GUIMARÃES
FREE TOUR

If you’re looking for the best of Guimarães in one day, our Guimarães Free Tour is definitely the best tour for you. This free tour is a great intro to this surprising city and you’ll get to see Guimarães’ historical center most important sites in one single tour. Take Guimarães free walking tour will take you through 3.000 years of history showing you the unmissable Guimarães and offering you dozens of local tips and plenty of things to do in Guimarães. We’ll start our free tour in front of the church of Nossa Senhora da Consolação e Santos Passos, known locally as the church of São Gualter, the Franciscan monk that came to Portugal in 1217 and lived and died in this charismatic city. Did you know that there is a battle fought with flowers in Guimarães? It is one of the Festas Gualterianas’ main attractions held every year in August; the festivities celebrate saint Gualter’s life. Your guide will take you through the streets outside the walls to visit very special places like the São Francisco church and the astonishing Zona dos Couros where we can see ancient containers where leather workers used to dye and soften the leather. As we approach Largo do Toural, our guide will reveal to you the story behind "Aqui Nasceu Portugal" (Portugal Was Born Here) written in the defense tower. As we cross these walls, we’ll venture into the very heart of the city, Guimarães historical center.  The centro histórico of Guimarães takes you back to the birth of the nation and is filled with very narrow picturesque streets and quiet medieval public squares. One of this squares is the unforgettable Largo da Oliveira where the beautiful gothic shrine of Padrão do Salado stands right in front of the Nossa Senhora da Oliveira church. Why was the Salado shrine built? What is the secret behind the church? These and many other questions will be revealed by your guide as we venture deeper inside the old city and its medieval atmosphere.   As we approach Guimarães castle by ways of the astonishing Rua de Santa Maria we will now know the tales of the brave countess Mumadona Dias back in the 10th century and the fearless King of Pegu, an historical figure of the Portuguese Discovery Age that many locals never heard of. Guimarães’ centro histórico is rich with classical and medieval legends and we still have many more to tell as we go by the Paço dos Duques de Bragança and the church of São Miguel do Castelo. At the top of Mount Lalito (known as the sacred hill) stands the castle of Guimarães built a thousand years ago, a holy place that invokes mythical battles, ancient legends and even grand poems.  This is without question the city’s best walking tour and as you can see we go by many of the must see places to visit in Guimarães. You will also be rewarded by our guide’s top things to do in Guimarães and some suggestions to enjoy the rest of your day. Take our Guimarães Free Walking Tour so you make take many meaningful memories of Guimarães back home.