Unexpected Portugal: 7 unbelievable places to visit

Pena Palace in Sintra

This magnificent colored palace perched on the heights of Sintra is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in Portugal! Built in the 19th century, it is not for its age that the palace is famous, but for its architecture and its atypical colors.

Located in the heart of a 200-hectare park, the Pena Palace is known throughout the world for its bright yellow and red colors, its decorative walls and its breathtaking views.

Last residence of the last queen of Portugal, Queen Amelie of Orleans, the interior of the palace of Pena also opens its doors to tourists and lets us glimpse the mores of the Portuguese monarchs.

It is an unusual visit, but undoubtedly emblematic of vacations in Portugal.

Caves of Benagil in Algarve

Algarve, a region in the south of Portugal, is famous for its turquoise blue water, its traditional fishing villages, the diversity of its landscapes and its breathtaking coastline.

Albufeira Portugal - Credit seabooking

In the middle of the sandy beaches are hidden some of the most beautiful rocks and caves in Europe. This is the case of the Benagil cave, located between Portimão and Albufeira.

This absolutely unique sea cave is not accessible from any beach. To explore it, we recommend booking a tour of the most beautiful caves on the Benagil coast by kayak.

More respectful of the marine fauna and flora than motor boats, which are very numerous in the caves, a kayak trip is an opportunity to discover the treasures of the coastline in a completely unusual way!

The library of the University of Coimbra

Coimbra is known as the university city of Portugal. In fact, the University of Coimbra is the oldest university in Portugal and among the oldest in Europe.

Located within the university: the Joanina Library. This atypical library is considered one of the richest baroque libraries in Europe.

Forbidden to photographs, it is an unusual place where one can take full advantage of a sumptuous space and historical archives. Also called "the jewel of Coimbra", the university library gathers in the same space a priceless literary treasure and an incredible architecture of the beginning of the 18th century.

The beach houses of Costa Nova

If you are looking for the typical colors of Portugal, you will definitely find them in Costa Nova! A few kilometers from Aveiro, Costa Nova is a small, quiet and very colorful town.

Covão dos Conchos Lake

The Covão dos Conchos lake is an unusual little spot in the heart of the Portuguese mountains. Built at an altitude of almost 2000 meters in the Serra da Estrela, this lake is used for the exploitation of a hydraulic dam.

Covão dos Conchos

Its particularity? In the middle of the lake, you can admire one of the most unusual views of the Serra: a kind of aquatic well in which the water of the lake rushes in a spectacular way!

The Chapel of Bones in Évora

If its name makes one think of a macabre and mystical place, the Chapel of the Bones of Évora (or Capella dos Ossos) is more a very unusual place. Indeed, this small and unpretentious chapel was built with the bones of hundreds of dead people in the 16th century.

No less than 5,000 bones are frozen in place of the walls, ceiling and columns, and a Portuguese inscription at the entrance reads "We, the bones here, await yours."

This unusual experience will certainly give you chills!

Cromeleque des Almendres

Cromeleque des Almendres is the most important megalithic complex of the whole Iberian Peninsula. Located in the district of Évora, this place houses the oldest stone circle in Europe.

The stone circles are mostly known in Scotland and England, but Portugal also has its own. Probably built for spiritual and ceremonial reasons, no less than 95 dolmens have been arranged in two concentric circles.

This spectacular set of monoliths was only discovered in 1966 and is one of the most unusual attractions in Portugal!