Portugal delivers more variety per mile than almost anywhere in Europe. In a week you can sip port in Porto's cliffside cellars, ride yellow tram 28 up Lisbon's pastel hills, wander the fairy-tale palaces of Sintra, and drive the Algarve's honey-colored sea cliffs — with 300 days of sunshine a year and prices well below the western European average.

Lisbon is the ideal base: seven hillside neighborhoods, a river that reflects orange light at sunset, and some of the best seafood on the continent. Porto is grittier, more concentrated, and home to the port wine lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia. Between them lies the Douro Valley, the world's oldest demarcated wine region, best explored by river cruise or scenic train.

Portugal also does small pleasures beautifully: custard-filled pastéis de nata still warm from the oven, mournful fado music in tile-lined tavernas, azulejo-covered churches, and beaches that stay warm from May through October. It's one of Europe's best-value trips — and one of its most emotionally resonant.