Braga

Onetime Roman fortress town, onetime Christian stronghold in the north, and former holder of the continent’s Youth Capital epithet, Braga is a city laden with contradictions. This is a place where low key bars lurk unassumingly between the faces of grand baroque palaces, filigreed churches give way to chic fine-dining joints and locals unwind in the cafés of the central plazas alongside ex-pats, backpackers and day-trippers out of Porto to the south.

Many travellers start their tour of the town by casing out the millennium-old rises of the majestic Braga cathedral, while others will make a beeline for the Bom Jesus do Monte funicular railway, which takes them high above the city, for sweeping views of the Portuguese hills between the Cavado and Este Rivers. Back in the city Braga tour guides also recommend setting some time aside to explore the culinary wonders that pepper the streets around Praca da Republica; the packed Folar de Chaves breads, the cold and creamy soups and the legendary Francesinha sandwiches. And once the sun’s down, the party begins in earnest, with students flocking to the wine bars and dive joints of the old town to dance the night away.