8 Best Sights in Northern Portugal, Portugal

This late-17th-century church next door to the Torre de Menagem is lined with huge panels of blue-and-white azulejos depicting scenes from the New Testament, and also features elaborate gilt altarpieces.

One of Portugal's prettiest baroque churches, the slim Church of Our Lady of Consolation and the Holy Steps rises up at the end of a long, elegant formal garden. Begun in the 18th century, the building was topped by two pointed towers almost a century later. The steps and balustrade were added at about the same time. The interior is impressively neoclassical. The exterior is especially magical at Christmastime, when every inch of its facade is adorned with decorative lights.

This church in the delightful square Largo da Oliveira was founded in the 10th century to commemorate one of the city's most enduring legends. Wamba, elected king of the Visigoths in the 7th century, refused the honor and thrust his olive-branch staff into the earth, declaring that only if the stick were to blossom would he accept the crown—whereupon it promptly sprouted foliage. In the square in front of the church, an odd 14th-century Gothic canopy sheltering a cross marks the supposed spot. The square is now surrounded by charming cafés.

Outside the walls of the Citadel is this Renaissance-era church, with a fine Mudejar (Moorish-style) vaulted ceiling in the chancel, and a gilded retable. Founded in the 16th century to serve the attached monastery, it has some 18th-century additions, such as the nave's impressive trompe l'oeil ceiling. The church is usually open from around 5 pm for a couple of hours.

The Old Town's streets peter out at the southern end of Guimarães in the Almeida da Liberdade, a swath of gardens whose benches and cafés are often full. Here the stunning Igreja de São Francisco has a chancel decorated with 18th-century azulejos depicting the life of the saint. The church also has a fine Renaissance cloister. The complex now houses a home for the elderly, but both chapels are open to visitors.

This imposing church of the former Convento de São Gonçalo, built and rebuilt between the 16th and 20th centuries, sits on the north side of the Rio Tâmega, overlooking the imposing 18th-century bridge of the same name. The effigy of its patron saint, just the altar, is reputed to guarantee marriage to anyone who touches it. His features have almost been worn away over the years as desperate suitors try and, perhaps, try again. 

The finest baroque structure in Vila Real, this fan-shaped building with a facade dominated by two pairs of heavy columns totally outshines the city's austere Gothic cathedral, round the corner. Built in the 18th century and dedicated to Saint Peter, and also known as the Capela Nova (New Chapel) it's believed by some to have been designed by Nicolau Nasoni, architect of Porto's church of the same name, with its iconic tower. It is open for mass at 9:30 am Tuesday through Saturday.

With a superb late-Gothic portal, this church in the center of the city has a single solid tower with bells that gleam in the sun. Construction on this church began at the end of the 15th century and was completed in the early 16th. Mass is daily at 7 pm, with more services on weekends.