About The Portugal Guides

Our mission

More than 20 trips to Portugal over seven years — long enough to watch the Alfama become expensive, see the Alentejo stay unhurried, and follow the Azores transform from a domestic secret into an international destination. We built this site for independent travellers who want accurate, detailed information rather than repackaged tourism board copy. Every page should tell you something you can act on: a specific price, a named restaurant, a bus route verified on foot.

We are not sponsored by the Portuguese Tourism Board, Visit Portugal, or any regional tourism authority. We pay our own way, book our own accommodation, and eat where we want. No tourism body has editorial input into what we write.

Where we have actually been

We cover Portugal from direct experience across all of its major regions and both archipelagos. On the mainland: the cork-oak plains and whitewashed hilltop villages of the Alentejo — Évora's Roman temple, the Megalithic sites around Reguengos de Monsaraz, and the walled town of Mértola above the Guadiana; the terraced quintas of the Douro Valley between Peso da Régua and Pinhão, with overnights at estates still producing single-quinta ports; the sea stacks, wild beaches, and cliff walks of the western Algarve from Sagres along the Rota Vicentina to Bordeira; and the granite high ground of the Serra da Estrela, including the Zêzere glacier valley in January snow.

In the Azores we have spent time across multiple islands: the twin crater lakes of Sete Cidades on São Miguel, the thermal pools at Furnas (and the cozido slow-cooked underground at Tony's), the ridge walk from the Pico summit shelter at 2,351 m, the sea-cliff paths on Flores, and the quiet stone villages of Calheta on São Jorge. Madeira gets equal attention — the levada walks from Rabacal to the 25 Fontes waterfall, the sunrise at Pico do Arieiro before the tourist buses arrive, and the Friday morning Mercado dos Lavradores in Funchal.

What "specific" means to us

We name the restaurant, the dish, and what it cost. Bacalhau à brás at Tasca do Chico in Lisbon's Madragoa district — around €13 in 2024. Cataplana de marisco at a tiled, no-name house off the main road near Alvor — €17 a head in low season. A Douro red poured from unlabelled bottles at an adega in Sabrosa owned by the same family for four generations — no charge because we helped them carry baskets during harvest. These details are more useful than adjectives.

We give real bus numbers and walking times verified on foot. Ferry departure times come from the Atlânticoline and Porto Santo Line schedules, not travel-blog aggregations. Entry fees are stated in euros with the year we confirmed them. When a fee changes or a route is suspended, we update the article.

Our editorial standards

Everything published here is written from direct visits or cross-checked against first-hand sources from within the previous 12 months. We do not publish from press trips, hosted stays, or tourism board briefings. We do not write about places we have not visited.

Prices are given as ranges — usually a low-season and high-season figure — with the year they were verified, typically as "approximately €X as of 2024" or "from €X in 2025". When we believe a price is likely to have risen, we flag it. When a business closes, a road is blocked, or a ferry operator changes hands, we update the affected articles as soon as we hear about it. Major structural changes are checked on at least an annual review cycle. High-traffic guides covering Lisbon, Porto, and the Algarve are reviewed twice yearly before the summer and autumn travel peaks.

If we are uncertain about something — a hiking route condition after a wet winter, a restaurant's current hours — we say so rather than stating it as fact. Uncertainty is marked; where we are confident, we say why.

Corrections and contact

Portugal moves quickly in some respects — visa rules, new ferry routes, hotel conversions, trail closures. If something on this site is out of date, we want to know. We treat every correction report seriously and update within days of confirmation. Contact us through the contact page. If you send a correction with a source, we will credit you by first name in the updated article if you wish.

Transparency on affiliate links

Some links on The Portugal Guides are affiliate links — booking tours, accommodation, or activities through them earns us a small commission at no additional cost to you. This revenue funds the trips, the research time, and the site's running costs. We link only to services we have used or have verified reason to trust. Recommendations are never adjusted based on affiliate relationships. Full details are on our affiliate disclosure page.