Portugal Holidays - Northern Portugal is the Best New Region to Travel For Families

By Santiago Shaki

Holiday rentals in northern Portugal are widely gaining popularity for the perfect Portugal holidays, especially for families. As well, the northern region of Portugal harbors the most amazing attractions including cultural landmarks, historical influences, as well as great accommodations.

Recently, the development of the northern side of Portugal has skyrocketed, making the region one of the best places to be, with its modernized twist, and medieval as well as other historic influences. The developments are especially prevalent for accommodation, as many self catering Portugal holidays are now available. This means that you can have a wide choice of holiday accommodation ranging from apartments, cottages, villas, and even farmhouses, which can be rented out as your holiday home.

This in turn can add to your experience, and of course will give you a much more authentic feel of Portugal itself during your holidays. Of course, the best experience naturally comes from how you tour the country, and therefore its often recommended that any tourist op to try out some adventurous sports, sightseeing tours, water sports, and of course have a taste of the culinary culture, more specifically the wine.

Some popular water sports are snorkeling, kayaking, and canoeing which can be done in the northernmost beaches of Portugal, but you can also try more vigorous sports, such as wind surfing, and of course skiing and wind surfing in the winter. Of course, if you really want to take in the scenery, there are plenty of opportunities to try out trailing, biking or walking.

The night life is also vibrant with various restaurants and clubs to choose from, as they are common in this region. You can also find a wide arrangement of music ranging from jazz to rock, and hip-hop styles. As mentioned, wine tasting is most definitely something you should consider during your Portugal holiday, and northern Portugal has a wide variety of bars which have world class wines, and beers.

However, one of the best parts of these bars, is that you can easily taste exotic port wine. As well you may enjoy the fresh local food which is served alongside the wine in many restaurants. Northern Portugal is predominantly proud of their local seafood dishes, which means you can easily melt palate into a mouthwatering dish each and every time.

The northernmost side of the country is also home to many brilliant museums, such as the Museu da Ceramica (ceramics museum), and the region itself is very vibrant with rich architecture as well as history. You can also find many religious sites, such as Braga town, wherein you will instantly notice many beautiful churches. More specifically, the Bom Jesus and Sameiro Sanctuary are two of the most interesting religious sites.

Chaves is also a region which is home of a 14th century castle, and a Roman bridge over the Tamega river, as well as a Romanesque church.

If you are interested in collectibles or unique items, northern Portugal also has many tourist shopping regions where you can find cork, wood and horn objects as well as local port which you can purchase to take home. Ceramics are also popular, and the northern side is also known for having some of the world's best ceramics and hand painted tiles, called azulejos.

Most definitely, this region is easily a great place to visit and be in during your Portugal holidays, because of its friendly charm and vast variety of activities for tourists of all ages.

We recommend a visit to Portugal Holidays website, where you will find excellent tips and updated road maps for some beautiful holidays in southern Europe.

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