Touring:
Minho is Portugal’s second most popular holiday region after the Algarve. Unlike the Algarve, however, there are no British pubs or Fish ’n’ Chip shops, no amusement arcades or theme parks. It’s all rather more discreet, more natural (unspoilt, you might say). People come here to relax in a quiet rural setting.
A lot of visitors tour around, seeing the historic sites, the small market towns and villages, the rugged landscapes and the quiet empty beaches. Others come to lose themselves in a terrain that is still largely unaffected by modern European development, and amongst a people who still live a simple life. Most are subsistence farmers, and while there are few women who still wash the clothes in the stream, they do still go every day to collect the milk from the communal cow, in churns balanced on their heads. Inland, traffic jams, more often than not, are caused by an ox drawn cart.
Folklore, wildlife and cuisine:
There’s a thriving regional folklore tradition – singing and dancing and various rustic handicrafts, and the region is famous for its “Romarias”, local village feast days involving religious processions, markets, fairs and evening feasts and folkloric entertainment. They’re a bit like British Village Fêtes, but as they might have been hundreds of years ago!
At night there are wild boar in the hills and owls hunting, and during the day plenty of black squirrels, jays, red kites, water birds on the river below, and, of course, harmless lizards.
The regional cuisine of Minho is famous all over Portugal, and there are some great restaurants in the area - including the Solar - and some great wines. Minho is where Vinho Verde comes from, and is next door to the Douro valley, the home of Port Wine; Portugal’s table wines generally are one of the world’s best-kept secrets and they’re all available locally.
Golf:
Estela (30km), built on a 3km stretch of sand dunes on the beautiful Costa Verde, this is one of the Portuguese golf links that secured a high reputation for itself when it hosted two events in the European Professionals' Circuit. Par 72, 6129m.
Ponte de Lima (40km), part of “a bucolic scenery of mountains, vineyards and fruit gardens”, is a course typical of the Minho region. Par 71, 6005m, including Portugal's longest hole at 622m (par 5).
Quinta da Barca golf resort (25km), an excellent 9-hole course with stunning views over the Cavado River. Par 31, 2012m.
Other Activities:
Karting
