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The underrated Portuguese town where a week's stay costs under £350
September is the ideal time to visit Portugal. Summer's crowds have disappeared and temperatures hover in the mid-twenties: warm enough for lazing by the pool but cool enough to ditch the sunlounger and go sightseeing. The central town of Estarreja will suit those looking for more than a fly and flop, with its museums, street art scene and wildlife reserves for hiking and kayaking, plus the historic cities of Porto and Aveiro are nearby for days out.
Stay in the suburbs of Estarreja to get the best deal. Seven nights' B&B at Tulip Inn Estarreja Hotel & Spa, including flights from Stansted with Ryanair, costs £323pp. A small under-seat bag is included in the price, and you can check in a 20kg case for an extra £56 return. The hotel is 45 minutes' drive south of Porto airport and taxis cost about £58 each way ( Renting a car can work out cheaper and makes it easier to spend the week exploring (from about £60 a week).
From the three-star hotel it's a ten-minute drive to the Bioria nature reserve and the Casa-Museu Egas Moniz, a museum showcasing the art collections of the Nobel prizewinning scientist Egas Moniz, who developed the surgical procedure of lobotomy (£3; The hotel has an indoor and an outdoor pool, a tennis court and a spa with a Turkish bath and sauna. It has a Portuguese restaurant and free bikes to borrow. Simply decorated rooms have countryside views with smartly tiled bathrooms and wooden floors. Some have statement cork-inspired feature walls.
Wander around Estarreja to take in its vibrant street-art murals, then head to the nearby Alianca Underground Museum, which showcases art in nearly a mile of wine cellars alongside tastings (£5 entry; The BioRia reserve is just outside Estarreja and is a vast protected area of wetlands and salt marshes with well-marked walking trails, guided birdwatching tours and bikes and kayaks for hire ( For views, visit the open-air geological museum Arouca Geopark, where you can walk the 516m pedestrian suspension bridges, which are among the world's longest (£10;
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Known as the Venice of Portugal, the city of Aveiro is less than half an hour's drive south from the hotel and has well-preserved art nouveau architecture and a network of canals that can be enjoyed on a traditional moliceiro boat (£13 for 45 minutes; Call in at the 19th-century Confeitaria Peixinho to sample the region's famous ovos-moles, sweet pastries with a creamy filling ( The best beaches are by Aveiro and include sandy Praia da Barra, home to Portugal's tallest lighthouse, and Costa Nova, with its cute striped beach houses, white dunes and excellent seafood restaurants.
Porto is an easy day trip for its Unesco-listed old town, cable car and centuries-old port cellars for guided tastings.
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• Return Stansted-Porto flights, departing on September 24• Under-seat cabin bag • Seven nights' B&B at Tulip Inn Estarreja Hotel & Spa (
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The Pousada da Ria is in a beautiful location on a peninsula that runs between the Atlantic and a vast lagoon, about 25 miles north of Aveiro and 35 miles south of Porto. Charming, peaceful and with 20 bright, airy rooms, the hotel has a private beach on the lagoon and its own outdoor pool. The restaurant, Buzios, sits over the lake and specialises in seafood, while the Garça bar is the spot for evening cocktails. Borrow a bike to explore the nearby beach town of Torreira or head a few miles south to the nature reserve at Sao Jacinta, with its miles of ocean-facing sand Seven nights' B&B from £605pp, including flights, departing on September 23 (
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Five-star Pestana Palacio do Freixo is in an 18th-century baroque palace by the Douro River in Freixo, just outside Porto. Classed as a national monument and one of the city's most luxurious hotels, it has a frescoed fine-dining restaurant serving Portuguese dishes, an outdoor infinity pool, an upmarket spa with a sauna, gym and Turkish bath, manicured gardens and a bar with river views. Rooms are more contemporary, with dark wood, warm shades of gold and mosaic tiled bathrooms. There's a complimentary shuttle service to Porto city centre and the Campanha train station is a five-minute drive away for regular trains to Seven nights' B&B from £1,315pp, including flights, departing on September 27 (
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