Maps of Portugal

Portugal is part of the Iberian Peninsula and, therefore, is a European country. It is divided into 18 districts and, in addition, it has two autonomous archipelagos: Madeira and Azores. In total, the area it occupies reaches 92 km² and its coastline measures 391 km in length.

Below you have an index with all the points that we are going to deal with in this article.

Political map

The political division of Portugal is made up of a total of 18 districtsLisbon being the one with the largest territorial area and, consequently, the largest number of inhabitants.

These districts are:

• Lisbon
• Leiria
• Santarém
• Setúbal
• Beja
• Faro
• Évora
• Portalegre
• Castelo Branco
• Guarda
• Coimbra
• Aveiro
• Viseu
• Braganza
• Vila Real
• Porto
• Braga
• Viana do Castelo

In the sections shown below, we have divided the political map of Portugal into three parts: the north, the center and the south. In this way, it will be easier to view each district, as well as its cities.

North Zone

According to the map below, the northern part of Portugal covers a total of nine districts: Viana do Castelo, Braga, Vila Real, Bragança (Braganza), Porto (Oporto), Aveiro, Viseu Guarda and Coimbra.

Of all of them, the city with the highest number of inhabitants is Porto (Oporto in Portuguese), while the largest in terms of territorial extension is Bragança (Bragança in Portuguese).

In the following table, we show you the territorial extension of each one together with the number of inhabitants and the corresponding cities:

Portugal political map: northern zone

Downtown area

On the map, you can see the area that corresponds to the center of Portugal in administrative terms. Thus, we include here the following six districts: Castelo Branco, Leiria, Santarém, Portalegre, Lisbon and Évora.

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and the most touristy of all, as well as the one with the greatest number of inhabitants, as can be seen in the figures shown in the following table:

Portugal political map: central zone

Zona sur

Finally, in the southern part of Portugal we include three districts: Setúbal, Beja and Faro. The first, Setúbal, is the one with the highest rate of population density, although, however, it is not the most extensive.

These data can be seen in detail in the following table:

Portugal political map: southern zone

Physical map

Located in southwestern Europe, mainland Portugal encompasses 91.951 km², of which a large part corresponds to the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the rest belongs to the two autonomous archipelagos belonging to the Republic of Portugal: Madeira and Azores (440 km² of maritime zone in total).

Since Portugal is located on the Iberian Peninsula, the only border country is Spain, with which it borders to the east and north. To the south and west, it borders the Atlantic Ocean along its 1.783 km of coastline.

As can be seen on the map, the northern territory is especially mountainous in the interior areas, which is very favorable for the development of the primary sector (agriculture). This type of mountainous landscape is known as flat.

As for the southern area (up to the Algarve), the terrain is made up of plains interspersed with some low-lying mountains. Ultimately, the highest point is the Peak Mountain (Pico Mountain, Pico Bridge o Serra do Pico), located in the Azores, whose summit is at an altitude of 2.351 m and is actually active volcano which came into operation for the last time in the XNUMXth century.

Other Azores islands have also had recent volcanic activity, such as the Volcano of the Capelinhos, located on the island of Faial, which last erupted in 1957.

In contrast, the archipelago of Madeira is located on the African plate, making it the most stable region in Portugal in terms of risk of earthquakes. The last volcanic eruption in Madeira took place 6.000 years ago.

As for the coast of Portugal, it includes, apart from the 1.230 km of continental territory, the 667 km of the Azores and the 250 km of Madeira, the Wild Islands (between the Canary Islands and Madeira), the Desertas Islands (located southeast of Madeira) and the island of Porto Santo (northeast of Madeira).

Portuguese beaches are characterized by their great variety of sandy beaches and Cliffs.

Physical map of Portugal with relief in 3D

Highway map

Portugal's road system is divided into highways with exclusively electronic toll collection system (without manual toll), highways and SCUT sections (free or free highways) and highways with conventional toll (manual booths, automatic payment machines, automatic card / money payment lanes and greenway lane).

