In the Northern Region of Oporto city, we can find bucolic views that maintain their rural characteristics and their past heritages untouched, either by the surrounding landscape, or by the manor houses and homes, that preserve their blazonry and aristocratic traditions. Many of them have been transformed into hostels and rural tourism.
The Douro Valley is, above all, river and vineyards that, together, form a colourful and surrounding landscape. Also the Peneda - Gerês Natural Park with its routes and waterfalls and one of the last Iberian area of endangered species, make the contrast with the ancestral monuments of Guimarães medieval city, origin of the Portuguese nationality and of Braga and Lamego ecclesiastical towns, with their historical churches and the Bom Jesus and N.S. dos Remédios sanctuaries.
In this region, northernmost, we can also find seaside resorts, in the designated Costa Verde (Green Coast), which goes from Vila do Conde to Valença, in the border region with Spain. Caminha and Vila Nova de Cerveira are examples of reference agglomerations of this region's unique characteristics. Braga, Guimarães and Viana do Castelo (bank river city), are presently towns that incorporate the modernity of the large town centres. You can also find golf courses in Vidago, a well known thermal resort, Ponte de Lima, Póvoa do Varzim (Estela) and Amarante.
