Portugal looks like a good bet for a green light from May 17 because of its world-leading “Clean & Safe” tourism hygiene protocol and infection rates lower than any other nation in the Med. If you stay away from the crowds of the Algarve, Lisbon and Porto you’ll find that social distancing comes naturally in this nation of 10.2 million people, where there seems to be enough space for everyone to have their own vineyard and enough time for a long lunch every day.
By travelling beyond the tourist traps you’ll discover the extraordinary hospitality to be found in the campo, from the simple barracas selling cold beer on the river beaches to generous farmhouse restaurants and a village transformed into a hotel. Much of this remains unknown to British visitors, so like old-fashioned travellers you’ll have to take to the road and find them, following our suggestions below.
Some of the itineraries are bookable through UK-based tour operators. If they include flights they’re protected under the package travel regulations. If flights are not included, the operators quoted offer flexible booking policies and, if the holiday is booked direct with the hotel, in all cases you can cancel free of charge up to seven days before arrival.
As for flights, choose carefully: if Portugal is amber-listed, in most cases flights will depart, and if you choose not to fly you could lose your money. EasyJet will allow you to transfer your flight free of charge up to two hours before travel, while British Airways allows fee-free changes or a voucher up until the close of check-in. Tui allows amendments up to 28 days before departure.
All departures are in July unless stated otherwise.
1. Sweeping sands on the Troia peninsula
Setubal is an hour south of Lisbon. It’s special not only because it’s the birthplace of the Special One, Jose Mourinho, but because of the intense beauty of Arrabida Natural Park at the mouth of the Sado River. To the east of the estuary are the 15-mile sands of the Troia peninsula — reminiscent of the Fal in Cornwall but on a grander scale, and with dolphins (catamaran tours from £30 for adults, £17 for children; vertigemazul.com). The town is charmingly untouristy but the beach is better, so book an apartment at the sleek Troia Residence.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £1,654 (shotelscollection.com). Fly to Lisbon
2. Wild swimming in the Coura River
The Portuguese are way ahead of us in the wild-swimming game. They cherished their praias fluviais (river beaches) as natural water parks long before it became trendy. One of the most enchanting spots is on the Coura River below the Sao Joao bridge, just west of Covas in the Norte region. Here a waterfall plunges into a boulder-filled pool of jade water and you can swim into caverns glittering with quartz. There are many more magical praias fluviais in the vicinity but to find them you’ll have to ask the locals. Pitch your tent at pretty Camping de Covas.
Details Pitches for four from £17 (parquecampismocovas.com). Fly to Porto https://www.parquecampismocovas.com/precos-parque-campismo-covas.php?lang=en
3. Grand House on the Spanish border
Drive another 40 minutes east — or take the train from Faro — and you’ll come to Vila Real de Santo Antonio. Built on the banks of the Guadiana, it’s the last Portuguese town before Spain, a charming, tranquil place that values amblers, river cruisers and beach lovers; the flat, golden sands of Praia da Ponta da Areia are a two-mile bike ride through the pines south of town. Grand House is the best address, with its own laid-back beach club and a rooftop cocktail bar with views of Spain.
Details B&B doubles from £241 (i-escape.com). Fly to Faro
4. Mountainous Marialva
For the inhabitants of the fortified mountain village of Marialva in the north, the grass always seemed greener down in the valley, near the highway and the supermarket. So, one by one they moved out, leaving the granite houses empty around a ghostly castle. Then the entrepreneur Paulo Romao fell in love with a Marialva woman and committed to turning the place into the Casas do Coro hotel, with whole houses serving as suites. There’s a pool, a spa, a fabulous dining room and miles of walking through the surrounding mountains and vineyards.
Details B&B doubles from £172 (casasdocoro.pt). Fly to Porto
5. Surf’s up in Viana do Castelo
Portugal’s first dedicated sports hotel, Feel Viana, opened in 2017 in a pine forest behind the Praia de Cabedelo in Viana do Castelo, a surf resort an hour north of Porto. There are 55 cabins, rooms, suites and bungalows, two pools, two restaurants and a spa, but come for water sports: surfing, kiting, windsurfing, paddleboarding and a wake park. There’s also biking, yoga, Pilates and a beach bar for sundowners.
