New Portugal and the Azores Brochure

Sunvil launches 2016 real Portugal and the Azores brochure

Drawing on over 30 years’ of experience, the Portugal specialist focuses on authentic experiences, handpicked accommodation and flexible itineraries that uncover the real country

Sunvil has launched its new 2016 real Portugal & Azores brochure, featuring carefully-selected properties and imaginative, value-for -money itineraries, highlighting the best of its many creative ideas and options and focusing on lesser-known areas of Portugal. The brochure showcases Sunvil’s unrivalled expertise, gained through over 30 years’ experience of providing tailor-made trips to this spectacular country and its beautiful archipelago of nine mid-Atlantic islands, the Azores.

This year, the Portugal specialist has placed an emphasis on experiential holidays that range from exhilarating active breaks to coastal walking trails, from multi-centre self-drive trips to cultural city breaks, and from mouth-watering gastronomic forays on the mainland to island hopping and whale-watching in the Azores. As ever, all arrangements can be tailor-made to suit individual requirements.

The newly-designed brochure features a selection of properties and at least one carefully-devised suggested itinerary (merely offered as a useful start point) across each of six diverse regions. Further properties, itinerary ideas, images and information can be found online at www.sunvil.co.uk.

Northern Portugal

Blessed with some of the most spectacular scenery in the country, the north offers lush countryside, terraced hillsides adorned with Port wine estates, rugged mountains and long sandy beaches. Options include Porto, UNESCO-registered Guimaraes and the splendid Douro Valley.

Sample itinerary: Catch Barcelos’s lively market, marvel at the Baroque architecture of the small towns of Lamego and Vila Real, trace the iconic river valley of the Douro and explore historic Porto on foot on this wonderfully diverse three-centre, seven-night itinerary. Northern Portugal costs from £799 pp (two sharing) including return flights (Gatwick – other airports on request), characterful B&B accommodation and car hire.

Centro

Varied, historic, compact and accessible, delve into the little-explored heart of Portugal and discover glacial valleys, lush green mountains, Manueline churches, urban canals and never-ending sand-dunes. Citadels perch on hills and the black slate of village roofs is symbolic of this region. Sample itinerary: A cultural feast for the senses, combining Baroque architecture in Porto, the art nouveau waterways of Aveiro, the university city of Coimbra, with its impressive Baroque library (home to a welcome colony of bats which protects ancient tomes from insect damage), plus the world-class attractions of Portugal’s capital. The nine-night, multi-centre Cultural Portugal trip costs from £1,040 pp (two sharing) including return flights (Gatwick – other airports on request), characterful B&B accommodation and private/rail transfers.

Lisbon Region

The capital of Portugal can rightly be considered among the loveliest of all European cities, and it’s also one of the cheapest! Here, enticing gastronomic delights, haunting fado music, wonderful modern art museums and atmospheric squares await. Sunvil includes coastal Cascais, Estoril and Sintra, with its superb palace.
Sample itinerary: Blend Lisbon’s many attractions with the sandy beaches and grand residences of the fishing village of Cascais, all in five-star luxury. Stay at the splendid Bairro Alto, offering panoramic views of the capital, and the waterfront Albatroz, one of Portugal’s most exclusive hotels. The seven-night Luxury Break on the Lisbon Coast costs from £963 pp (two sharing) including return flights (Heathrow – other airports on request), B&B accommodation and private transfers.

 The Alentejo

Discover a magnificent interior of wheat and sunflower fields dotted with tiny whitewashed villages, hilltop medieval castles and fragrant forests of pine and cork, not forgetting the wonderful and little-visited coast of the Alentejo, with its locally-caught, ultra-fresh seafood.

Sample itinerary: Taste a mouth-watering array of regional delicacies, from sheep’s milk cheeses and organic asparagus to black pork dishes and delicious egg-based desserts, as well as world-renowned wine, on this seven-night culinary journey. The Discover the gastronomic soul of Portugal costs from £810 pp (two sharing), including return flights (Heathrow – other airports on request), car hire, B&B, and a three-course complimentary tasting menu at the wonderful family-run wine estate, Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, in Albernoa.

The Algarve

Much more than a beach lovers’ paradise, Sunvil features the ‘real’ Algarve – its little-known interior, unspoilt walking trails, Moorish architecture, peaceful fishing villages and the historic maritime town of Sagres.

Sample itinerary: Combine the Algarve’s largely untouched interior with its wealth of charming fishing villages and the scenic Rota Vicentina walking trail, which traces one of the best-preserved coastlines in southern Europe. This leisurely seven-night trip also features the vast sandy beaches and wildlife-rich lagoon landscape of Ria Formosa Natural Park. The Real Algarve costs from £804 pp (two sharing) including return flights (Gatwick – other airports on request), characterful B&B accommodation and car hire.

The Azores

Pioneering responsible, low-impact holidays to the temperate Azores some 25 years ago, Sunvil offers all nine emerald islands, with a heady mix of active and whale-watching itineraries to this wild and bucolic mid-Atlantic archipelago.

Sample itinerary: The Azores offer some of the best whale-watching opportunities in the world, and this exhilarating seven-night itinerary, based on the scenic isle of Faial, seeks out sperm and short-finned whales, and common, bottlenose, Atlantic spotted and Risso’s dolphins. There’s also time to visit Faial’s dramatic caldeira and take a day trip to Pico, home to Portugal’s highest peak. The Whale and Dolphin watching holiday in Faial costs from £1,235 pp (two sharing) including return flights (Gatwick – other airports on request), inter-island flights, all transfers, B&B accommodation (on Sao Miguel and Faial), three half-day whale watching excursions and a full-day private taxi tour of Pico – hop out wherever you wish to take photos, chat to locals, have a coffee or to explore.

Says Rosanna Melaragni, Sunvil Portugal Product Manager:  “This year, we have decided to focus on the unique experiences that make Portugal special, and our itineraries have been devised to uncover the authentic side of Portugal, delving into little-known areas and uncovering hidden gems that are often overlooked. Our breadth of offering and knowledge of Portugal remains unrivalled, and the full range of our extensive holiday programme is all available online. We will continue to add new and unusual itineraries to our website, drawing on our unsurpassed experience in – and love of – this beguiling country.”

The lead-in price is from £470 pp (two sharing), staying at the Heritage Lisboa Plaza Hotel in Lisbon. The price includes flights (Gatwick), three nights’ B&B and return transfers.

To order the new 2016 Sunvil real Portugal & Azores brochure, call 020 8758 4747. Alternatively, visit www.sunvil.co.uk for further information and a pdf copy downloadable in sections, or call 020 8758 4722 to speak to an expert.