Braga

Porta Nova arch to the Sameiro viewpoint in a day

Begin at the Arco da Porta Nova and walk east into the old town to the cathedral, where a guided tour opens up the treasury. Take a coffee by the Jardim de Santa Bárbara, then follow the Avenida Central past its fountains to the Theatro Circo.

After lunch (order a half portion), catch a TUB bus to Bom Jesus. Ride the water-powered funicular up, look round the church and the wooded park, then walk down the zigzag stairway past its chapels and fountains. If you still have energy, Sameiro is a little higher up the hill and has the broadest view of all. Check the Theatro Circo programme for an evening show.

With a second day, take the bus to Guimarães, where Portugal's first king grew up, or stay put for the excavated Roman baths of Bracara Augusta and the Biscainhos palace with its formal gardens.

Frango pica no chão, frigideiras and Abade de Priscos pudding

Order frango pica no chão, free-range chicken with rice in a blood-enriched sauce, bacalhau à Braga with fried onions and potatoes, and duck rice. Braga's Minho cooking also means caldo verde, maize broa, roast kid and Abade de Priscos pudding. Portions are huge, so ask for a meia dose (half portion) when you can.

Minho cooking is generous, and Braga's kitchens show it. Expect caldo verde (potato and shredded cabbage broth), dense maize broa, roast pork and kid, baked veal, local hams, trout and octopus. Two rice dishes are worth hunting: arroz de pato, duck rice baked until the top crisps, and frango pica no chão, free-range chicken cooked with rice in a dark sauce enriched with the bird's blood. The city's own salt-cod dish, bacalhau à Braga, is fried and served with onions and sliced potatoes.

Portions are huge. A full order of roast chicken arrives as a mountain with potatoes that would feed three or four, so ask for a meia dose (half portion) unless you are sharing.

Students keep prices low in the streets around the university campus on the eastern side of town, where cheap lunch menus are everywhere. For dessert, try pudim Abade de Priscos, a rich caramel custard made with port and a little bacon fat, and the frigideiras, savoury pastries of minced meat sold at Frigideiras do Cantinho near the cathedral. Wash it all down with a young, slightly sparkling vinho verde from the surrounding hills.

Holy Week, São João and the rain

Braga calls itself the city of archbishops, and its calendar follows the church. In Holy Week, the week before Easter, the streets are hung with violet cloth and flowers and night-time processions wind through the old centre, with hooded penitents and torchlight. It is the most striking time to visit and the most crowded: rooms book out months ahead.

In late June the mood flips. São João, the city's patron festival, peaks on the night of 23 to 24 June, but Braga starts warming up almost two weeks before with concerts, folk dancing and fairground stalls along Avenida da Liberdade and in Parque da Ponte.

Plan around the weather too. This is one of the wettest cities in Portugal: December averages about 220 mm of rain and November around 194 mm, with highs of 14 to 17°C. July and August are warm and dry, with highs near 28°C and about 22 to 34 mm of rain, and May, June and September are the pleasant middle ground for walking the stairway at Bom Jesus.