Portugal's Northern Highlights

This holiday is a combination of our one week holiday in Portugal's Emerald Coast and our one week holiday in Wilderness Parks of Northern Portugal.

Starting your holiday on the stunning Costa Verde, famous for its mountains, lush green countryside, beautiful beaches and “Vinho Verde”, your walks are taken along some of Portugal’s finest coastline, as well as meandering through classic Minho villages and lush pastoral valleys. You'll explore the dramatic mountains of the Serra d’Ágra, where wild horses roam, and cross the river Minho to Portugal’s Spanish sister, O Muiño, to climb to the sanctuary of Santa Tecla where Celtic history comes alive. This area has been inhabited since pre-historic times and is rich in natural and cultural history ranging from Neolithic to Roman times, with villages full of history. During the first week, we stay in the coastal town of Vila Praia de Ancora in the North West corner of Portugal. After our walks, there will also be time to relax on the beaches and maybe take a dip in the sea before enjoying the sunset and local cuisine. 

Your holiday continues in the Peneda-Gerês National Park, an area of incredible natural beauty with clear air and pure waters. This park contains some of the most beautiful and varied scenery found in the whole of the country and you’ll find an abundance of rare wild flowers, birds of prey, wild horses and other wildlife. Paths will take you alongside woodland rivers, hidden waterfalls, past striking craggy peaks and through stone villages. 

Your second week is split between two-centres, centred in the Serra da Peneda and is designed to visit the most spectacular parts of these mountains. The varied walks circle dramatic crags and granite landscape of Meadinha and follow ancient trails down the lush river Peneda valley. You'll stay in the mountain village of Castro Laboreiro dominated by its ancient castle. Isolated traditional villages with high mountain meadows and rolling moorland stretch to the frontier with Spain to the east. Yet walk out of the hotel to the west and we are amongst towering granite crags and hidden wooded valleys. Walk across the mountains to your final centre in the remote sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Peneda. Set with a backdrop of trees, crags and waterfalls, the grand stairway of the sanctuary descends into the valley below. The somewhat remote location has protected the park landscape. You’ll not only enjoy the beauty of the region, but also visit many of the ancient hamlets dotted about the countryside.