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

• “I love taking guests to Monsaraz because It’s one of the many villages lost in time. It’s not easy for guests to find on their own and they feel like they’re visiting a secret paradise.”

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

• Lisbon: Join your Travel Director at 18:00 for a dinner at a local restaurant and the opportunity to mingle with your fellow travellers.
• Monsaraz: Enjoy a memorable Alentejo Highlight Lunch at local restaurant Sem Fim, once an olive mill. Indulge in dish-after-dish of the tastiest tapas in a vibrant setting.
• Douro Valley: You’ll sit down to a Farm-to-Table meal prepared with produce grown in the Douro region. Alongside local dishes, you’ll try Port wine made from grapes cultivated on the valley’s terraced hillsides, with staff sharing how the landscape shapes the flavour and style of each pour. 
• Lisbon: Shared experiences and memories are often the foundation for special bonds and friendships. Toast your travels with wine and good cheer during your dinner at a restaurant in Lisbon, devoted to the enjoyment of regional cooking.

• 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.

• Tomar: Explore Tomar’s Templar Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, first built in the 12th century and later expanded by the Order of Christ. As you move through the complex, you’ll see the Charola, a circular chapel linked to the order’s early ceremonies, along with the defensive structures that shaped the hilltop site. 
• Tomar: Walk through Tomar’s centre to the 15th-century synagogue, one of the few surviving examples of its kind in Portugal. This former place of worship now houses a small collection related to the Jewish community that lived in the town before the expulsion. 

Explore Lagos with your Travel Director on a relaxed walk that threads cobbled lanes to the marina and the sweeping arc of Meia Praia. Take in whitewashed houses, bright fishing boats and the Atlantic light as you stroll the old town and its harborfront promenade.

Gain context in a city tied to Portugal’s maritime story, where coastal fortifications once watched ships round the Algarve. Enjoy time to browse cafes or frame photographs of the curve of sand, cliffs and sea that shape this storied port.

Walk Évora with a Local Specialist to encounter the granite columns of the Roman Temple of Évora and the fortress-like Évora Cathedral. Follow lanes threaded beneath the arches of the Água de Prata Aqueduct, where everyday life tucks into ancient engineering.

Step inside the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones), where thousands of skulls and bones line the walls in a sober reflection on time and faith. This compact, walled city layers Roman, medieval and Renaissance chapters into a remarkably preserved Alentejo tableau.

Explore the hilltop village of Monsaraz, following cobbles to castle ramparts that survey olive groves, vineyards and the Spanish plains. From the battlements, pause for photos and reflection over the vast blue of the Alqueva reservoir below.

Board a boat with a local captain to cruise Lake Alqueva, gliding past islets and cork-oak hills as you hear tales of river life. The stillness of Europe’s largest artificial lake and the whitewashed village above create a striking Alentejo contrast.

Taste the Alentejo at Sem Fim, a characterful restaurant set in a repurposed olive mill where stone presses and beams hint at past harvests. Share generous dishes that showcase regional breads, cheeses, cured meats and slow-cooked specialties.

Savour local olive oil and seasonal produce as lively plates circulate for a convivial meal. This flavorful stop captures the rural rhythm of Portugal’s heartland and the hospitality that anchors village life across the plains.

Visit the Alentejo’s Casa Relvas estate to sample Touriga Nacional and other native grapes during a guided tasting. Learn how the family reduces water use, reforests with native species and nurtures biodiversity across sun-burnished vineyards.

This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER Experience supports responsible production and local education initiatives. As you sip, hear how sustainable choices shape flavor and resilience in a dry climate, linking your glass to UN SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

Visit the Sanctuary of Fátima, one of the world’s major Catholic pilgrimage sites. Stroll the vast Prayer Area toward the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, whose colonnades embrace the square in pale stone curves.

Pause at the Chapel of the Apparitions, built at the spot linked to the 1917 visions witnessed by three shepherd children. The site’s calm, candlelight and murmured devotions convey a powerful atmosphere of faith and reflection.

Choose your focus in Tomar with a Local Specialist. Step inside the UNESCO-listed Convento de Cristo to see the Templars’ octagonal Charola wrapped in gilded woodwork and frescoes, along with robust fortifications crowning the hill.

