Portugal - Trás-os-Montes (Chapter)

This is the Trás-os-Montes chapter from Lonely Planet's Portugal guidebook.

Sandwiched between the Rio Douro and the Spanish border in Portugal’s extreme northeast corner, ruggedly beautiful Trás-os-Montes is named for its centuries-long isolation ‘be-hind the mountains’. A handful of attractive cities with Roman and medieval roots off er worthy urban diversions, but rural life is still the region’s heart and soul, from the southwest’s steep vine-yard-clad hillsides, to the olive groves, almond orchards and rugged canyonlands of the sun-baked east, to the chestnut-shaded, heathery highlands of the north.

• Stroll the formal gardens and taste fine Portuguese wines at the stately 18th-century Palácio de Mateus
• maps
• Swim and slide into natural pools above the dramatic Fisgas de Ermelo waterfall in Parque Natural do Alvão
• Watch the sheep return home at sundown in Rio de Onor, a town built squarely on the Portugal–Spain border
• Delight in the devilish grins of winter carnival masks at the Museu Ibérico da Máscara e do Traje in Bragança

Coverage Includes:  Vila Real, Parque Natural do Alvão,  Mondim de Basto, Chaves, Bragança,  Parque Natural de  Montesinho, Mirandela,  Miranda do Douro,  Parque Natural do Douro  Internacional