For World Wine Tourism Day the Nelas producers throw their cellar doors open across a weekend, with a free guided-visit programme on the Saturday afternoon alongside the walk-in Portas Abertas tastings.
Tip: The guided visits are free but have to be booked; the open cellars themselves take walk-ins across both days of the weekend.
Address: Praça do Município, 3520-001 Nelas, Portugal, Dão
Nelas has run the region's producer fair since 1991 in the Praça do Município: four days of stands, commented tastings and the Grande Prémio Engenheiro Alberto Vilhena wine competition.
Tip: The competition is judged on the opening Thursday and the winning wines are poured on the Saturday. Commented tastings need booking and sell out first.
Viseu's annual fair traces to a royal charter of 10 January 1392 and now runs about a month across a 75,000 square metre ground, with hundreds of exhibitors, concerts and regional food and wine stands.
Tip: The 2026 edition ran from 6 August to 6 September. Paid nights are the concert nights; go on a free afternoon if you want the exhibitor halls to yourself.
Nelas has run the region's producer fair since 1991 in the Praça do Município: four days of stands, commented tastings and the Grande Prémio Engenheiro Alberto Vilhena wine competition.
Tip: The competition is judged on the opening Thursday and the winning wines are poured on the Saturday. Commented tastings need booking and sell out first.
The regional commission opens the Solar do Vinho do Dão in the Fontelo for an afternoon of free and commented tastings, regional food and the awards of the Melhores Vinhos do Dão no Produtor competition.
Tip: Entry is free and the tasting glass costs 5 euros. Commented flights start at 15h30 in the Sala da Lareira and have to be booked ahead.
Two outdoor days at the Solar do Vinho do Dão pouring 200 wines from 20 producers, with speed tastings, lab talks on vineyard biodiversity and precision viticulture, food stands and a children's area.
Tip: The 2026 edition ran on 27 and 28 June from 14h30. Speed tastings and lab talks have limited places and are booked separately from entry.
The regional commission's competition awards evening. The 2026 edition handed out 43 distinctions at the Museu do Vinho e das Artes in Santar, from one best wine and five platinum medals down to gold and silver.
Tip: Morgado de Silgueiros Touriga Nacional 2023 took best wine in 2026; the medal list published afterwards is the most useful shopping guide the region produces.
A village harvest festival in Oliveira do Conde, the Terras de Senhorim parish that holds Quinta das Marias and Quinta do Cerrado, closing the streets around the pelourinho for four days in mid September.
Tip: The 2026 edition ran 11 to 14 September. Park outside the village: the municipality closes nine streets around the pelourinho for the duration.
Portas Abertas, World Wine Tourism Day in Nelas runs 7 to 8 November. These are the wine tours and tastings in Dão to book for the days around it; most cancel free up to 24 hours ahead.
After hotel pickup in Coimbra, we take direction to activity start in Viseu. Day dedicated to bicycle touring on an old railway branch that has 130 years of transpor...