Alternatively, visit the intimate 15th-century Synagogue, a rare survivor of Portugal’s Jewish heritage. Its four slender columns and twelve arches form a serene prayer hall, now housing a small collection that recalls a once-vibrant community.

Explore Coimbra with a Local Specialist through steep lanes shaped by student life and royal history. Reach the hilltop University of Coimbra, a UNESCO site whose courtyards overlook the Mondego River and the tiled roofs of the upper town.

Enter the Joanina Library to stand among carved shelves and painted ceilings, where rare volumes rest in rooms of deep color and gilded detail. This Baroque interior safeguards centuries of Portuguese scholarship in atmospheric style.

Sit down to a Farm-to-Table lunch in the Douro, where ingredients reflect the seasons and terraces rise in green contours above the river. Local recipes reveal the valley’s rustic character and the care of small-scale producers.

Continue with a Port wine tasting on site, learning how grape varieties, aging and hillside microclimates shape style—from ruby fruit to tawny nuttiness. The setting, flanked by terraced vineyards, brings the region’s landscape directly to your glass.

Wander the stone-paved lanes of Guimarães’ UNESCO-listed heart, where arcades and granite townhouses frame intimate squares like Largo da Oliveira. From the Guimarães Castle battlements, survey a city often dubbed the birthplace of Portugal.

Absorb the craftsmanship of balconies and courtyards that have evolved since the early monarchy. The compact centre’s preserved layout makes an evocative window into the era when Portugal’s identity began to take shape.

Enjoy a panoramic drive through Porto to admire elegant avenues and facades clad in azulejos. Inside São Bento Railway Station, twenty thousand blue-and-white tiles depict conquests and countryside in sweeping, hand-painted scenes.

Cross or view the Dom Luís I Bridge to frame the Douro and terraced cityscape, then take in the colorful Ribeira quarter along the waterfront. Porto’s ironwork, river bends and tiled artistry create a compelling blend of industry and beauty.

Walk within the medieval walls of Óbidos, where chalk-white houses edged in blue and yellow cluster along cobbles gifted to a queen in the 13th century. Pass carved Manueline doorways, tiny chapels and flower-draped balconies toward the castle keep.

Sample ginja, the local cherry liqueur traditionally served in small cups, as you take in lanes that trace Roman origins and royal patronage. The town’s intimate scale invites slow wandering and village-square pauses.

Taste Lisbon’s most storied sweet at the original bakery, where the Pastel de Belém emerges warm from the oven. The brittle pastry gives way to cinnamon-dusted custard, a recipe linked to nearby monks who perfected the technique centuries ago.

Enjoy this beloved ritual within the Belém district’s maritime setting. The combination of creamy filling, flaky layers and the scent of coffee offers a delicious pause between monuments and river views.

Embark on a traditional Rabelo boat to glide beneath Porto’s bridges and along the Ribeira waterfront, once the route for barrels bound for the lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia. Take in ironwork spans, tiled facades and warehouses arrayed along the Douro.

Conclude with a riverside dinner featuring regional dishes while the city lights shimmer on the water. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, offering an atmospheric evening by the river.

Visit Braga to explore churches and squares shaped by exuberant Baroque style. See sculpted stonework curling around grand portals and step inside sanctuaries where gilded woodwork and painted ceilings create theatrical interiors.

From cathedral precincts to elegant avenues, the city reveals layers of Roman roots and ecclesiastical power. This excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour, ideal for travelers seeking northern Portugal’s sacred art and architecture.

Insight Vacations

Discover Lisbon with a Local Specialist on a guided panoramic tour through the orderly Baixa Pombalina, rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. Continue into Belém to view the riverside icons of the Belém Tower and Monument to the Discoveries, where Portugal’s seafaring era is etched in pale limestone beside the Tagus.

Step into the Jerónimos Monastery cloisters, a masterpiece of Manueline stonework, where rope motifs and armillary spheres lace the arcades. Pause at the famed patisserie to sample a warm Pastel de Belém, its crisp shell and silky custard connecting you to a recipe guarded for generations.