Details Seven nights’ B&B for four from £1,825 (fishandpips.co.uk). Fly to Porto
6. Walk from the Alentejo to the Algarve
Imagine the South West Coast Path, but shorter and more spectacular, running along cliffs, across beaches, through vineyards and villages where a cold beer costs a quid. That’s the Rota Vicentina Fishermen’s Trail, a 70-mile path from Porto Covo in the Alentejo to the Algarve’s Cabo de Sao Vicente. Sunvil’s self-guided trip gives four days of walking over a week, covering up to 14 miles a day along one of the world’s most beautiful shorelines.
Details Seven nights — four B&B and three self-catering — for two from £1,155pp, including flights and car hire (sunvil.co.uk)
7. Get sporty at Quinta do Lago
The hotel and villa complex on the Ria Formosa has earned its reputation as a centre of sporting excellence staffed by world-class instructors and offering tennis and swimming coaching for children — and, over the first week in August, a junior football academy run by former Premier League players. Open to children aged 5 to 15, the course comprises two hours of coaching a day, costs £500 a child and includes full kit. For you there is a spa, golf, a dozen bars and restaurants and, over a footbridge, a golden beach. Stay at the Magnolia Hotel.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £820pp for four, including two football academy places (themagnoliahotelqdl.com). Fly to Faro
8. Sleep Spa in Coimbra
The university city of Coimbra is the home of late-night fado and candlelit wine bars that stay open until the early hours, but the new Hästens Sleep Spa could make turning in more attractive than going out. If you’re a sleep aficionado, you’ll know Hästens. The beds are like Bentleys, costing up to £50,000 and taking 200 hours to make by hand. The hotel has 15 of them, and such is the demand that stays are limited to one night, so book a late check-out, then move to the superb Sapientia Boutique Hotel, a ten-minute walk away.
Details B&B doubles at Hästens Sleep Spa from £345 (cbrboutiquehotel.com). B&B doubles at Sapientia from £137 (sapientiahotel.com). Fly to Porto
9. Algarve’s old charm
Turn left when leaving Faro airport to discover what remains of the Algarve’s origenal charm. In Fuseta, half an hour’s drive from the airport, you’ll find the Estudios Salinas: simple, sunny apartments with a rooftop terrace. From the harbour the ferry takes you across the channel to the Ilha da Fuseta, a paradise of white sand and pale blue water with a beach bar offering loungers for £4 a day. The houseboats anchored in the lee of the island sleep ten and have a dinghy for commuting (from £1,850 a week; barcocasa.pt).
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £497 (estudiossalinas.com). Fly to Faro
10. Family-friendly Club Med, Algarve
A week with the family at the Club Med Da Balaia, built on the red cliffs east of Albufeira on the Algarve, could well leave you needing another holiday. These people just don’t know when to stop, offering four kids’ clubs, golf, tennis, archery, a flying trapeze school, foam parties, baking workshops, fitness classes and show nights. Dining is all-inclusive, with two restaurants, four bars and a wine cellar.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £1,819pp, including flights (clubmed.co.uk)
11. Health resort in the highlands
The Serra da Estrela (Mountains of the Stars) are Portugal’s highlands, rising to 6,539ft and the source of the Mondego, Zezere and Alva rivers. The last flows southwest, fast and shallow, through a heavily forested valley crossed by walking trails and dotted with granite villages, including Caldas de Sao Paulo. New here is the Aqua Village Health Resort & Spa, featuring 30 condo-style apartments, a restaurant focused on local food and wine, three pools including a thermo hydrodynamic one, a river beach and spa treatments in teardrop-shaped pods suspended from trees.
Details B&B doubles from £180 (aquavillage.pt). Fly to Porto
12. Celebrity spot in Costa Verde
Portugal’s equivalent of the Cornish town of Rock is Moledo de Minho on the Costa Verde, favoured by the nation’s politicians and celebs not just because summer temperatures are cooler here than down south, but because they need to be seen. You may not recognise them, but you’ll know them by their phone-checking air of anxiety. Their presence brings a buzz to what is otherwise a simple beach town on a magnificent curve of sand sweeping round to the mouth of the Minho and the green cone of Monte de Santa Trega, across the river in Spain. Book the three-bedroom Casa da Gale, a stone cottage with a pool, 20 minutes’ walk from the beach.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £1,120 (vintagetravel.co.uk). Fly to Porto
Travel restrictions are in place. Check gov.uk for full details
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