctive character.

Coimbra’s upper town has been shaped by university life for centuries. Its close-set buildings and climbs offer a sense of how royal, religious and scholarly histories meet in a city overlooking the Mondego River.

Visit the UNESCO-listed University of Coimbra and step inside its celebrated baroque library. Look up at painted ceilings and across carved bookshelves in a space created to house and protect rare volumes.

With roots in the 13th century, the university is central to Portugal’s intellectual history. The library’s elaborate interior makes that heritage tangible, pairing scholarly collections with the craftsmanship and ceremonial grandeur of its historic setting.

Wander the medieval centre of Guimarães, following cobbled lanes between small squares, stone-fronted houses and arcades. Take in views from the castle area above the historic streets.

Often called the birthplace of Portugal, Guimarães is closely associated with the kingdom’s early formation. Its preserved townscape makes that history easy to picture: castle and palace landmarks anchor a quarter whose courtyards and buildings have remained part of everyday life for centuries.

Tour Ferreira Cellars to see the vats and casks where Port ages, explore the Vintage Museum and garden, and taste White, Ruby and Tawny Port. Discover the story of Antónia Adelaide Ferreira, known as Ferreirinha.

Ferreira became an influential figure in the development of the Douro wine region. Her story adds a compelling perspective to this women-only tour, while the cellar visit shows how different styles express the valley’s grapes and winemaking traditions.

Discover Porto with a Local Expert, visiting São Bento Railway Station to admire its hand-painted azulejo tile panels. Stroll across the Dom Luís I Bridge for broad views of the Douro River and the city rising from its banks.

São Bento’s blue-and-white scenes depict episodes from Portugal’s past, while the iron bridge speaks to Porto’s engineering heritage. Together, these landmarks reveal the artistic detail and riverside setting of the city’s UNESCO-listed historic centre.

Walk within the medieval walls of Óbidos, exploring cobbled lanes lined with whitewashed houses and small churches. Sample ginja, the local cherry liqueur, traditionally served in a small cup.

The fortified town retains a street pattern shaped over many centuries and is linked to a royal wedding gift in the 13th century. Its compact lanes and distinctive local drink offer a close-up encounter with the character of this historic Portuguese town.

Learn to make Portuguese custard pastries in a hands-on class with a professional chef in Lisbon’s Belém Quarter. Work with the crisp pastry and creamy filling, then taste your creation with coffee, tea or juice.

Belém is closely associated with Portugal’s famous custard tarts. Making a pastry yourself brings attention to the contrast of textures that defines it, turning a familiar Lisbon treat into a practical encounter with local baking tradition.

Gather for a hosted dinner in Lisbon with your Travel Director and fellow travellers. Raise a glass together and enjoy regional cooking at a local restaurant.

The shared table provides space to reflect on Portugal’s landscapes, traditions and flavours with the women you have travelled alongside. Wine, conversation and a meal rooted in local cuisine give the journey a warm, sociable close.

Meet a Fado singer and experience an evening of dinner and live Fado in Lisbon. The conversation offers an introduction to the music before you hear it performed.

Fado is a Portuguese song tradition closely associated with Lisbon, often carried by an expressive voice and Portuguese guitar. This optional experience gives the performance a personal dimension through the chance to meet an artist. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Savour a four-course dinner across four Porto venues, moving between different spots in the city for each part of the meal. The format offers a sociable way to sample more than one setting in a single evening.

Porto’s dining scene draws on northern Portuguese flavours and the city’s lively streets. Changing venues makes the surroundings part of the experience as well as the food. This optional dinner is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit Braga, a northern Portuguese city noted for its baroque heritage. Explore a place where ornate religious architecture forms a distinctive contrast with Porto’s riverside streets.

Braga has a long ecclesiastical history, visible in the churches and historic spaces that have shaped the city. This optional outing offers a different perspective on northern Portugal and time to experience its character. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour.