Viana do Castelo > Reviews (1)

Many people only know Portugal for the beaches and nighlife of the Algarve, others may have gone to places such as Lisbon or Porto even.
But the North West of Portugal is not a place which gets that much tourism, and that is the beauty of it.
Viana is a small city. It has the river in one side, the sea in another and the mountain in yet another side of the city. Beautiful baches can be found in the city or you can travel across the river to find cabedelo or up to Afife to find Praia do Bico (national surf and bodyboard championhips are regularly heald in these beaches).
It is about 60km north of Porto and 70km South of the fronteer with Spain.

EATING OUT

Compared to the south of Portugal, the prices here are extremely reduced and it is worth eating out most days. For basic meals in including drink, starter, main meal, bread, and dessert, proces range from about GBP2 to GBP10. These meals are called refeição do dia, and they are what people from the city will eat.
There are plenty of

restaurants to choose from, being so ingrained in the portuguese culture to eat out, and looking at the prices, you can't blame them.
Tou can expect to pay for 4 person's in a good restaurant about GBP30 - 50 pounds, this is with all included, without restrictions.
Many restaurants also provide entertainment, normally on Friday and Saturday evenings. This entertainement can be traditional dancing and singing (rancho or fado) and piano playing.
If you prefer, there are a few supermarkets you can get your food from. The biggest is continente, just on the border of the town, next to Meadela.
Appart from restaurants, there are also a huge amount of coffe shops. In here you can try out the local patissiries, which are something worth a whole new review by itself. There are so many different sweet pastries and the like that you can buy in coffees, its amasing, and they are all good. You won't get thinner in this town!

Try the local wines. Alvarinho and Vimho Verde are both white wines, very cripsy in taste and refreshing on a hot day.

BEACH

If you thought the north of Portugal didn't have beaches, well, obviously you are wrong. The beaches of Viana and it's district are famous in the whole of Portugal. Most are white sanded and have been givem the flag for safe and clean beaches. As said earlier, praia do Bico is very popular with surfers, so if you are looking for hotties, this is the place.
Most beaches have lifeguards and they are clearly signed for any danger or absence of lifeguards.

SHOPPING

If you love shopping, you won't be disappointed.
There is a huge market evry friday in Viana, where you can get everything! Fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, sweets, house furnishings, furniture, pets, clothes, shoes and anything else you cant think of, you will find in this market (even live chickens and horses). And it all at really good prices, you just will not believe it!
One tip though, bargain. If you can take a portuguese person with you to do the bargaining, even better, because if they realise you are foreign, they are likely not to make such good prices.

However, even without bargaining, the prices are still amasing.

A brand new shopping centre has opened attached to the train station, in here, you will find all the main interbational shops as in the uk, the good thing is, they are half the price. The shopping centre also has a eating area (again, with all the major internatinal food outlets).

Around the streets of the town there are plenty of shops to choose from, these tend to be more pricey, however they do provide you with very good wuality clothing and different fashions. And if you compare these prices to Uk prices, thay are not that different.

TOURISTY STUFF

If you like history, you will love the city centre, it is filled with historical buildings, provided with plaques with information about them.
The Praça da República is the main square in the city and it is also where the locals meet to chat and watch the world pass by. In the midly of the square is a 16th century fountain.
Other in teresting buildings are the Sé Catedral (15th century), the Casa da Misericórdia (16th century), the castle, the church of S. Domingos, etc. The best you can do is go to the tourist information centre (located in Praça da Erva, nest to the main square) and ask for a guide map (they are free). This map will have the sites of main interest in the city.
Also, you can't miss the basilica, which is on top of the mountain overlooking the town. If you look up, you'll see it. Legend says it overlooks the city so no harm will come to it. It is worth going up there. There are buses, you can walk and there is a tram/elevator you can take (a good experience). Once there, you get a beautiful panoramic view of the city (hopefully it will be a clear day). The basilica itself is beuatiful and very imposing, inside it is also very nice, but more simplistic.
You can also go up to the top of the basilica, taking the steps. There is also the option of takinf a lift, but this does not take you to the top, but only half way, and you won't be able to get to the top after getting here. Beware though, if you are claustraufobic, there are a couple of tricky bits to get to. But in the end it is worth it.
At the back of the basilica, there is a nice garden with tables and seats, many people have picnics in this area.

