Portugal's variety is one of its greatest assets. Along with its calendar full of colourful festivals and unique culture. In a single day, you can travel from verdant mountains in the north to the vineyards on the slopes, through the rocky centre to the rustic rural pleasures of the Alentejo region and on to the glamorous golden sands of the Algarve and the coast. When choosing the best places to stay in Portugal it really depends on what you are in search of. There is a wide range of accommodation, from charming traditional B&Bs to uber-chic luxury stays.
Lisbon is a vibrant capital city abounding with charm and colour and filled with the music of Fado and the characteristic rattling of yellow trams trundling past decorative tiled façades. Most of us know Porto, an ancient port city graced with spectacular architecture and surrounded by Port wineries.
Many turn to Portugal for sunshine and cloudless blue skies, in which case you're here for the Algarve! As well as mile upon mile of golden sand framed by characteristic limestone rocks standing guard dramatically over turquoise waters, the Algarve is also rich in birdlife, golf courses and surf breaks. While the resorts around Faro and the airport are well developed, the Western Algarve is still a beautiful semi-wilderness.
Madeira is another year-round warm and sunny destination, and of course, it tempts with its Madeira cake and wine too. While Alentejo offers more dramatic, rural scenery, and a wonderfully relaxed pace of life in amongst vineyards, white towns and megalithic monuments. Alentejo covers almost a third of Portugal, from the Atlantic coast to the Spanish border and the Algarve, but it has only about seven per cent of the population. And its charming old white towns, where nothing has changed for decades, are sparsely dotted amongst olive groves and cork forests. Alentejo's beaches are beautiful and on a road trip along white cliffs and virginal coasts you'll feel like you're the only people in the world.
With so much to offer Portugal is unsurprisingly a popular summer destination, so in order to get a room at one of the best places to stay in Portugal we recommend booking well in advance.
If you know which part of Portugal you're heading to skip to our Portuguese Destination Guides: