Experience the best of Sines

Sines sits on a headland of the Alentejo coast, with a small old town of white houses and a castle above the sea. It is the traditional birthplace of the navigator Vasco da Gama, who set sail for India in 1497, and his statue stands beside the castle walls. The fifteenth-century castle on the cliff holds the local museum, and the town beach below carries the explorer's name. Just to the north, a large deep-water port and industrial complex form a very different skyline.

South of town, the coast belongs to the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, a protected strip of cliffs, dunes and empty sandy coves. Porto Covo, a whitewashed village on the cliffs, has a small harbour and views to the island of Pessegueiro with its ruined fort. Vila Nova de Milfontes lies farther south at the mouth of the Mira river.

Fish stews, grilled sea bream and the goose barnacles gathered from the rocks of this coast are the local table. The Atlantic can be cold and the northerly wind strong in summer, so the beaches are bracing rather than balmy. Inland, Santiago do Cacém has a castle and the Roman ruins of Miróbriga, in quiet cork-oak country.