An insider's guide to the pretty Portuguese city you've never heard of

Telegraph

26-06-2025

When the New York Times chose Coimbra as one of the top 52 Places to visit in 2025, even the Portuguese were slightly puzzled.
Despite being Portugal's third-largest city, medieval hilltop Coimbra is – unlike its more famous siblings, Lisbon and Porto – still little known outside its own country.
Sitting beside the Mondego River in central Portugal, Coimbra is often compared to Oxford (Coimbra has the oldest university in Portugal, founded in 1290, now a World Heritage Site).
The city boasts Roman, Jewish and Moorish influences, a Gothic monastery and a royal palace.
But the city, with its maze of cobbled streets, is also percolating with a new cool vibe, thanks to its stylish restaurants (many feature in the 2025 Michelin Guide), fado bars, renovated townhouses and independent boutiques.
Once the capital of Portugal, Coimbra has always attracted the nation's writers and artists. And as a university town, it has a reputation for academic and political debate (during the dictatorship, which ended in 1974, it was a hotbed of dissent against the regime).
Having so many students around keeps the city young and energetic (walk the streets and you'll see them suddenly loom into view in their traje (flowing black capes), books under their arms). Many stay on after graduation.
All the locals I met stressed how happy they are to live here, rather than a hectic, big city.
The layout of the town dates back to the Middle Ages, when Coimbra was divided into an upper city (Cidade Alta) – where the aristocracy and clergy lived, now the site of the main university – and the lower city (Baixa de Coimbra) by the river, inhabited by merchants and artisans, alongside the Jewish quarter.
Now, the latter is where most of the buzzy new bars and eateries are to be found.
Although located inland, Coimbra is very green. The riverfront, with its pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths, has all the charm of Porto, but without the crowds.
The romantically brooding Botanical Gardens next to the Roman aqueduct offer shade in the heat, and there's a fabulous beach, half an hour from the city.
Based at the 22-room Sapientia Boutique Hotel near the university, I opted for history during the day, and light hedonism at night.
Founded by two couples, the four-star hotel is themed around famous writers (rooms are decorated with book covers and manuscripts), setting the tone for literary exploration.
It's the steepest part of the city, so I was glad of my flat shoes – but at wine hour (6pm sharp, when the bell at the university's 18th-century bell tower rings), the view from the hotel's panoramic terrace, over the historic centre and Mondego River, was magical.
You can do most of the major sites in one hit. Built on the grounds of a former royal palace, the university is famed for its baroque library, the Biblioteca Joanina, and the ornate Chapel of São Miguel, covered in 18th-century azulejo panels.
The library was meticulously recreated for Disney's latest Beauty and the Beast film. During your precious 15-minute slot (do book), you'll marvel at the Rococo decor, including shelves adorned with gold leaf, and hear about the secret bat colony who maintain the 600,000 rare books by eating bugs.
Nearby is the Machado de Castro National Museum – once the administrative, political and religious centre of the Roman era, and full of exquisite Romanesque statues.
It stands on the site of a Roman forum, and you can even explore the well-preserved cryptoporticus below.
After a day of religious architecture, I headed for a sunset drink at rooftop 'lounge bar' Passaporte, then for supper. Coimbra's reputation as a foodie paradise is well-deserved – local specialities include monkfish fillets with clam rice (grown in the Mondego rice fields), bacalhau (salt cod) and veal steak, as well as an astonishing array of petiscos (similar to tapas).
For traditional Portuguese dishes (salt-cod baked, fried, roasted, or in soups or stew), there's the charming Solar do Bacalhau in the Baixa de Coimbra. But there are also exciting new culinary ventures.
Chef Sergio Silva has launched 24-seat Safra, on a narrow street, serving delicacies such as tartare, croissant and shallot pickle, and lamb with cauliflower and honey vinegar. And neighbourhood joint Carolino (decorated with mid-century furniture) has great fish, artisanal bread and pizzas, plus the chef's mother's crème brûlée.
The following day, I explored the flatter 'downtown' district around the Santa Cruz Church, which houses the tombs of Portugal's first two kings.
Next door is Café Santa Cruz, a beautiful historic spot, long loved by writers and journalists.
If you take the bridge across the river, you'll find the ruined Gothic monastery of Santa Clara, founded as a house of the Order of the Poor Clares. This monastery was dissolved in 1311, but rebuilt by Queen Elizabeth, wife of King Denis of Portugal, who was made a saint in 1626.
I had lunch at Otrovador opposite the Romanesque Old Cathedral, and became fascinated by an extended family celebrating a diamond wedding upstairs (always a restaurant seal of approval).
Then I moved on to shopping in the old town.
The cobbled Rua Ferreira Borges, which runs from the Church of Santa Cruz to the river front, has the best bookstores, patisseries (there's a shop devoted to meringues) and vintage emporiums, plus Somm, a cool new wine atelier (it was on this trip that I discovered a predilection for sparkling Bairrada wines, produced near Coimbra).
Keen to make sure I was getting as far beneath the skin of the city as possible, I hired Jose Manuel Santos of Madomis Tours for the day.
He drove me to the atmospheric Montemor-o-Velho Castle (also improbably a venue for heavy metal concerts); then on to seaside city Figueira da Foz, 25 miles west of Coimbra, with its famous white sand beach and the rolling waves which lure Californian surfers half way across the world.
Here, I had perhaps the best meal I've had all year – at Olaias, owned by chef Mónica Gomes (also in the Michelin Guide), at the town's Arts and Entertainment Centre overlooking the park. Gomes is renowned for giving the classics a daring edge, and the results are mouthwatering dishes like squid with ginger and coriander, cockles in honey, and cheese ice cream with sponge cake.
After dinner, things tend to get musical in Coimbra. It's a city thoroughly in love with music, and I heard live bands everywhere I went – though the highlight was the music festival which played out across Coimbra's streets during my visit, with marching bands and impromptu jazz in front of the Santa Cruz church.
On my final evening, I stopped for a pop-up supper and a fado concert at the Cultural House aCapella, set in a 14th-century chapel in the Jewish quarter.
There, I watched an elderly married couple perform the mournful rhythms and haunting lyrics of the Portuguese 'blues', as the audience began to cry and hug each other.
Truly, I thought, this is the real Portugal – still, somehow, a little discovered secret, and begging to be experienced.
The essentials
Liz Hoggard was a guest of Sapientia Boutique, which has rooms from €245 per night, with breakfast. TAP Air Portugal flies from London Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester to Porto (one hour from Coimbra) and Lisbon (two hours from Coimbra) from around £120 return.
Coaches (with Rede Expressos, from €6 one-way) and trains (with Comboios de Portugal, from €20 one-way) connect both cities with Coimbra.For more information, visit centerofportugal.com