Douro Valley and Caramulo: A Vintage Car Tour in the MGA

Five nights through the Douro Valley and the Caramulo hills, self-guided, in an MGA Roadster provided by the operator.

The Caramulo Museum at the end is what distinguishes this from the operator’s other Douro trips. It holds a Bugatti that set a land speed record in 1931 and the armoured Mercedes used by Salazar, the dictator who ran Portugal for nearly forty years, alongside a wider collection of rare cars and a good deal of art.

Porto opens it, with the cars presented and a group visit to Vila Nova de Gaia, where the port lodges sit across the river from the city. The route then follows the south bank into the Alto Douro, one of the oldest wine regions in Europe, with its terraced vineyards and historic quintas, and nights in wine hotels. The Palacio de Mateus follows, an estate whose name is on a great many bottles, then Santar and the Valverde Santar estate. The return crosses the Serra de Montemuro before the Serra do Caramulo, the museum and its experience centre.

The MGA for the duration, the accommodation in wine hotels, admission to the museum and experience centre and the group meals at selected local restaurants are all included. The price shown is per person. Spring and autumn are the seasons, with the September harvest the most atmospheric. Six days is the most expensive thing the operator sells, and the museum is the reason: for anyone driving a classic through Portugal, it is the obvious destination. The route also covers more of the country than the operator’s other trips, running from the port lodges at Gaia to the hills south of the Douro and back.