As for the highways and SCUT sections, they work with the gantry / arch system, that is, electronic toll collection, so only electronic payment is allowed. This means that the toll collection is automatic, that is, the system detects each car when it circulates under the toll gates.

The foreign Those who circulate on these routes have two electronic payment options: on the one hand, pay with an electronic device or adhere to the payment methods for registration recognition.

On the maps shown in the following sections, you can get an idea of ​​which are the main highways in Portugal, as well as which are electronic toll, which are free and which continue to have the conventional toll system.

Portugal-Spain road map

North Zone

The following list shows the electronic toll roads that pass through the north of Portugal:

• North Coast Concession: A28 Viana (Darque) -A41
• Greater Porto: A41 (A28-A42) + A42 (A41-A11) + A4 Custòias-A3
• Prata Coast: A29 Miramar-Estarreja + A17 (Litoral Centro) Mira-Aveiro Stadium + A25 (Beiras Litoral e Alta) Esgueira-Albergaria (A1)
• Interior North: A24 Vila Verde de Raia-Viseu
• Beiras Litoral and Alta: A25 Vilar Formoso-Aveiro

And the following list lists the highways and SCUT sections (free) from the north of the country:

• A28: Vilar de Mouros (Caminha) -Viana
• A28 highway: A41 (km 11) -Oporto (km 0)
• A27: Ponte de Lima (A3) -Viana (A28)
• IP4: Amarante-Spain (except variant of Bragança)
• A24: Spain-Vila Verde de Raia (EN103) / R506
• A25: Spain-Vilar Formoso (EN-332)
• A20: internal regional circular Porto (CRIP)
• A30: Sacavém-Santa Iria de Azóia
• A43: Porto Aguiar de Sousa
• A44: A29-A20

Finally, these are the roads in the north of Portugal that maintain the system of conventional toll:

• A3: Valença-Porto
• A4: from the A3 to Amarante
• A7: Vila de Conde-Vila Pouca de Aguiar
• A11: Barcelos-Penafiel
• A14: Figueira da Foz-Coimbra
• A17: Mira-Leiria

Portugal highway map: north zone

Downtown area

These are the roads that benefit from the electronic toll or electronic tolls that pass through the central area of ​​Portugal:

• Pinhal Interior Concession: A13 / IC3 Atalaia (A23) -Condeixa (N2 / IC2)
• Subconcession AE Transmontana (A4): variant of Bragança
• West Coast Concession: A19 (São Jorge-Azoia) + A8 (variant of Leiria)
• Interior edge: A23 Guarda-Torres Novas
• Lower Yew: A33 (Belverde-Coina)

Instead, the following roads are free circulation or SCUT:

• A29: Miramar (A44, km 47) -A20 (km 53)
• A31: Coimbra variant
• A34: Pombal-A1
• A36: Interior Lisbon regional circular
• A37: Radial of Sintra
• A39: Barreiro fast track
• A40: Radial Odivelas

Finally, the network of highways that maintain the concenvional toll The largest of Portugal is in this area, since it is where Lisbon, the country's capital, is located and, therefore, there are more traditional access roads. These are the roads with a conventional toll system in central Portugal:

• A1: Porto-Lisbon
• A5: Lisbon-Cascais
• A6: Elvas-Lisbon
• A8: Lisbon-Leiria (south)
• A9: Lisbon outer ring road
• A10: Bucelas-Benavente
• A12: Lisbon- Setúbal
• A13: Almeirim- Marateca
• A15: Obidos-Santarem
• A16: Alcabideche-Circular Regional Interior of Lisbon (CRIL)
• A21: Ericeira-A8

Portugal highway map: downtown area

Zona sur

The southern part of Portugal, encompassing only three districts (Setúbal, Beja and Faro) as mentioned above, only two main highways are located, each one of one type.

