There are more and more unusual tourist trails in Portugal

With a record number of 33 million holidaymakers expected this year, there are more and more unusual tourist routes in Portugal. They lead both through large urban agglomerations and through the provinces of this Iberian country.

According to estimates from the Portuguese Government Agency for Statistics (INE) between January and August this year. Over 22 million holidaymakers came to this country.

– With so many vacationers at the end of this year we can count on breaking the current recordwhich amounted to 29 million people in 2024 – Miguel Pinto Monteiro, a Lisbon economist and author of books on Portuguese regions, told PAP.

Author of the guide entitled “Dicionario Beirao” pointed out that with the increasing number of guests, the hotel, gastronomic and cultural offer, as well as the number of tourist trails, is growing.

– Today, tours are more diverse and often tailored to a specific, narrow group of customers – added Monteiro, noting that through Lisbon and Porto already have trails in the footsteps of famous tiles, graffiti murals, and even films and advertisements shot in these agglomerations..

While travel agencies usually focus on traditional routes along the main city arteries, museums and palaces, a growing number of tourist guides focus on more and more original routes.

It has recently been operating in the Lisbon metropolitan area a tour of the Portuguese capital with a group of jogging enthusiasts running after dark, as well as people traveling at night to places associated with tragedies. This last route allows you to walk through the old town of Lisbon, visiting the traces of ruined buildings after the 1755 earthquake, or reach the site of the assassination of King Charles I.

One of the tourist trails also tells about the life of the Portuguese monarchy, which expired in 1910, and in particular about the moral scandals related to it. It covers the area between the capital's old town and the Belem district.

The offer of tourist trails in Portugal has been diversified by the now ubiquitous rickshaws, whose drivers not only focus on driving, but also on telling stories.

According to Leander Lima, a guide to Guimaraes, the first capital of Portugal located in the north, typical tourist trips by rickshaw can be supplemented with a trip to unusual city attractions, e.g. sports, cultural or gastronomic.

– Tourists can be offered an unusual trail, different from others. Of course, the price is then negotiated – a representative of Tuk Tuk Guimaraes Tours told PAP, noting that there is a very large difference in the fees collected by guides.

He noted that among the personalized routes offered to tourists are visits to grape plantations and wineries located near Guimaraes, including free tastings.. He added that a group of four guests pays from 70 to 130 euros for a rickshaw journey along this route, depending on the travel time, which is up to two hours.

From Guimaraes Marcin Zatyka (PAP)

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