20 reasons why Portugal should be your first holiday after lockdown is lifted

In the new dawn of travel, when the starting gun has sounded and we are all longing for a taste of the unknown, exotic or merely different, Portugal is that rare thing of being near but with beaches that rival the Caribbean, of being foreign but familiar. Best of all, they love us. After all, Portugal is England’s oldest ally – with a friendship formalised in 1386 when Richard II of England agreed the Treaty of Windsor with John I of Portugal, promising, among other things, “If in time to come… we shall need the support of the other, the ally shall be bound to give aid and succour to the other”.

Now emerging, impressively unscathed, from Covid-19, the Algarve is throwing open its shutters. Restaurants are back in business, albeit at 50 per cent capacity to allow for social distancing, and they will be followed, during June and early July, by hotels across the region, displaying the Clean & Safe seal created by the tourism board to signify all necessary health regulations have been complied with.

Add to that hints of a possible “air bridge” arrangement with the UK and just possibly we can dare to dream again. In fact, speaking to the BBC on June 3, the country's foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said he was hopeful an ‘air bridge’ between the UK and Portugal could be agreed by the end of June. The statement from the Portuguese foreign minister is the strongest signal yet that the UK and Portugal are working on a bilateral travel agreement, or a so-called ‘air bridge’. Under an air bridge agreement, British holidaymakers would not need to quarantine on arrival in a country, and anyone arriving into the UK from that country would be exempt from the 14-day quarantine.

Here are my 20 top reasons why Portugal should be your first holiday after lockdown is lifted.

1. Pasteis de Nata

This little custard tart, with a delicate dusting of cinnamon, has started popping up everywhere due to its popularity. But these imitations pale in comparison to the real thing, eaten still warm under blue Lisbon skies. For authenticity, head to Pasteis de Belem, where the recipe originated in 1837, brought, some say, through a secret underground corridor by monks in the kitchen of the magnificent, neighbouring Monastery of Jeronimos.

2. The beaches

They are the finest in Europe and will reopen for the season on June 6 with a mandatory 1.5m-apart rule between different groups of people. A traffic light system, available on a newly launched app, will tell people how busy each beach is. In the Algarve, cove after sandy cove framed by mellow, yellow, limestone cliffs run along the coast alternating with long, as-far-as-the-eye-can-see stretches of sun-burnished sands.

In the east of the Algarve, they are washed by gentle seas, infiltrated by a bit of Mediterranean warmth, in the west, they are pounded by the fierce Atlantic. Travel up the coast of Portugal, past beaches such as Odeceixe, a turquoise swirl of river running through it, to the seductive, powder-white sands of Comporta. Then on to Lisbon’s playground of Estoril and Cascais, where a lick of golden beach runs in front of the grand 19th-century villas; and upwards to Foz, where the Douro flows into the sea and simple fish restaurants line the sand.

3. The wine

One of Portugal’s best-kept secrets is its wine. A large number of small producers keep volumes low, meaning the world doesn’t get to see the treasures of Portuguese vineyards. From the Douro in the north – the oldest demarcated and regulated wine area in world – to new wineries such as Herdade Aldeia de Cima in the Alentejo, whose elegant and complex wines are preserving the history of a region that has grown grapes for more than 2,000 years.

4. Tiles

Nothing is quite so Portuguese as the tiles that glint in the white sun on the Lisbon facades or the blue and white tiled panels inset in Porto’s grey granite. In the Algarve, rust-red Santa Catarina tiles cover the floors, their faint white stripes done by the fingertips of the artisans who make them. In the Alentejo, geometric tiles come in browns and yellows, greens and blues, echoing the colour of the surrounding landscape in spring.

5. Markets

Markets are bustling affairs, definitely not to be missed. Quality is superb, prices are keen and a walk through the daily (save Sundays) fish market in Olhao in the Algarve or the Saturday farmers’ market in Alentejo’s Estremoz yield rich rewards. To eat rather than shop, head to the Time Out Market in Lisbon, housed in the 19th-century Mercado da Ribeira for an affordable taste of many of its best restaurants.

6. Surfing

They gather, the surfer dudes, tanned and tousled on beaches along Portugal’s west coast to hang loose or hang ten. Nazaré, above Lisbon, still holds a world record after Brazil’s Rodrigo Koxa surfed an 80ft wave there in 2017. Just along the coast is Peniche, an old fishing town popular with surfers for its Praia do Medao beach, off which magnificent tube waves form. It is good for learners too, with an abundance of surf schools.

