The Beiras are the least known and perhaps most surprising part of Portugal: three different worlds in one region. The Beira Litoral, on the Atlantic, mixes sandy beaches, lagoons and lively towns: Coimbra, with its ancient UNESCO-listed university, Aveiro, the "Portuguese Venice" with its canals and moliceiro boats, Figueira da Foz and the striped houses of Costa Nova. Just south of Coimbra are the Roman ruins of Conímbriga and the enchanted forest of Buçaco.
Inland, the Beira Alta is the land of the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountains in mainland Portugal, with Torre at almost 2,000 metres, shepherds' villages and the famous cheese. Here are Viseu, capital of Dão wine, Guarda, the country's highest city, and the aldeias históricas, fortified granite villages such as Trancoso, Sortelha, Linhares and the star-shaped fortress of Almeida. Further west, among wooded hills, hide the schist villages such as Piódão.
The Beira Baixa, to the east, is a rugged land of olive groves and oaks, home to Monsanto, the village among granite boulders, ancient Idanha-a-Velha and Castelo Branco, with the Baroque garden of the bishop's palace.
Getting around
Coimbra and Aveiro are on the Lisbon-Porto railway; for the Serra da Estrela and the historic villages you need a car. Below you will find the destinations on the map, our guides and all the municipalities of the region's five districts.
Destinations on the map
Guides to the region
Almeida
A twelve-pointed star of stone on the frontier, one of the best-preserved fortified towns in Europe.
Arouca
Wooden walkways along a wild river and one of the world's longest pedestrian suspension bridges.
Aveiro
A city of canals and painted boats on Portugal's largest lagoon, as sweet as its ovos moles.
Belmonte
The birthplace of Brazil's discoverer, where a Jewish community lived in secret for four centuries.
Buçaco
An enchanted forest walled in by monks, with a fairy-tale palace and a famous Napoleonic battle.
Castelo Branco
One of Portugal's most original Baroque gardens and a unique embroidery tradition.
Coimbra
The kingdom's former capital on the banks of the Mondego, home to one of Europe's oldest universities.
Conímbriga
Mosaics, fountains and walls of an abandoned Roman city a few kilometres from Coimbra.
Costa Nova and Ílhavo
Striped cottages between lagoon and ocean, and the memory of cod fishermen in northern seas.
Covilhã
A former textile capital clinging to the side of Portugal's highest mountain.
Figueira da Foz
Central Portugal's historic "queen of beaches", at the mouth of the Mondego.
Guarda
More than a thousand metres up, the "city of five Fs": strong, wealthy, cold, loyal and beautiful.
Lamego
A Baroque town among the Douro vineyards, with one of Portugal's most spectacular stairways.
Lousã
Schist villages hidden in the woods of the hills, half an hour from Coimbra.
Monsanto
Houses built under, on and between huge granite boulders, on a hill overlooking the plain.
Piódão
An amphitheatre of dark schist houses like a nativity scene, at the bottom of a mountain valley.
Santa Maria da Feira
A textbook castle and one of Europe's largest medieval re-enactments, half an hour from Porto.
Seia
The western gateway to the Serra da Estrela, with original museums and the country's highest village.
Serra da Estrela
Glacial valleys, lakes, shepherds and Portugal's most famous cheese, on the roof of the country.
Sortelha
A fortified granite village wedged among boulders, one of the most authentic on the border.
Trancoso
One of the finest historic villages, enclosed by intact walls and full of Jewish memories.
Vila Nova de Foz Côa
Thousands of engravings of horses, aurochs and ibex more than twenty thousand years old, in the open air on a valley's rocks.
Viseu
The garden city of the Beiras, between the Serra da Estrela and the Dão vineyards.