Meet your fellow travellers and meet your Signature Guide at a convivial welcome reception in Lisbon. Ease into the city’s rhythm with an informal orientation stroll along Avenida da Liberdade, where leafy boulevards lead toward Baixa’s neoclassical squares and the shimmer of the Tagus.

Hear insider tips for dining and neighbourhood exploring as the group begins to connect. The mood is warm, unhurried, and unmistakably Lisboeta—perfect for soaking in the city atmosphere before you venture south to the Alentejo.

Explore the CITA—Arraiolos Rug Interpretive Centre on a guided visit that reveals the centuries-old Arraiolos embroidery technique. Learn how wool is dyed and stitched into geometric and floral motifs whose origins echo Moorish and Iberian design.

Wander the whitewashed hilltown to step inside working ateliers, watching needlework passed down through generations. The encounter celebrates patient craftsmanship and the quiet pride that sustains Portugal’s most emblematic carpets.

Step inside the Paco Ducal de Vila Vicosa on a private tour of marble-clad galleries once home to the House of Braganza. Admire salons lined with azulejos, royal portraits and tapestries that chart Portugal’s political and artistic currents.

In the heart of “marble country,” the palace’s luminous stone facades speak to Alentejo’s geology and grandeur. Guides bring courtly rituals to life as you pause to appreciate elegant, marble-fronted facades and refined interiors.

Meet the artisans preserving the UNESCO-recognised Estremoz clay figures as you meet the Flores sisters in their workshop. Watch delicate saints, farmers and market scenes take shape, hand-moulded and painted in the soft hues of Alentejo.

Continue to a contemporary cork studio to discover the montado cork-oak landscape and how bark, harvested by hand every nine years, becomes refined design. The pairing reveals Alentejo’s ingenuity—earth, craft and culture in enduring dialogue.

Walk UNESCO-listed Évora with a local expert to step inside Évora Cathedral (Sé), survey the Roman Temple, and enter the haunting Chapel of Bones, where walls of tibias and skulls confront time and memory.

Beyond headline sites, enjoy private access to a lesser-seen corner of the old city—perhaps a cloister or overlook—revealing quiet courtyards, azulejo-lined chapels and the everyday cadence that flows beneath Évora’s layers of history.

Stroll the family estate behind Amor é Cego to walk among Galega olive trees and sample small-batch olive oil pressed with precision and care. Learn how dry farming and biodiversity shape texture and aroma, from green almond to peppery finish.

As evening light softens, share dinner with the family. Stories of harvests and seasons pair with regional dishes and quietly generous hospitality—an intimate window into Alentejo life rooted in soil and stewardship.

Cruise Lake Alqueva aboard a restored vintage boat, gliding between cork-oak hills and whitewashed villages mirrored on the water. Raise a glass and sip champagne as the horizon opens across one of Europe’s largest lakes.

Hear how the reservoir reshaped communities and ecology while basking in vast Alentejo skies—on clear days, a hint of the nearby Dark Sky Alqueva reserve’s clarity lingers in the light and silence.

Visit the Museu da Luz to understand a community’s response to the Alqueva Dam. Exhibits weave oral histories and photographs with everyday objects, tracing how a riverside village moved and remade home above the new shoreline.

The museum’s minimalist architecture heightens reflection as you look out toward the lake. It’s a quiet, affecting encounter with memory, place and the resilience that defines the Alentejo interior.

Explore Monsaraz with a private guide, tracing schist-paved lanes to the castle ramparts. From the battlements, sweeping views across the plains reach Lake Alqueva and the distant Spanish border, revealing centuries of frontier life.

In the village, lime-washed walls, simple chapels and artisan shops create a timeless mood. Hear stories of knights, wine merchants and shepherds as you pause for photos and reflection over the rolling Alentejo.”

Walk the remains of the São Cucufate Roman villa with a private guide, reading columns, baths and peristyles that once anchored a prosperous agricultural estate. Olive, vine and grain still pattern the landscape in enduring continuity.

Learn how later medieval occupation left traces in the stones, adding another layer to the site’s palimpsest. The tour connects empire to countryside, showing how Mediterranean lifeways adapted yet persisted in Alentejo.

Enter a village cellar to discover vinho de talha, wines fermented in clay amphorae using methods rooted in Roman practice. Taste earthy, textural wines drawn from the talha as your host explains clay’s role in shaping aroma and finesse.

Over lunch at a neighbourhood tasca, voices rise in UNESCO-recognised Cante Alentejano. The polyphonic harmonies and regional dishes create a moving snapshot of communal identity—food, song and heritage intertwined.

Celebrate at Fitapreta Winery with a guided tasting followed by a farewell dinner that pairs estate wines with contemporary expressions of Alentejo cuisine. Candlelit tables and vineyard views set a generous, reflective mood.

Dine within a historic rural estate near Évora, where old stone walls meet modern winemaking. Raise a final toast as memories of artisans, landscapes and flavours come together in a fitting close to your journey.

Glide by e-bike on gentle trails through olive groves and cork oaks, linking whitewashed villages and open farmland beneath spacious skies. The quiet motor lets you savour birdsong, farm scents and unhurried, rural horizons.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Distances are modest with photo stops built in—ideal for travellers seeking light activity and immersive scenery without strenuous effort.

Follow the arches of the 16th-century Aqueduto da Água de Prata from countryside edge into town, tracing whitewashed lanes where houses and workshops nestle against stone piers. Discover hidden courtyards, cisterns and the ingenious ways water shaped daily life.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Your guide reveals architectural quirks and lived-in corners that many visitors miss, offering a textured portrait of Évora beyond its monuments.

Join a hands-on tile-painting workshop to learn the azulejo tradition from a local artist. Practice brush techniques, trace cobalt motifs and create your own tile inspired by Alentejo patterns and light.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Hear how Islamic geometry, Iberian craft and modern design converge in Portugal’s iconic tiles, then take home your finished piece as a keepsake.

Ride horseback at an easy pace through holm oak forests and golden clearings, where grazing herds and beehives dot the silvery-green landscape. Guides match mounts to experience, keeping the feel relaxed and immersively rural.

This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. It’s a serene way to sense the texture of the montado ecosystem, from cork oaks to wildflowers, with time to pause for photos and quiet.