The company Eurowings, which belongs to the German group Lufthansa, will start operating between Porto and Munich after inaugurating the flights to Düsseldorf.
Lufthansa, which for several years has been providing an authentic airlift between Porto and its main hub (Frankfurt), started this year the Porto-Munich route, for the first time, along with the offer of the parent company, there are also low-cost flights. Following an ongoing restructuring, Germanwings was rebranded to Eurowings, an airline which also belonged to the German group.
Porto, which recently received the news that Air France and KLM, French and Dutch companies, would fly from Porto to Paris (Charles de Gaulle) and Amsterdam, respectively, will now be served by one more company with flights to one of the most important airports in Central Europe.
365 days a
year, in summer or winter, night or day, on the islands or on the continent, you’ll
find absolutely everything happening here in Portugal – non-stop!
Major
international sports events, prestigious art exhibitions, religious and popular
festivities, music, film, gastronomy and wine festivals, theater or dance
performances, fashion parades… everything you could possibly want to see,
experience, explore and discover is here in Portugal… waiting for you!
In 2017,
give free rein to all of your wishes and desires and come and discover Portugal, a
country that never stops. We guarantee you’ll enjoy everything we’ve been
keeping in store just for you.
Lagos Municipal Council will welcome the new year with the music of one of Portugal’s best bands – Xutos e Pontapés, who will ensure a lively evening full of good vibrations!
Once again New Year’s Eve in Albufeira, Algarve, will feature shows for all tastes, with plenty of color and entertainment pretty much everywhere in the municipality.
If there’s a place to come and celebrate life, then that place is Madeira. As each year draws to a close, the end is commemorated of yet another cycle of 365 days that have been lived as intensely as our memory allows us to recall.
The Christian traditions of Christmas time combine with the displays of rejoicing at the arrival of the New Year, in a rich and extensive programme of cultural, ethnographic and artistic events that continue throughout the month of December and carry on till Twelfth Night.
The specific conditions of Funchal’s naturally-formed amphitheatre transform it into a giant crib lit by the thousands of lights placed up and down the city’s main avenues, resulting in a most extraordinary scenario. Allow yourself to be tempted by the wares in the shops of Funchal and give yourself up to the frenzied activity of shopping. Here you can buy anything from the latest international brands to the most diverse handicraft articles. Funchal is like a giant outdoor shopping centre.
An island in festival, both at the hotels and in the restaurants, bars and streets, where, in order to mark the transition to the New Year, the skies of Funchal are lit up with a gigantic firework display that lasts for a good ten minutes. This is undoubtedly the dawning of a whole new life! Find more information at: - http://fimdoano.visitmadeira.pt/ - https://www.visitportugal.com/new-year-madeira
After 4 successful editions of this UCI Off Road Stage Race, Associação Club BCF the organiser from this event will have for 2017 the cooperation of the Algarve Tourism Department. This top quality and high level event will be elevated to an even higher level! In 2017 the race will take place in Tavira from 3rd to 5th of March. For 2017 the Race will be again included in the UCI calendar in order to dare both leisure, ambitious amateur riders and elite world class pro riders.
The host city will remain the historical and beautifull Tavira, the perfect scenery for a bike event offering history, culture, marvellous landscapes, diversity of the terrain in his geography and orography, quality of the epic courses, excellence of the food and accomodation but also the safety and all the details prepared by the organiser of the Algarve Bike Challenge committed to offer a unique and special bike experience.
Algarve Bike Challenge is a mountain bike stage race and it will run from 03rd to 05th of March 2017. Subscriptions will open on August 30th 2016.
The event will have the UCI S2 race for Elite UCI riders and the Open Race for all riders federated and non federated over 19 years old. On the Open Race teams will race under a specific reglament.
In the UCI Race it will have 2 categorioes Men and Women. To the Open Race it will be available 6 different categories including Mixed Category. Classifications will be made with the time of the second member at the finish line every day. The addition of times on each stage establishes the general classification. This concept is a surplus in endurance races, stimulating team spirit. Effort management and risk assessment are also important factors in this kind of stage race.
