Braga & Guimarães Tour

Tour Description

– Departure from the hotel towards Guimarães – the Cradle of the Nation

– Panoramic visit to the Historical Centre, Castle and Paço dos Duques

– Departure towards Braga – the Ecclesiastic Capital

– Visit to the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus

– Free time for lunch

– Panoramic visit to the Historical centre and Cathedral

Places to visit:

Minho region, where the cities of Guimarães and Braga are located, owes its recognition, importance and name to the Minho River, one of the four largest rivers in Portugal.

Guimarães City
Guimarães is a city with a glorious historical past, whose history is associated with the foundation of the Portuguese national identity and the Portuguese language in the 12th century.
The Historic Centre of Guimarães is a unique vestige of a particular type of city conception, which had its own evolution, due to the morphology of its medieval urban fabric, which forms a succession of squares of great formal value and environmental quality, as well as a particular type of construction, typologically diverse, but with a great formal unity as a whole, built entirely with traditional construction techniques, known as taipa de rodízio and taipa de fasquio.
The UNESCO Committee inscribed the Historic Centre of Guimarães in the World Heritage List, based on the following criteria: Guimarães is of considerable universal significance in that specialised building construction techniques were developed here during the Middle Ages which were then exported to the Portuguese colonies and Africa becoming essential features.
The history of Guimarães is closely associated with the establishment of Portuguese national identity and the Portuguese language in the 12th century. Guimarães, an exceptionally well preserved city, reflects the evolution of some particular buildings from medieval times to the present, with particular emphasis on the 15th to 19th centuries.

Braga City
With more than 2000 years of history Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the world.
Braga’s long history is visible in its monuments and churches, the most imposing being the Cathedral which displays various styles, from Roman to Baroque, also boasting splendid houses, particularly from the 18th century.
A young, cosmopolitan and multicoloured city, Braga confidently displays a wide range of scenarios of success and prosperity, extending its tutelary and enterprising arms to such vital areas as culture, commerce, industry and services.