Experience Lisbon by night at a traditional casa de fado, where you’ll dine on regional dishes as you listen to live fado. The dimly lit room, the twang of guitarra portuguesa, and the singer’s haunting melodies create an intimate portrait of Lisbon’s soul.

Learn how fado evolved from taverns and sailors’ laments into a UNESCO-recognized art form. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour with your Travel Director.

Trace the Atlantic to Nazaré, feeling sea breezes and viewing its sweeping bay and clifftop quarter. Continue to the medieval walls of Óbidos to wander cobbled lanes lined with whitewashed houses and bougainvillea, a photogenic scene of Portugal’s small-town charm.

Cap the visit by sampling Ginjinha, the local cherry liqueur, often served in a playful chocolate cup. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour with your Travel Director.

Cross the Douro to Vila Nova de Gaia and step into cool, oak-scented lodges where port matures in vast oak casks. Learn about the Douro’s demarcated vineyards and centuries of river trade that brought casks to Gaia’s riverside warehouses.

Conclude with an expert-led tasting exploring styles such as ruby and tawny ports, noting aromas of dried fruit, caramel, and spice. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour with your Travel Director.

Sit down to a traditional northern Portuguese dinner showcasing hearty regional flavors and the convivial spirit of Porto’s dining rooms. Expect generous plates paired with local Douro wines and a relaxed rhythm that invites lingering conversation.

Absorb the city’s culinary character—robust, comforting, and shaped by the river and sea—while enjoying a warm, convivial atmosphere. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour with your Travel Director.

Travel to Braga, an ancient archiepiscopal city whose towers and plazas reflect deep religious roots. Explore the historic center before heading to Bom Jesus do Monte, famed for its ornate Baroque staircase rising through landscaped terraces and chapels.

Learn about pilgrimage traditions and symbolism built into the hilltop sanctuary, where sweeping views frame the Minho region. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour with your Travel Director.

Cruise the Douro River at dusk to admire Porto’s terraced waterfront as lamps flicker on along the quays. Glide beneath the six bridges of Porto, including the iconic Dom Luís I Bridge, while the city’s tiled houses glow against the water.

Continue to a local restaurant for dinner featuring northern specialties and Douro pours, closing the evening with waterfront lights and easy conversation. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour with your Travel Director.

Visit the Basilica and Sanctuary of Fátima, one of the world’s great Catholic pilgrimage sites. Walk the vast colonnades, take in the broad esplanade, and, if you wish, pause quietly by the Chapel of the Apparitions where devotion and reflection set a contemplative tone.

Hear the story of the 1917 visions and the global pilgrim tradition they inspired. Marble porticoes, candlelight, and statues create a solemn atmosphere that invites visitors to pause for photos and reflection in a place charged with faith and history.

Explore Coimbra’s hillside lanes on a brief orientation that frames the scholarly spirit of the University of Coimbra, among Europe’s oldest. From terracotta rooftops to river views, see the city’s layered heritage anchored by the Romanesque Sé Velha and riverside Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha.

Absorb stories of students in black capes, serenades in narrow alleys, and the city’s centuries of learning. Coimbra’s blend of academic courtyards, cloisters, and lively cafés paints a cultured portrait of Portugal between the Mondego’s banks and the university hill.

Settle into the city over a hosted evening where you’ll meet your Travel Director and fellow travelers. Share stories and taste classic Portuguese flavors as you get a feel for Lisbon’s warm hospitality in a convivial setting that encourages easy conversation.

Gain helpful tips for exploring the capital and toast the adventures to come. Seasonal dishes, local ingredients, and a relaxed lively Lisbon dining room atmosphere make this a friendly introduction to Portuguese culture and the journey ahead.

• 2 Dinner (D)
• 6 Breakfast (B)

• View Belém Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries on your sightseeing tour with your Local Specialist
• View the legacy left by the Knights Templar
• See the celebrated Shrine
• View one of Europe’s oldest universities, the Old Cathedral and Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha
• Discover Ribeira’s medieval charm with a Local Specialist

• Deluxe coach travel
• Selected hotel dinners, with optional meals to purchase
• 3-star stays

• Lisbon: With your Local Specialist, visit the Belém Quarter to see the modern Monument to the Discoveries and the medieval Belém Tower.
• Tomar: Leave Lisbon behind for Tomar, a centuries-old Templar city where your orientation with your Travel Director takes you through its medieval center, among narrow streets, traditional shopfronts and ornate Manueline stonework.
• Porto: See the Clérigos Tower, Avenida dos Aliados and the Palácio da Bolsa former stock exchange. 

Costsaver

Discover Portugal’s capital on a citywide sweep as you join a guided panoramic tour past grand squares and hillside neighborhoods to the riverfront monuments of Belém. Admire the limestone silhouette of Belém Tower and the modern Monument to the Discoveries, and view the ornate exterior of the 16th-century Jerónimos Monastery.

Gain a vivid sense of Lisbon’s role in the Age of Discoveries as caravels once sailed from the Tagus. Azulejo-clad facades, the scent of roasted chestnuts, and the glint of the estuary set a lively scene for understanding the city’s maritime soul.

Explore Porto with a Local Specialist, tracing elegant boulevards and riverside lanes to the UNESCO-listed Ribeira Quarter. From colorful azulejo facades to the iron span of the Dom Luís I Bridge, the city’s steep streets reveal a photogenic jumble of merchants’ houses, wine lodges, and working quays.

Hear how trade and craftsmanship shaped Porto as you see highlights such as Clérigos Tower, Avenida dos Aliados, and the neoclassical Palácio da Bolsa. Granite churches, baroque bell towers, and Douro views combine to capture the character of Portugal’s proud northern capital.

Walk the medieval lanes of the Templar city of Tomar with your Travel Director, spotting traditional shopfronts, riverside gardens, and intricate Manueline stonework carved with maritime motifs. This gentle orientation reveals a compact center rich in Renaissance detail and everyday Portuguese life.

Learn how the Knights Templar shaped Tomar’s destiny and left their mark around the famed Convent of Christ. The town’s grid, convent courtyards, and calm plazas offer an atmospheric glimpse of Portugal’s transition from crusading outpost to seafaring kingdom.