One of the main perks of being based in Galicia, on the Spanish North West coast, is how close our neighbor country Portugal is. Without borders and just a mere 90 min drive away, we can enjoy the Northern region of Porto e Norte when we have a couple of days and that’s why, just in the last 12 months alone, we have been there over ten times.
To start with, the DMO of the region itself invited us six times to explore a few different locations. Our favorite was Montanhas Magicas, but we also got to explore Miranda do Douro, Ponte de Lima, Montalegre, Mondim de Basto, and Ponte da Barca during their respective food festivals from early Winter to late Spring.
On the other hand, My Bookpack – my-bookpack.com – a startup I got to know during Web Summit last year, did the same with the Western part of Peneda-Geres National Park and Serra da Estrela, which is not in this region but close enough.
Then, as we do every year, we covered a couple of music festivals in Summer: Paredes de Coura for the 7th year in a row and our new obsession, Neopop festival in Viana do Castelo which, by the way, has nothing to do with pop and everything with techno.
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- Sweet and secret spot – Paredes de Coura Festival 2014
I also walked a few stretches of the mighty Caminho Portugues da Costa – aka Portuguese Coastal Way to Santiago de Compostela – and got to see Porto, Maia, Vila do Conde, Caminha, Vila Nova da Cerveira, and Valença. More info on caminhoportuguesdacosta.com/en
And finally, on top of those ten trips, we drove to the North of Portugal a couple of times more during this period with the family to spend the day in Caminha and Valença.
Now, please bear in mind that – as I said – all the aforementioned trips took place in the last 12 months alone. Taking into consideration that we are on our mid-thirties and have been based here for most of our lives; you need to trust us when we say we have done our homework and know Northern Portugal like the palm of our hand.
Now a lot of you know of our love for all things Portugal, that we can’t live without their summer music festivals, that we lived in a couple of beautiful spots within the country – Lisbon and Viseu – a few years back, and that we are pretty knowledgeable about this country. Especially its Northern part. And so we get asked A LOT of stuff about it. From itineraries for a long weekend to long road trips, we get that you too are excited about how stunning and affordable Portugal is. We truly get it. And although we would love to answer you all with the time and dedication you deserve, sometimes it becomes impossible.
Truly, we’d love to put beautiful photography itineraries for every Portuguese region we are lucky to know well such as Sao Miguel and Alentejo. And we’ll do so very soon but meanwhile, and since you asked, we’ve come with a solution: We will be sharing our best spots on Trover!
Here’s the first one: A Northern Portugal road trip itinerary full of awesomeness and photography spots. Enjoy!
Awesomeness in Northern Portugal – a photo list by aworldtotravel
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