This event offers the best services for the performance and comfort of participants and also itineraries of genuine mountain bike.
The structure of this Race will provide everything that is necessary from water, food, accommodation, technical support while riders care only about their passion, RIDING A BIKE!
The Event will be hosted in the marvellous and historical city of Tavira starting with a Night Prologue on the historical town centre lighted by his natural light and ancient torches.
On the day after, Saturday, will be raced the Queen stage. Riders will start from Tavira town centre toward north to the Sierra de Tavira. Alcaria do Cume 500 metres above sea level will mark this stage.
The 2nd stage will be a little shorter with plenty of fun and single tracks.. Riders will ride on Serra do Caldeirão. The landscape, terrain characteristics will be totally different from the first stage.
In order to fullfill this unforgetable weekend riders can choose to accomodate in one of the 3 amazing 4star official hotels exclusively for the race. On all Hotels it will be provided mechanical assistance, sport massages, 24H Secure Bike Park and a lounge area.
The arrival of the decorative lights in the streets of the city centre of Funchal, during the month of December, sets the beginning of the Madeira Christmas and End of the Year Festivities programme.
These festivities culminate with the famous fireworks show, officially recognised in 2006 by the Guinness Book of Records, as the largest fireworks show in the world.
These commemorations consist of a rich and extensive programme of cultural, religious, ethnographic and artistic manifestations that take place throughout the entire month of December, an event that culminates on January,8th.
Find out more about what to expect from Christmas and New Year Festivities in Madeira December 23rd Market Night is held on December 23rd, when Madeirans do their last-minute Christmas shopping and it is in this hustle and bustle that the spirit of the “Festivity” can best be felt, the nickname given by the Madeirans to identify Christmas. The inhabitants move towards the Farmers' Market where the surrounding streets, which are closed to traffic, are occupied by various points of sale opened throughout the night. They have varied local products such as flowers, shrubs, fruits, vegetables, sweets, wine-and-garlic meat sandwiches and typical drinks, such as poncha. At nightfall the biggest attraction of the day begins, a traditional Christmas carols show, where locals take on the role of true artists. Also the participation of music bands and folklore groups helps to maintain the atmosphere of celebration and fun until dawn.
December 28th
Organised by the Madeira Athletics Association, the Funchal Road Race is one of the oldest sports events of its kind in Portugal and Europe. This race that has attracted innumerable national and international athletes to the island, brings lots of adrenaline and excitement to the Madeiran capital.
December 31st
The fireworks show lasts for about eight minutes and is distributed by several fireworks stations in the Funchal amphitheatre, the waterfront, the city centre, the sea and one station on Porto Santo Island.
This grand spectacle that is one of Madeira’s most important tourist events, was internationally recognised in 2006 by the Guinness Book of Records as "The largest fireworks show in the World".
January 5th
On the evening of January 5th to 6th the Twelfth Night songs are sung in the neighbours’ houses, a little throughout the region. It is this spirit that seeks to recreate the popular tradition of the Madeiran traditional songs that were made on this day, door to door, in various localities of the ARM, which the Association of the Casas do Povo of the Autonomous Region of Madeira organises and produces in the Auditorium of the Municipal Garden of Funchal, the musical show “Cantar os Reis” ( The Twelfh nights songs).
Other initiatives included in the programme:
Childbirth Masses
Christmas begins with the "Missas do Parto" (childbirth masses) starting December 16th and ending on Christmas Eve, with the midnight mass. The "Missas do Parto" - the novenas - are nine in total and are celebrate early in the morning. After the mass, believers gather in the churchyard to hear the chanting, accompanied by groups of strings, accordions and castanets, with no shortage of the “despiques”, which are followed by the snack with spirits, liqueurs and cakes.
In some parishes of Madeira such as Câmara de Lobos and Camacha, the tradition of philharmonic bands is maintained, accompanied by other instruments, such as castanets, bass drums, braguinhas or accordions, of going door to door, in a joyful symphony, to awaken its locals and rush them to this typical ritual of our land.
