Sign up for exclusive roomguide.co.uk email only offers

Portugal, with its long Atlantic coast, lies on the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe—the most westerly country on the European mainland. The land consists of highland forests in the north and rolling lowland in the south. It tends to be wetter and cooler in the north. The south can be hot and parched, and it is dotted with reservoirs to conserve water. Most people live along the coast, with a third of the population living in the urban areas of Lisbon and Porto.