Porto, also known as Oporto in some languages, is the second-largest city in Portugal, one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city has a population of 237,55.and a metropolitan area with 2.4 million people (2019) in an area of 2,395 km2 (925 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. It is recognized as a gamma-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group, the only Portuguese city besides Lisbon to be recognized as a global city.

Located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centers, and its core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as the "Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar". The historic area is also a National Monument of Portugal. The western part of its urban area extends to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement dates back many centuries when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin of the name Portugal, based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. In Portuguese, the name of the city includes a definite article: o Porto ("the port") which is where its former English name "Oporto" comes from.

Port wine, one of Portugal's most famous exports, is named after Porto, since the metropolitan area, and in particular, the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, were responsible for the packaging, transport, and export of fortified wine. In 2014 and 2017, Porto was elected The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency. Porto is on the Portuguese Way path of the Camino de Santiago.

Coimbra (/koʊˈɪmbrə/, also US: /kuˈ-, ˈkwɪmbrə/, UK: /ˈkɔɪmbrə/, Portuguese: [kuˈĩbɾɐ] ( or [ˈkwĩbɾɐ]) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of 319.40 square kilometres (123.3 sq mi).The fourth-largest urban centre in Portugal (after Lisbon, Porto and Braga), it is the largest city in the district of Coimbra and the Centro Region. About 460,000 people live in the Região de Coimbra, comprising 19 municipalities and extending into an area of 4,336 square kilometres (1,674 sq mi).

Among the many archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, are its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus. Similarly, buildings from the period when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal (from 1131 to 1255) still remain. During the late Middle Ages, with its decline as the political centre of the Kingdom of Portugal, Coimbra began to evolve into a major cultural centre. This was in large part helped by the establishment of the University of Coimbra in 1290, the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world. Apart from attracting many European and international students, the university is visited by many tourists for its monuments and history. Its historical buildings were classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2013: "Coimbra offers an outstanding example of an integrated university city with a specific urban typology as well as its own ceremonial and cultural traditions that have been kept alive through the ages.”

Braga (/ˈbrɑːɡə/ BRAH-gə, Portuguese: [ˈbɾaɣɐ] ; Proto-Celtic: *Bracara) is a city and a municipality in the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga, in the historical and cultural Minho Province. The city has a resident population of 192,494 inhabitants (in 2011), representing the seventh largest municipality in Portugal (by population). Its area is 183.40 km2. Its agglomerated urban area extends from the Cávado River to the Este River. It is the third-largest urban centre in Portugal (after Lisbon and Porto).

It is host to the oldest Portuguese archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Braga of the Catholic Church and it is the seat of the Primacy of the Spains. Under the Roman Empire, then known as Bracara Augusta, the settlement was the capital of the province of Gallaecia. Inside the city, there is also a castle tower that can be visited. Nowadays, Braga is a major hub for inland Northern Portugal and it is an important stop on the Portuguese Way path of the Road of St James. The city was also the European Youth Capital in 2012.

The Douro (UK: /ˈdʊəroʊ, ˈdʊəruː/, US: /ˈdɔːruː, ˈdɔːroʊ, ˈdoʊru/, Portuguese: [ˈdo(w)ɾu]; Spanish: Duero [ˈdweɾo]; Latin: Durius) is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto.

The Latin name Durius may go back to the name used by the Celtic tribes who inhabited the area before Roman times: the Celtic root is *dubro-. In modern Welsh, dŵr is "water," as well as dour in modern Breton with cognate dobhar in Irish. In Roman times, the river was personified as a god, Durius.

A folk-etymological derivation suggests that the name Douro comes from the Portuguese word for "golden".

