4 of the Top Sightseeing Stops in Europe Are on One Portuguese Road Trip

The inland stops Aveiro, Portugal. Photo: Sean Hsu/Shutterstock Coimbra ranked as the third most popular stop, just behind Pompeii, Italy (on a Naples-to-Sorrento road trip) and Cesky Krumlov (on a Prague-to-Salzburg road trip). It’s a hilltop town built around the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013. Most visitors head to the Joanina Library, a gilded Baroque hall from the early 1700s with carved wood shelves, gold-covered accents from the 1700s, and rare books from the 16th to 18th centuries. At night, bats that live inside the library come out and eat the insects that could otherwise damage the books. Tours usually sell out and are best booked in advance. Aveiro, the seventh most popular stop, is all about the canals. The town’s flat-bottomed moliceiro boats were once for harvesting seaweed but now carry visitors on tours past the city’s Art Nouveau buildings. On land, the dessert to seek out is ovos moles — egg yolk and sugar in thin pastries. It’s sold at confectioneries and sweet shops around town, but one of the most well-known is Oficina do Doce, where visitors can watch them being made. The coastal stops Obidos, Portugal. Photo: DaLiu/Shutterstock Óbidos, the fourth-most popular sightseeing stop by Daytrip’s data, is a medieval town sitting below a restored castle. It’s known for its local liqueur, ginja de Óbidos. It’s a sour-cherry spirit that traces to 17th-century monks in the region, often served in edible chocolate cups. Nazaré, the 10th most popular stop, sits just above Nazaré Canyon, an underwater trench that creates huge waves surfed by some of the best athletes in the world. The Guinness World Record for the biggest wave ever surfed was set here (86 feet, on Oct. 29, 2020). Some of the best spectating is from the São Miguel Arcanjo lighthouse, which also has a surf museum. The rest of the best Cesky Krumlov is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the world. Photo: trabantos/Shutterstock Daytrip’s ranking of the most-requested sightseeing stops also included: Pompeii, Italy (connecting Naples with Sorrento) Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic (connecting Prague, Czech Republic, with Salzburg, Austria) Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia (connecting Zagreb with Split) Bratislava, Slovakia (connecting Budapest, Hungary, with Vienna, Austria) Kutna Hora, Czech Republic (connecting Prague, Czech Republic, with Vienna, Austria) Montepulciano, Italy (connecting Rome to Florence) The rankings are based on Daytrip’s own booking data, ordered by how frequently each stop was chosen by travelers at the time of booking. Its customers are primarily American, so it reflects US-based preferences. Some stops may also be chosen because travelers need somewhere to stop on a popular route, not just because they’re places those people want to see — in other words, they’re convenient. So while this list doesn’t show the next big destinations, it does at least suggest that the places above are becoming more well known. It’s also based on only a snapshot of bookings for fall 2026, though several of the same destinations have appeared on Daytrip’s past top 10 lists. More like this