From the top all the way down the spectacular coast to the bottom, Portugal is packed with sensory overload. Golden beaches and sheer cliffs border glittering turquoise waters, while medieval castles and cobblestone villages dot the countryside. The cities still bear an elegance and grandeur leftover from the days when Portugal was a maritime empire. There are an endless amount of places to explore, great food to gorge on, and of course, Port to sip on.

Lisbon is one of the most popular places to study abroad in Portugal, and you only need to spend mere minutes there to see why. The city is bursting with character, and its exuberant personality shines through narrow cobbled streets crisscrossed with lines of drying washing, rickety trams chunking up and down the hills, and a nightlife that is too much to be contained by the bars in Bairro Alto, so it spills out into the streets in a messy celebration of what it is to be alive. 

Porto is Lisbon’s slightly more chic cousin, rising above the river with stately bridges and elegant architecture. The beauty of the city is in the details: the azulejos decorating everything from street signs to the insides of churches, the mighty barrels of Port tucked into caves along the riverside, and the medieval air of the merchants houses and cafes in the Ribeira district. 

Much of Portugal’s charm comes from the smaller towns around the country. Sintra is one town you should check out while studying abroad in Portugal if you like palaces, castles, and Romantic architecture. If you want to get in as much beach time as possible, Faro makes a great base on the spectacular Algarve coast.

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