Where to go, and when · with the homework done
MADEIRA VS THE AZORES · PORTUGAL · THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS Two Portuguese archipelagos in the Atlantic, both volcanic, both green all year, and one decision most travelers end up making on a hunch. The measurements make it easier than that. At the coast, Funchal is warmer and drier than Ponta Delgada in all twelve months, … Read more
MADEIRA · BEST TIME TO VISIT · 32.6° N Madeira does not really have a winter. At the Funchal gauge the coldest month, February, still averages a high of 67.8°F, and the warmest, August, tops out at 80.2°F. Twelve and a half degrees separate the two ends of the year, which is less than many … Read more
PORTO · BEST TIME TO VISIT · 41.2° N Porto stands at 41° N on a coast the Atlantic keeps cool, and rain is the variable that matters here, not heat. The national weather service logs 6.53 inches on an average November with 13 wet days to go with it, while July gets 0.65 inches … Read more
LISBON · THE 12-MONTH VERDICT · 38.72° N The Atlantic runs the calendar here. Lisbon sits on a river mouth that opens west, which gives the city dry, glaring summers and winters that stay green rather than cold: an average high of 79.8°F in August, 56.4°F in January, and no freeze worth packing for in … Read more
SAGRES · BEST TIME TO VISIT · IPMA NORMALS 1991-2020 Sagres is where Portugal stops. Past the village the land flattens into a wind-combed plateau, and two headlands push out into open ocean: Ponta de Sagres under its fortress wall, Cabo de São Vicente under its lighthouse. Four coves face four directions, so there is … Read more
BRAGA · WHEN TO GO · INLAND MINHO Braga is granite and baroque stacked on a valley floor, a cathedral older than the country around it, and a hillside stairway at Bom Jesus do Monte that photographs better than it climbs. It is also, by Portuguese standards, a rainy city. That single fact decides more … Read more
