Discover 5 Amazing Locations through a Summer Camp Adventure Experience In Portugal
Our summer camps offer once in a lifetime experiences to young people from around the world, and part of what makes them so fantastically fun is the amazing locations your children will get the chance to visit.
From historic cities, to sun baked coasts and the stunning landscapes of Portugal’s only national park, our Unicamp Porto serves as a perfect base to explore this wonderful country.
But on top of all this culture and adventure, your children will also be picking up invaluable skills, with a particular focus on English, including 15 comprehensive lessons a week on the campus of one of Europe’s top universities.
With that in mind, let’s discover just five of the amazing locations we’ll be venturing to this summer.
Porto
The historic capital of northern Portugal, Porto, is famous for its stunningly preserved architecture, stately bridges and historic centre – in fact, the latter is a UNESCO world heritage site.
Inhabited since the Roman Era, the northern region in which Porto sits is where the country itself first came together, as southern provinces joined the burgeoning Kingdom of Portugal in the 12th century.
Though not relevant to your children, although interesting all the same, Porto is also the home to the sweet, full bodied dessert wine known in English as Port.
With our base at the University of Porto situated right in the city centre, we’re surrounded by history. Your children will be embarking on a (supervised) quest through the cobbled streets, hopping from era to era as they pass the Bolsa Palace, the imposing Porto Cathedral and stately Luis I Bridge.
In fact, we’ll be travelling by boat under the six bridges that cross the dramatic Douro River as it makes its way from the city limits to the Atlantic Ocean, meeting the land with beach after beach of golden sand.
Braga
Braga, like Porto, is another city with Roman pedigree. Founded by the emperor Augustus himself, it is one of the oldest in Portugal, but remains a vibrant and exciting place to visit.
Its 12th century cathedral is one of the oldest in the country, and every summer the São João Festival offers lively summer celebrations in reverence of St. John the Baptist.
Nearby the city proper, the crisscrossing steps of the Bom Jesus do Monto sanctuary appear out of the landscape. Once these stairs are summited (and there is an elevator as well!) you’re greeted with stunning views of the old city, and surrounded by beautiful gardens which make their way back down the wooded hillside.
But it’s not just about looking at wonderful things. Our ‘excursion in English’ to this exciting city will allow your children to refine their listening comprehension skills, a vital part of language acquisition.
They’ll also be picking up a bit of Portuguese as well (a language with over 200 million speakers), and not just from their experience in the country, but with five dedicated lessons a week.
Averio, the ‘Venice of Portugal’, is renowned for (you guessed it) its beautiful canals, complete with cheerfully decorated gondolas. Like Venice, it’s adjacent to an expansive lagoon giving the area a unique landscape.
But for us, this colourful coastal city is also the site of an exciting quest. Our camp participants will be split into teams of ten where they’ll embark on supervised exploration of the city, completing challenges and answering tricky cultural questions which will test their knowledge of English and the day’s adventurous exploits.
Around 70 km from Porto – though along a very direct route – this excursion will make up an exciting half day in your child’s Portuguese adventure.
Guimarães
Guimarães, about 40 km away from our basecamp, shares at least one distinguishing feature with the city of Porto: its historic centre is also a UNESCO world heritage site.
This city of 150,000 people holds extraordinary reverence in the eyes of the patriotic Portuguese. The city of Guimarães is often called Cidade Berço, the ‘cradle city’: the birthplace of the first Portuguese king, and the place where the nation itself is said to have begun.
Our participants will be able to experience the still living past in some of the best preserved medieval architecture in the world, including the 10th century Guimarães Castle, a national monument, standing tall after 1000 years on a hilltop a stone’s throw from the city centre.
So far we’ve covered four historic, dynamic cities each with exciting activities of their own. But what about the great outdoors? What about the only national park in Portugal?
Peneda-Gerês National Park, though often simply known as Gerês, is a protected area of landscape stretching for just under 700 square kilometres in Portugal’s extreme north.
It’s a biologically diverse, historically important, extremely beautiful trove of craggy hills, fast flowing streams and pine forests, and may be traversed along still standing roman milestones.
Our walking tour of this UNESCO recognised biosphere is just one of the many activities we’ve designed to allow your child to get in touch with the natural world, taking in the many varieties of flora and fauna, and perhaps even spotting creatures that are completely unique to Portugal and Spain.
We hope to inspire all our participants with the wonder of nature, expanding their knowledge and understanding of how the world works around them, and the relationship we have with our environment.
What else is there to explore on an amazing summer camp in Portugal?
We’ve covered stunning architecture, beautiful canals, awesome natural landscapes and even the birthplace of an entire nation. And we’re just getting started.
Our Porto Unicamp takes full advantage of this historic country, with days jam packed with excitement and activity, all in the service of teaching your child essential skills that will help them to get ahead in later life.
And not just English – we’ll be dipping into history, biology, architecture, sport. Invaluable social skills like teamwork and building friendships. We hope to leave all of our participants with a head full of knowledge and happy memories.
Want to find out more about Summer English Camp? All the information you need is right here on our website!
