Travel Guide Portugal

Further information on the country Portugal
Climate Shops Eating and Drinking Eating and Drinking Travelling by Car Travelling by Car

Portugal is a small country with an interesting history of change and development. Visitors to Portugal are struck by its beautiful countryside, wonderful beaches and contrasting historic and cultural sites. Portugal, with its picturesque villages has many charming traditions such as women dressed entirely in black and carts pulled by donkeys. Saying this, since Portugal joined the EU, the country has modernised and due to a steady economic growth, is on a level with the rest of Europe. The countryside is beautiful, made up of mountains in the north and hills with oak trees and olive groves, wheat fields and pastures in the south. Portugal is in the same time zone as Great Britain. If you are arriving from central Europe, you will need to turn your clock back by 1 hour.

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Eating and Drinking

Portuguese cooking is made up of quite filling, seasoned dishes, made with a base of olive oil and lots of herbs and spices. It is authentic, rustic cooking. We strongly advise you to try the meat, fish and seafood specialities. Breakfast tends to be rather small in comparison to lunch and evening meal, which tend to be substantial. Lunch is served at around midday and rarely after 1pm, the evening meal is served at around 8pm and rarely after 9pm. As well as the regional specialities, you must try one of the national dishes, “cozido a portuguesa”, which is a soup made of vegetables and different meats and is served all over the country. To accompany a meal, we recommend you try a good Portuguese wine from the north of the country, e.g. from the Douro Valley or Dao Valley. Portuguese wines are exported throughout the entire world and are becoming more and more popular.

Travelling by Car

If you are driving from central Europe, the route will often be via France and Northern Spain, according to different routes. The largest part of the journey is motorway. In Portugal, the motorway and main road network is quite extensive. However, as in other large European towns, you will often need patience when driving on the outskirts of Lisbon, Porto, etc., as the traffic can be very heavy. If you decide to plan your journey to avoid large towns and main roads, make sure you get a good road map as sometimes the sign posting can be lacking. The motorways are more often than not, payable by toll (in cash or Portuguese credit card). In the built up areas, the maximum legal speed limit is 50km/hr, 90km/hr in fast lanes and 120km/hr on the motorways. The alcohol limit is 0.5 per mille. Otherwise the same laws apply as in the rest of Europe.