7. Soap

Soap houses in Portugal are up there with the best. Don’t miss Claus Porto, its fragrant soaps enveloped in vibrant, belle époque wrapping, or Benamor 1925, which captures the glamour of the 1920s with its Rose Amelie soap, a tribute to favourite customer, Queen Amelie of Portugal, and its purple Jacaranda soap, a nod to Lisbon, whose streets throng with Jacaranda trees in spring.

8. Coffee

It’s good, everywhere – even in the tiny corner cafés. Why? Because Portugal has a coffee culture brought back from Brazil. Ask for a bica, or, if you want a drop of milk, a bica pingado. A galao is the equivalent of a latte, while an abatanado is a large, black coffee.

9. Churches

Beauty lies within as far as many Portuguese churches go. Severe and restrained exteriors conceal opulent, gilded interiors, from the whitewashed churches of the south like the 18th-century Sao Lourenco in Almancil and the 16th-century Sao Roque in Lisbon, to Sao Francisco in Porto, where more than 450lb of gold encrusts the interior. Doors are opening again with the Sanctuary of Fatima due to welcome pilgrims, with social distancing, from this weekend.

10. The light

It is the biggest feel-good factor this country has. The dawn breaks later, by about an hour, but by the time you have coffee in hand, the sun is shimmering through the trees and the Algarve’s blue skies are set for the day. Lisbon’s famous white light bounces off the Tejo river, illuminating the tiled facades. Then there are the sunsets…

11. Olive oil

A bit like the wines, Portuguese olive oil is one of the country’s best-kept secrets, but once tasted it is never forgotten. There is a huge choice, particularly in the Douro and the Alentejo where the wineries proliferate. One of the best is Herdade do Esporao’s extra-virgin olive oil made from cordovil green olives. It is spicy and fruity, with a nutty finish. Salads just aren’t the same without it.

12. Heritage

From the epic 16th-century poem The Lusiads by Camoes, celebrating the discovery of a sea route to India, to the haunting melody of fado, sung wistfully in back streets, to the many medieval monasteries, theirs is a heritage that they carry proudly on their 21st-century shoulders.

13. Handicrafts

They live from the land, the Portuguese, especially in the Alentejo. Here artisans still today work the delicate pink marble quarried near Estremoz, make clay figurines for nativity scenes in Evora, weave wool in Monsarez and throw pottery in Redondo. Across the country, cork is used for furniture and wicker for baskets, while in the north, filigree jewellery and lace are typical.

14. Walking trails

There are well-signposted routes through schist villages complete with picturesque stone houses in the north, or along a fisherman’s trail on the Rota Vicentina, which follows the coastline up from the Algarve to the Alentejo for 140 miles. The shorter Seven Hanging Valleys Trail in the south is seven miles along flower-filled cliffs.

15. Port

The country’s most famous export remains a popular drink at home. Visit one of the port houses in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the Douro river from Porto, to taste the difference between tawny and vintage, ruby and pink. Dip into Espaco Porto Cruz in Porto for a cocktail, such as Cruz Porto Pink – pink port with orange and chilli.

16. Cheese

Pride of place goes to Serra da Estrela cheese, made exclusively with milk from the sheep that graze in the mountains in the north. Handmade and coagulated using cardoon thistles, it must mature for at least 30 days. Unctuous and intense, it is traditionally wrapped in cloth. A similar method is used for Azeitao, another sour and salty gem that comes from Setubal, below Lisbon.

17. Blossom

Right now, yellow mimosa lines the country roads, fragrant white orange blossom fills the fields and the purple jacaranda is framed by the blue sky. Summer is dominated by bougainvillea, while in autumn it’s the white of the strawberry tree, whose fruit makes the popular medronho (brandy). Winter brings brilliant red leaves on poinsettias.

18. Food

The fact that Lisbonites are called “little lettuces” or alfacinhas, and people from Porto are called “tripe-eaters” or tripeiros (both of which involve a story too long to tell here) indicates the importance of food in Portugal. From the national dish of bacalhau (cod) to garlicky clams with coriander or octopus with rice, food is the centre of life.

19. Celebrations

June in Portugal has always been about festivals; in Lisbon, June 13 is the feast day of St Antony, traditionally accompanied by gifts of basil and sardines grilled in the street; in Porto, it is St John on June 23, celebrated with fireworks and feasting. This year, celebrations will be not about the (cancelled) festivals but about the reopening of hotels – and the almost-forgotten joy of someone else making the bed.

20. Golf

And I haven’t mentioned the golf…

For more inspiration visit telegraph.co.uk/tt-portugal