Where to go, and when · with the homework done
COIMBRA · CENTRAL PORTUGAL · THE UNIVERSITY HILL Most travelers meet Coimbra through a window. Trains between Lisbon and Porto run the Mondego valley, the hill with the clock tower on top slides past, and the doors close again. Stepping off costs almost nothing, because the line is busy and the town begins at the … Read more
ÉVORA · ALENTEJO · INSIDE THE WALLS Évora fits inside its walls, and that shapes every visit. The Roman temple, the cathedral, the university and the bone chapel at São Francisco stand within a few minutes of one another, so nothing here is a drive. The question is only when. Morning and the hour before … Read more
CASCAIS · LISBON COAST · THE END OF THE LINE The railway from Lisbon runs out of track here. Trains from Cais do Sodré follow the Tagus until the river turns into ocean, then stop in a town where people are buying bread and school shoes. Most visitors give that an afternoon and go back. … Read more
PONTA DA PIEDADE · LAGOS, ALGARVE · THE SIGNATURE HEADLAND Come down the staircase cut into the headland and the Algarve changes scale. What reads from the top as a field of gold-ochre pillars turns, at water level, into a set of doorways: openings in the rock wide enough for a wooden boat, a skipper … Read more
BENAGIL · ALGARVE · THE CAVE UNDER THE 2025 RULES The picture is fixed in a million feeds: a domed sea cave, a circular hole punched through the roof, pale sand below, one person standing alone in the column of light. That picture now shows something that is against the law. Since August 2024 the … Read more
CARVOEIRO · PORTUGAL’S CENTRAL ALGARVE · THE CLIFF TRAILHEAD Park once, high above the village, and the car becomes furniture for the rest of the stay. That single decision separates a good few days here from a frustrating one, because the lanes dropping toward the water were laid out for fishing boats and handcarts, not … Read more
