Portugal

Portugal is a spring and autumn country. April to June is green, mild and quiet. September and October bring warm sea, the Douro harvest and the best light of the year. July and August are hot inland in the Alentejo and busy along the Algarve, though Lisbon and Porto stay workable.

Lisbon and Porto both take large-cabin aircraft and Faro serves the Algarve. Distances are small: Lisbon to the Douro is under an hour in the air, Lisbon to Comporta about ninety minutes by road.

Among our preferred hotel partners, Six Senses Douro Valley is a restored nineteenth-century manor above the river near Lamego, and it is the property we use most for wellness weeks in Europe outside Switzerland. Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon looks over the Eduardo VII park and holds a serious collection of twentieth-century Portuguese art. Anantara Vilamoura covers the Algarve for golf and for family weeks.

Ask your advisor about harvest dates in the Douro, port lodge tastings at Vila Nova de Gaia, and the horse and surf country around Comporta.