The Best Sight in Vila Real, Northern Portugal

An exceptional baroque mansion believed to have been designed by Nicolau Nasoni (architect of Porto's dashing Clérigos Tower), the Casa de Mateus sits 4 km (2½ miles) east of Vila Real. Its U-shape facade—with high, decorated finials at each corner—is pictured on the Mateus Rosé label (though that is the full extent of the association, as the wine's producer is not based here). You may visit the house museum using an audio-guide, but if you take a guided tour (€26) you willl not only also take in the chapel, with its still more extravagant facade, but be free afterwards to explore the formal gardens, which are enhanced by a "tunnel" of cypress trees that shade the path.