6 Best Sights in Northern Portugal, Portugal

This striking museum was inaugurated a few years after UNESCO named the Alto Douro Wine Region a World Heritage Site in 2001, underscoring its importance in terms of cultural history and tourism. Housed in the former headquarters of Portugal's oldest wine company, the Real Companhia Velha, it also has a contemporary wing that hosts major exhibitions about the region, its history, and its leading figures. The ticket price includes a complimentary glass of port wine, but those with an appetite can stay for lunch or dinner in the restaurant and wine bar, which overlook the river. For a guided tour of the museum in English (€30 per group), book a couple of days in advance, by email to  [email protected] or phone.

Three river valleys to the west and south of Amarante---the Sousa, the lower Tâmega, and part of the Douro---prospered around the time that Portugal became an independent kingdom, but fell behind as it expanded southwards, meaning that they missed out on new artistic developments such as the Gothic style. Today, the area's dozens of surviving 12th-century churches and other religious buildings are the country's prime showcase of Romanesque architecture. Several towns banded together to create the Rota do Românico (Romanesque Route), coordinated since 2018 from this Interpretation Center in Lousada, a 20-minute drive from Amarante. It has excellent maps, leaflets, and books, as well as stimulating interactive displays. Admission is free, as it is to all the route's monuments, but visits to the latter must be scheduled by email to  [email protected] a couple days in advance (to ensure a designated local is on hand to let you in).

The Rio Cávado, crossed by a medieval bridge, is shaded by overhanging trees and bordered by municipal gardens. High above the river stands the ruin of the medieval Paço dos Condes (Palace of the Counts), where you'll find the Barcelos Archaeological Museum. Among the empty sarcophagi and stone crosses is the 14th-century crucifix known as the Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo (Cross of the Lord of the Rooster). According to local legend, after sentencing an innocent man to death, a judge prepared to dine on a roast fowl. When the condemned man said, "I'll be hanged if that rooster doesn't crow," the rooster flew from the table and the man's life was spared. The Barcelos rooster is on sale in pottery form throughout the town; indeed, it's become something of a national symbol.

Artifacts from the old Roman city known as Bracara Augusta (founded 15 BC), from which Braga derives its name, are showcased at this museum. A 1st-century mosaic found on-site during construction is impressive, but there are many other fascinating items dating from prehistoric through to medieval times.

Housed in a former bishop's palace, the Museu do Abade de Baçal is named after Francisco Manuel Alves (1865–1948), a local abbot with a deep interest in the region's history and art, who contributed to the museum's creation. Its collections includes archaeological discoveries such as boar-shaped fertility symbols, tombstones with pinwheel patterns, and ancient coins.

At the top of the Largo do Toural is this excellent archaeological museum contained within the cloister of the Igreja de São Domingos. This privately run institution has rich finds from the Iron Age settlement of Citânia de Briteiros northwest of Guimarães, which makes it a logical stop before or after visiting the site. There are also Lusitanian and Roman stone sarcophagi, a strange miniature bronze chariot, various weapons, and elaborate ornaments. Two finds stand out: the decorative, carved stone slabs known as the pedras formosas (beautiful stones)—one of which was found at a funerary monument at Briteiros—and the huge, prehistoric granite Colossus of Pedralva, a figure of brutal power thought to have been used in ancient fertility rites.