2 Best Sights in Estremadura and the Ribatejo, Portugal

This sparsely populated region straddles the border between Estremadura and the Ribatejo and is roughly midway between Lisbon and Coimbra. Within its 75,000 acres of scrublands and moors are small settlements, little has changed in hundreds of years, where farmers barely eke out a living. In this rocky landscape, stones are the main building material for houses, windmills, and the miles of walls used to mark boundary lines. In the village of Minde, on weekdays you can visit the Centro de Artes e Ofícios Roque Gameiro ( Rua Dr. António da Silva Totta 51) to see women weaving the rough but strikingly colored rugs for which this region is known. The park is well suited for leisurely hiking—with many well-marked trails—or cycling. If you're driving, the N362, which runs for approximately 45 km (28 miles) from Batalha in the north to Santarém in the south, is a good route. Another big local attraction is the area's subterranean caves, the largest of which are at Mira de Aire---another town with fine handicrafts displays at the Museu Industrial e Artesanal do Têxtil ( miat.pt/en, €6.50, closed Mondays except August). At these caves ( grutasmiradaire.com/en), for €8.70, you can take a 60-minute guided tour through illuminated limestone formations, water features, and stalagmites and stalactites.

The royal complex in and around Mafra includes 1,200 hectares (2,965 acres) purchased in 1744 by João V, who then enclosed the land with a 21-km (13-mile) stone wall in order to hunt at leisure. Two-thirds of this area is now the protected National Hunting Grounds of Mafra, a forest teeming with indigenous species: around 30 mammals, from fallow and roe deer to tiny shrews, 70 kinds of bird, and more than 20 different amphibians and reptiles, along with various macrofungi and 100 or so other types of plant. For most of the year visitors may simply walk (or rent a bike) along one of the marked trails; at weekends and in summer various experiences are on offer, such as demonstrations with birds of prey, tours in an electric minibus or, on weekends, a miniature train. The entrance is a 10-minute drive from the palace at Mafra.