The Douro vinhateiro (winegrowing), an area of the Douro Valley in Portugal long devoted to vineyards, has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Traditionally, the wine was taken downriver in flat-bottom boats called rabelos, to be stored in barrels in cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the river from Porto. In the 1960s and 1970s, dams with locks were built along the river, allowing river traffic from the upper regions in Spain and along the border. Nowadays Port wine is transported to Vila Nova de Gaia in Tankert trucks.
In 1998, Portugal and Spain signed the Albufeira Convention, an agreement on the sharing of trans-boundary rivers including the Douro, Tagus, and Guadiana. The convention superseded an original agreement on the Douro, signed in 1927, that was expanded in 1964 and 1968 to

FULL LIST OF WEDDING VENUES IN PORTUGAL

Adega Regional de Colares - Agroturismo Atzaro - Alenquer - Algarve - Areias do Seixo - Aviero - Braga - Casa de Castelo - Casa de Laila - Casa de Reguengos - Cascais - Castelo de Portuzelo - Douro Valley - Estufa Fria - Estufa Real - Faro - Forte da Cruz - Fronteira Palace - Gradil - Guimaraes - Herdade do Amarelo - Hotel Palacio de Villapanes - Hotel Santa Maria de Bouro - Lamego - Leiria - Madeira - Monchique - Monserrate Palace - Noto - Paco de Vitorino - Palacio da Pena - Palacio de Estoi - Palacio Fronteira - Parque Pedras Salgadas - Penafiel - Penha Longa - Pin Cliffs Luxury - Porto - Portofino - Pousada de Palmela - Pousada de Amares - Queluz - Quinta Casa Grande - Quinta da Caloura - Quinta das Lagrimas - Quinta de Penalva - Quinta de sant’ana - Quinta Segade - Quinta do Hespanhol - Quinta do Lago - Rio do Prado - Senhora da Rocha - Sesimbra - Sintra - Solar de Levada - Son Berga - Sublime Comporta - The Wine House - The Yeatman - Vidago Palace - Vila Monte - Villa Bardini - Wine Cellar - 100 Maneiras -The western part of the Iberian Peninsula has been continuously inhabited since prehistoric times, with the earliest signs of settlement dating to 5500 BC.[14]Celtic and Iberian peoples arrived in the first millennium BC. The region came under Roman control in the second century BC, followed by a succession of Germanic peoples and the Alans from the fifth to eighth centuries AD. Muslims conquered Portugal's current mainland in the eighth century, but were gradually expelled by the Christian Reconquista. Modern Portugal began taking shape during this period, initially as a county of the Christian Kingdom of León in 868, officially declared a sovereign Kingdom with the Treaty of Zamora in 1143.[15]

During the Age of Discovery, the Kingdom of Portugal settled Madeira and the Azores, and established itself as a major economic and political power, largely through its maritime empire, which extended mostly along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean coasts.[16] Portuguese explorers and merchants were instrumental in establishing trading posts and colonies that enabled control over spices and slave trades.[17] While Portugal expanded its influence globally, its political and military power faced internal and external challenges towards the end of the 16th century. The dynastic crisis marked the beginning of the country's political decline that led to the Iberian Union (1580-1640), a period in which Portugal was united under Spanish rule.[18] While maintaining a degree of self-governance, the union strained Portugal’s autonomy and drew it into conflicts with European powers which targeted Portuguese territories and trade routes.[19] Portugal's prior opulence was further diminished by a series of events, such as the Portuguese Restoration War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which destroyed the city and damaged the empire's economy.[20]

The Napoleonic Wars motivated the Portuguese royal family to relocate to Brazil in 1807. This event reshaped the relationship between Portugal and Brazil, culminating in Brazilian independence in 1822,[21] which indirectly led to a civil war between liberals and absolutists from 1828 to 1834.[22] The monarchy was overthrown in the 5 October 1910 revolution, which led to the establishment of the Portuguese First Republic. A phase of unrest ultimately led to the rise of authoritarian regimes of the Ditadura Nacional and the Estado Novo.[23] Democracy was finally restored following the Carnation Revolution of 1974, and brought an end to the Portuguese Colonial War, allowing the last of Portugal’s African territories to achieve independence.[24]

Portugal's imperial history has left a cultural legacy, with around 300 million Portuguese speakers around the world. Today, it is a developed country with an advanced economy relying chiefly upon services, industry, and tourism. Portugal, a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Schengen Area, and the Council of Europe, was one of the founding members of NATO, the eurozone, the OECD, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.