Center of Portugal

I lived in Portugal with my family for a year, and thinking back, some of my most distinctive memories are of our brief excursions into the less-visited center: my toddler son finding his feet as we pottered around castle ruins in the village of Linhares da Beira; watching jugglers and jousting on a sweltering July day at the Medieval Fair in Óbidos; a wet and windy mid-winter lunch in the seaside town of Nazaré, listening to the window shutters bang in the near-deserted streets of that legendary surf utopia.

Clearest of all is a spur of the moment daytrip to the Berlengas archipelago, off the coast of Peniche. I remember I was idly flicking through a magazine one evening when I came across a full-page advert for this place I’d never heard of, and being captivated by an image of a historic sea fort surrounded by white-tipped waves. The next morning we were there: me, my partner, our son and his grandmother, bouncing over the waves to the islands in a speedboat. We hiked grassy cliffs past old fishermen’s huts looking out over the Atlantic, licked ice creams in the cafe at the little harbour, and ate our sandwiches listening to the crackle of gulls and petrels. It was a gorgeous day out, all the more so for its impromptu nature.

Center of Portugal (Centro) is certainly not unknown – it’s popular for walking and cycling tours, too. Both inland and on the Center of Portugal’s Atlantic Coast you can find some of the country’s loveliest locales, like Aveiro, Coimbra, and Costa Nova. But this region does fly under the radar somewhat compared to other parts of the country, and we feel it deserves more attention. Read on to find out why the middle of Portugal is far from average.

Center of Portugal offers many superb options for walking vacations. There are several short pilgrimage routes to Fatima, such as the Carmelita Route (eight days) and the Nazaré Way (six days from Nazaré) which are far quieter than the Portuguese Camino.

Other vacations can take you up into the mountains of the Serra da Estrela, trails leading you through forest and pastures where shepherds watch their goats, alongside rivers, past waterfalls and historic villages. Or you can tread ancient paths between schist villages such as Cerdeira, Ferraria de São João and Gondramaz, staying in traditional stone houses that have been restored for rural tourism. If you prefer, you can also stay in one place for several days and do a series of circular walks.

Generally, these are self guided vacations, and your luggage is transferred ahead of you for convenience. Full support, including maps and detailed route notes provided. Daily distances vary, but top out at around 23km, with 475m elevation gain. Walking poles can be a useful addition to your packing list, as the terrain in the interior can be steep and rocky.

“Center of Portugal is the best place for families to cycle, because it’s the flattest part,” says Luis. “Once you get south of Lisbon it’s hilly, and there is a lot of sand. Here you can ride from one small fishing village to the next, the wind at your back, it’s very relaxed.”

One option here is to cycle the length of the Atlantic Coast from Porto to Coimbra. You can also go further on as far as Óbidos, passing through São Pedro de Moel and pine forest that was planted back in the 14^th century to provide timber for the ships used in Portugal’s Age of Discovery.

You can also cycle inland. “We’ve created a new route we call the Atlantic Ring that takes you from the coast into the interior via big cities like Coimbra and Aveiro using bicycle paths,” says Luis. You follow riverside paths, take trails lined with oak and chestnut forest, and pause for picnics and paddles on little river beaches.

Expect to cover around 40-50km each day, sometimes a little more. That allows you to travel at a pleasantly relaxed pace with plenty of time to stop off, take in the views, and enjoy long, leisurely lunches.

The beaches of Center of Portugal don’t tend to garner as much attention as those of the Algarve. Well-known beach towns such as Figueira da Foz and Costa Nova, with its pretty candy-striped houses, sit alongside dramatic stretches of coast beloved by surfers and kite surfers, while on other beaches the sea is calm enough for safe swimming.

Sandy beaches, rolling dunes threaded with grasses, and marshes and lagoons where birders will find dozens of waterbirds feeding, breeding and nesting, link peaceful fishing villages like Praia de Mira. If you’re walking or cycling along the coast then most nights you’ll stay by a beach where you can cool off tired feet in the sea. There are always little cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy a plate of percebes or sliced octopus, dipping toasted bread into the olive oil dressing.

Our vacations in Center of Portugal usually focus on either walking or cycling, but as you move from place to place they offer many opportunities to explore and understand the area’s cultural heritage. You could book in a few tastings in the Dão wine region, one of the oldest in Portugal, or learn about the history of fishing at the Ethnographic Museum in Praia de Mira. In Coimbra you can take a walking tour of the vast library at the historic university, or visit quirky museums like the old prison cells where university students whose post-exam celebrations got a little carried away would sleep the excitement off. Óbidos, too, has a fine literary culture, with many bookshops where you can get happily lost for a few hours.

Rural tourism is helping to revive the schist villages of Center of Portugal, but not simply as accommodation for walkers and cyclists. In some, such as Cerdeira, you can also get hands-on with traditional arts and crafts. A number of Portuguese and international artists live permanently or take residencies in Cerdeira, and teach woodwork, basketry, ceramics and more in workshops that can last a full day, or longer. If you already have an interest, or you like the thought of trying out a new hobby, our short stays in this village offer an inclusive, creative environment.