Portugal Top Destinations - Best Places to visit in Portugal

Top Destinations in Portugal

Best Places to visit in Portugal

Book Hotels in the Most Visited Places, Cities, Towns, Airports, Places of Interest, Tourist Regions,Archaeological Sites, Religious Sites, National Parks and more in Portugal.

Portugal attracts many tourists each year. Tourism is playing an increasingly important role in Portugal's economy contributing about 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The main tourist areas are, by order of importance, the Greater Lisbon (Lisboa), the Algarve, Greater Porto and Northern Portugal (Porto e Norte), city of Coimbra, Portuguese Islands (Ilhas Portuguesas: Madeira and Azores), and Alentejo.

Lisbon is, after Barcelona, the European city attracting most tourists, with an average of 7 million tourists sleeping in the city's hotels. Lisbon in recent years surpassed the Algarve as the leading tourist region in Portugal. Porto and Northern Portugal, especially the urban areas north of Douro River, was the tourist destination. Today, most tourists in Portugal are Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Scandinavians or Brazilians, which not only search for beach vacations, but mostly cultural ones, city breaks, gastronomy, nautical tourism or business traveling.

Tourism in Lisbon is popular. The city of Lisbon and the Lisbon metropolitan area attracts a significant number of tourists each year, drawn to its historical and cultural offerings.

Lisbon lacks the architecture and monuments of many other historic European capitals in large part due to the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which destroyed most of Lisbon's buildings, including famous palaces and libraries, as well as most examples of Portugal's distinctive 16th-century Manueline architecture. Several buildings that had suffered little earthquake damage were destroyed by the subsequent fire.

The city of Lisbon is rich in architecture; Romanesque, Gothic, Manueline, Baroque, Modern and Postmodern constructions can be found all over Lisbon.

The monument to Christ the King (Cristo-Rei) stands on the southern bank of the Tagus River, in Almada. With open arms, overlooking the whole city, it resembles the Corcovado monument in Rio de Janeiro, and was built after World War II, as a memorial of thanksgiving for Portugal's being spared the horrors and destruction of the war.

Notable features of Pombaline structures include the Pombaline cage, a symmetrical wood-lattice framework aimed at distributing earthquake force, and inter-terrace walls that are built higher than roof timbers to reduce fire contagion.

Tourism Regions in Portugal

Tourist hotspots in Portugal are Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve, Coimbra and Madeira, but the Portuguese government is currently developing new destinations: the Douro Valley, Porto Santo Island, and Alentejo.

Portugal has several other tourism regions such as Douro Sul, Templários, Dão-Lafões, Costa do Sol, Costa Azul, Planície Dourada, etc. Most of them are unknown to tourists and locals alike.

All these regions are grouped in tourism reference areas, which are widely known because these are the traditional regions: 

• Costa Verde: The Portuguese green coast comprises all the northern coast of Portugal from the estuary of the Minho River to the city of Porto.
• Costa de Prata: Silver coast. The coast of central Portugal from Porto to Lisbon. Nazaré, Foz de Arelho and São Martinho do Porto are 3 important places at the Costa de Prata.
• Costa de Lisboa: Lisbon coast. The coast of the capital city and its important suburbs.
• Montanhas: Mountainous and interior regions of northern and central Portugal, namely Serra da Estrela and Trás-os-Montes.
• Planícies: The Portuguese plane region of Alentejo in the south.
• Algarve: The southern coast of Portugal.
• Madeira: The Madeira Islands.
• Açores: The Azores islands.

Travel Promotions to Portugal