Why Northern Portugal Is Europe's Best-Kept Secret

Ask most travellers about Portugal and you'll hear Lisbon, the Algarve, Porto. The Minho — the green, rainy, hill-folded region in the north — rarely makes the first sentence. It is, however, the region that locals quietly send their favourite friends to.

It is greener. The north sits in the wettest corner of the country, which is why the vines are verde, the hillsides are forested, and the rivers run year-round. Summer here is warm but not relentless; winter is cool, often dramatic, occasionally snowy on the high peaks.

It is cheaper. A long lunch with wine in a rural tasca still costs ten or twelve euros. Petrol stations sell better olive oil than most supermarkets. House wine costs less than bottled water.

It is older. The Romans built roads here. The first kings of Portugal were crowned in Guimarães, forty minutes from the villa. The granite churches are nine hundred years old and still in use every Sunday.

It is quieter. You will not queue for a viewpoint. You will not need restaurant reservations. You will probably be the only foreign couple in a village that has existed for a thousand years.

This is what guests mean when they say Casa do Sol feels like a secret. The secret isn't the villa. It's the region around it.