Portugal travel tips

Is Portugal safe?

7 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.

4.7 average across 7 guides · Safe
Lisbon, PortugalPorto, PortugalSintra, PortugalAlgarve, PortugalMadeira, PortugalAzores, PortugalDouro Valley, Portugal

Sintra Very safe

Very safe. The problem here is numbers: Pena sells timed tickets and they go, the 434 bus queue can be an hour in August, and the hill road is single track with coaches on it. Go early, buy ahead.

Comfortable: the historic centre · the palace grounds · São Pedro · Cascais

  • the hill road in season — single track with coaches on it and a two-hour bus queue in August
  • the forest paths in mist — the hill makes its own cloud and visibility drops fast
  • the cliffs at Cabo da Roca — unfenced in places, with a long way down

Algarve Very safe

One of the safest coastlines in Europe. What hurts people here is the sea and the cliffs: strong Atlantic currents, undertow at the west-coast surf beaches, and sandstone cliffs that collapse without warning — the signs telling you not to sit under them are not decorative.

Comfortable: Lagos · Tavira · Carvoeiro · Faro

  • Albufeira Strip — at closing time, which is the one place here with any trouble
  • The cliffs, which are sandstone and collapse without warning — the signs are not decorative
  • Praia do Amado — and the west coast, where the Atlantic undertow is serious and lifeguards are seasonal
  • Hire-car break-ins at beach car parks and trailheads

Madeira Very safe

Very safe with almost no street crime, and Funchal is comfortable at any hour. The hazards are the terrain: levada paths run along unfenced drops and several people are killed on them each year, usually in fog or in the wrong shoes. Check whether a route needs a head torch for tunnels. The sea on the north coast is rougher than it looks.

Comfortable: Funchal old town · Lido · Câmara de Lobos · Monte

  • the levada paths in fog — unfenced drops, and the cloud comes in fast
  • the north coast sea — rough and with currents, even where it looks calm

Azores Very safe

Extremely safe and very quiet. Everything difficult here is weather: fog closes the crater viewpoints without warning, inter-island flights are cancelled often enough that a tight connection is a bad idea, and the Atlantic swimming is cold and has currents. Trails after rain are mud on volcanic rock.

Comfortable: Ponta Delgada · Furnas · Horta · Angra do Heroísmo

  • the crater viewpoints in fog — which arrives without warning and takes the road with it
  • the Atlantic swimming outside the natural pools — cold, and with currents

Douro Valley Very safe

Very safe. The roads are narrow, steep and have unfenced drops to the river, and the tastings mean somebody in the car must not be drinking — the police check the valley roads in the harvest weeks.

Comfortable: Peso da Régua · Pinhão · Lamego · the quintas · the river cruises

  • the valley roads — steep, narrow, unfenced above the river and full of hire cars in the harvest weeks
  • driving after a tasting — the police check these roads and somebody has to stay dry
  • the heat in the gorge in high summer — it sits between the walls and does not move

Lisbon Safe

Very safe city. Normal precautions on tram 28 and in Rossio square where pickpockets operate.

Comfortable: Baixa · Chiado · Príncipe Real · Belém · Alfama

  • Tram 28 — a pickpocket’s office — hold your bag in front of you
  • Cais do Sodré — at closing time, for drunk crowds rather than crime
  • Martim Moniz — and Intendente, late at night
  • Persistent drug-selling approaches in Baixa, which are a nuisance and are usually selling nothing

Porto Safe

Very safe. Watch your footing on wet cobblestones on the steep streets, and be careful of the crowds on the Luís I bridge upper deck.

Comfortable: Ribeira · Baixa · Foz do Douro · Cedofeita

  • São Bento station — and tram 1, for pickpockets
  • Campanhã — the station area at night

The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.

The guides in Portugal

yellow and white tram on road during daytimeLisbonPortugalHills, tiles, and pastéis de nataboats docked near seaside promenade]PortoPortugalPort wine, tiled facades, and a river worth staring atgray and yellow castle at the top of a hillSintraPortugalPalaces in a misty hill forest above Lisbon, one of them painted like a fairgroundOchre sandstone stacks and arches above clear water at Ponta da Piedade in the AlgarveAlgarvePortugalOchre cliffs, hidden coves and three hundred days of sun at the bottom of Europegreen and yellow boat on body of water during daytimeMadeiraPortugalA volcanic wall in the Atlantic, laced with irrigation channels you can walk for daysempty road beside green trees and blue body of water during daytimeAzoresPortugalNine green volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, with crater lakes and whales offshorea large body of water surrounded by a lush green hillsideDouro ValleyPortugalTerraced vineyards falling into a river gorge, worked by hand since before port had a name