5 Top Experiences in the Portugal Beiras
Our area of Portugal is stunning and it is also very diverse, lovely historical cities, high, wild mountains, river valleys and Roman remains everywhere. Here are a few of the very best places to visit in the Beiras.
Coimbra - university city
Roam around the ancient streets of this lovely old city and climb the hill to see the famous university and its buildings. Excellent restaurants and bars as well as some great shopping.
Conimbriga
Stroll through the remains of one of Europe's most sophisticated Roman towns. The mosaics on the entire site are in almost perfect condition, with incredibly detailed and colorful designs that include motifs of beasts, hunting scenes, and mythological themes, with one showing Perseus offering Medusa's head to a monster from the deep. There are also ruins of temples, a forum, an aqueduct, water conduits, drains, and elaborate piping systems that heated the town's public and private bathrooms.
Bucaco Palace and Arboretum
A beautiful small palace build in the Manueline style in 1888 with a chapel, cloisters, galleries, arches, turrets and spires. Now a luxury hotel. The gardens and forest were once a monastic retreat, and dotted throughout the forest are secret grottoes, waterfalls, fountains, and tiny hermitages.
The Serra da Estrella mountain range
Beautiful, wild and rich in wildlife the Serra da Estrella is a "must visit" place. Designated a natural park, it attracts walkers throughout the year for its stunning flora, and skiers in winter to the resorts of Penhas da Saúde and Torre. The views from and around Torre are fabulous, and the scenery of the nearby Zêzere Valley, with one of Europe's deepest U-shaped glacial gorges formed during the Ice Age, is extraordinary.
Mountain villages such as Piodao and Monsanto
Amazing little villages that look like time just forgot them, cobbled streets, weird and crazy rock outcrops, schist houses with rough slate roofs. Some have lovely swimming rivers too.
We are sure that you will discover many lovely places of your own when touring around our area of beautiful Portugal, if you do come across a little gem be sure to share it with us please!!