Norte

The North region of Portugal is home to the Douro Valley and Portugal’s second city, Porto. The Douro feeds into the Atlantic Ocean at Porto where you can spend days exploring the hills, the port warehouses, cruising the river and exploring the sites.

But there is a lot more to the Norte region than Porto and Douro.

First, check out the Vinho Verde. In the far northeast region of Portugal Vinho Verde is the main wine produced. This crisp, somewhat sparkling, refreshing white wine captured our attention in our first trip to Portugal in 2018. There’s plenty to love about it and we spent a few weeks exploring the northern mountains along the Rota dos Vinhos Verdes then dipped back into Douro. Amarante is a cool town to use as a base for exploration. Also, check out Ponte de Lima.

Aside from Porto, the other major cities in the north are Braga, Guimarães (birthplace of modern Portugal), Bragança and Viana do Castelo.