Central Portugal
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

The central region of Portugal is that part of the country between Porto to the north and Lisbon to the south. The geography here is varied. Mountains in the east and a very agreeable coastline at the western edge, known as the ‘Silver Coast’. The mountains include the Serra da Estrela mountain range, which has the highest peak in mainland Portugal. The mountains are also home to many historic villages and frontier castles. Most of these date to the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries and came in to existence given their position at the border between Portugal and Spain. There are then no shortage of pousadas – historic properties that have been turned into inns for tourism. Larger settlements can be found in less mountainous west – the city of Coimbra is home to one of Europe’s oldest universities and a few kilometres from the largest Roman settlement excavated in Portugal – Conímbriga.