FESTIVALS

If you go arounf the 20th of August there is a huge festival. The whole city and surrounding areas are turned into a party ground. You will nedd stamina if you want to see all that is happening in these days. The tourism provides a program with everything available.
There are 'cabeçudos' at 8.00 am every day. This is a cobination of enourmous drums, acoordions and big 3m long representations of local people. It makes you shake. It's like a competition, in which the public decides which group of drumers is better by applauding harder and longer. They all play at the same time and there are about twenty groups with about 10-20 drummers each. It is amasing.
There are lots of parades going on, the best one takes place on saturday afternoon and it's a representation of past centuries and a history of the town.

It last about 2-3hours and you get free food and wine throughout the parade.
The people on it are local and most own the suits you see. It is a 'pride thing' to have your suit and show it at the parade. The brides dress in black woth a white veil and white bouquet of flowers. Their chest is covered in real gold, which is owned by her family, and is aupposed to represent the 'gift' the groom will have for maarrying this bride. There are lost of litle things that go into this parade and the way they dress, they are very curious traditions. For example, one of them is that if the bride wears her gold lower than the belly button it means she is not a virgin anymore.
Different areas of the city are represented by different suits and colours.

On one of the nights, the fisherman neighbourhood covers the roads with elaborate carpets, made out of brighlty couloured fower petals and wood shavings. All in one night, so that the next day a procession waks over them blessing the fisherman and out to sea.

At night there is a funfair with various rides, like rollercoasters and bumper cars. For those who haven't had enough yeat ther are also dances and singing and yeat more parades and pricessions throughoutthe night, along with plenty of expositions. You'll end up going to bed at 4am.
You need to book acommodation early at this time of year as it is so popular.

If you don't go at this time, there are other smaller festivasl happening throughout the year, again just ask the tourism for information on this. Thry do speak english and french.

NIGHTLIFE

If you go on winter, don't expect much in terms of nightlife.
On spring and summer, it's different. There are ars throughout city centre and a couple of good nightclubs. Normaly bars stay open up to 2-3am and nightclubs are open up to 8am.
Most people go to a coffe shop until 24 and then go to a bar up to 2am. At this time most will move out of town to Moledo or Caminha, where the best mightclubs are. Buses, trains and taxis are vailable for transport.

ACOMMODATION

There are a few places that offer accomodation, but being a aminly non-tourist city, there aren't that many. No major international chains are present in this city.
You've normally got three kinds of accomodation in Portugal. Private renting is good if you like to 'mingle' with the local people and get an inside view of what life is really like. The tourism has list of suitable private accomodation (good standards). You can expect to pay between 25-30E per night.
You can also go to a Pensão. This is not very comendable. These places tend to not have any strict kind of check. They are cheap though. Expect to pay about 20-30E.
Then you have hotels. These are attributed stars according to their service, the more stars the better the service, five being the maximum amount of stars. You can relly on a 3 star hotels to be pretty good. Price range from 30-100E per night. Pousadas are like hotels, but at a higher standard, normally located in sites of historical interest or beauty.

Pousada of Santa Lúzia charges between 97-289E per night.

OTHER PLACES TO VISIT

While you are in Viana, you might also want to look at Ponte de Lima, Âncora, Valença, Cerveira.
They are all within reasonable driving distance.

HOW TO GET THERE

Viana do Castelo is about 60km from Porto, making it very assessible from the airport.
A flight from London to Poro starts from GBP100, and from Manchester starts GBP170 return.
In the airport you can rent a car (advisable), but there are also connesction by bus and taxi to train stations. There is a motorway that will take you to Viana. A taxi fare from the airport to Viana os about 25E.

It is a wonderful city and it will keep you occupied all thoughout. The locals are great and I am in love with it (as you can see). I am visiting three times a year and it is still enchanting.
However, if you expect a place like the Algarve, you will be disappointed.

If you do go there enjoy it.
And do tell me.