Family-run wineries and barrel-shaped suites: Swap overcrowded Lisbon for Portugal’s rolling valleys

Portugal has a bold new message for travellers: look beyond Lisbon. While its culture-rich capital has long charmed visitors with its buzzing nightlife and historic neighbourhoods, the influx of tourism has reached a tipping point.

In August 2024, Portugal set a new tourism record with 10.5 million overnight stays, up 3.8 per cent from last year. The country welcomed 3.8 million visitors that month -a 5.9per cent increase -making it one of the busiest periods on record. These figures, released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), reflect growth among both international and domestic travellers.

As visitor numbers soar, Lisbon’s infrastructure and public transport groan under the weight and districts like Alfama and Baixa become nearly impossible to navigate during peak times.

This shift hasn’t gone unnoticed by residents or officials. Secretary of State for Tourism Pedro Machado addresses overtourism by reimagining the tourism offering and urging travellers to venture into lesser-known regions, such as North Central Portugal and the Douro Valley.

Machado explains, “We create new destinations and take people who came to Lisbon and Porto and put them in other cities and regional destinations."

The aim, he adds, is for visitors to leave with “a very good experience in all of Portugal… that’s the goal.”

Overtourism’s impact on Lisbon is difficult to ignore. Driven by Portugal’s appeal as a low-cost destination and recent policy changes encouraging foreign investment, the surge in tourism has led to record-breaking revenues: in 2023 alone, Portugal’s tourism revenue reached €25 billion, up from €21 billion the previous year​.

This boom, however, has transformed Lisbon’s housing market, where nearly 20,000 residential