On the one hand, the stretch Infante of Sagres (Autoestrada do Algarve): A22 Monte Gordo-Lagos, which is an electronic toll; and, on the other hand, the road A22 Spain-Exit N125 / Montegordo, whose circulation is free or of the SCUT type (sem custo for or user).

As for the carts with a conventional toll system, in the southern zone the user can circulate on the A2 in its Albufeira-Lisbon section.

Portugal highway map: southern zone

Hydrographic map

El tagus river (Tejo in Portuguese) is the longest river in the entire Iberian Peninsula. It is born in the Sierra de Albarracín, Teruel (autonomous community of Aragon, Spain), specifically in the so-called Universal Mountains, and travels through Spain in a westerly direction to Lisbon, where it finally empties into the Atlantic Ocean after traveling 1.007 km. The Tagus River divides Portugal into two halves.

Other equally important rivers that originate in Spain are the Duero, Guadiana and My no (Douro, Guadiana y Minho respectively in Portuguese).

The Duero River is born in Fuentes del Duero, Duruelo de la Sierra, Soria, and flows into Oporto. The Guadiana meanwhile runs through the Submeseta Sur to Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), where it heads south until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Finally, the Miño River runs almost entirely through Galicia and forms a natural border between Spain and Portugal in Pontevedra until its mouth once more in the Atlantic.

However, Portugal also has a network of rivers that have their entire course in Portuguese territory, such as the vogue, Mondego, Sado and DigThe latter with its source in the Sierra de Larouco and which runs for 135 km until its mouth in Esposende after passing through Braga and Barcelos.

It is one of the largest rivers in Portugal, so the water resources it stores correspond to almost 30% of the country's total.

As for lagos of Portugal, it is worth mentioning that in Portuguese territory there are no large lakes. However, there are some of glacial origin in the interior of the country, such as the Comprida and the Escura, the latter located in the Sierra de la Estrela, and others belonging to the marshes of Albufeira, Aveiro, Braças, Óbidos and Candle.

Hydrographic map of Portugal and Spain

Archipelagos and islands

In addition to the continental territory located on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal has two autonomous archipelagos. Thus, on the one hand is Madeira, whose location is in Africa; on the other hand, the Azores, which are in the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic Ocean.

In the two sections shown below, we present both archipelagos together with a map of each one.

Azores

The Autonomous Region of the Azores or, simply, Azores is an autonomous archipelago belonging to Portugal that is made up of a total of nine islands located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about 1.400 km off the Lisbon coast, of which São Miguel it is the largest, with its 759 km².

The Azores are part of Macaronesian, a collective term that refers to the five archipelagos found in the North Atlantic (Azores, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, the Wild Islands and Madeira). Like Madeira, they are considered an outermost region of the European Union (EU).

The total area occupied by the nine islands that make up the Azores is 2.333 km².

Actually, these islands are of volcanic origin, a fact that can be observed in the different volcanic cones and craters found in them, such as the Pico volcano, located on the homonymous island, which also constitutes the highest peak in Portugal.

It is considered as a active volcano, since its last eruption took place in 1957 on the island of Faial.

The nine islands that make up the Azores are those mentioned in the following table together with their corresponding municipalities:

Azores (Portugal)

Madeira

The Autonomous Region of Madeira, better known as Madeira and adapted to Spanish as WoodAlthough this term is currently in disuse, it is an autonomous archipelago of Portugal that constitutes an outermost region of the EU.

The archipelago consists of two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, as well as three uninhabited islands that are collectively known as Desertas Islands.

Map of Madeira (Portugal)

Madeira is popularly known as The Pearl of the Atlantic, since it is a leafy island formed by volcanic eruptions that took place thousands of years ago.

This mountainous territory offers multiple options for tourists, such as hiking through Pico Ruivo, the highest peak on the island at 1.800 m high. Its capital, Funchal, offers tourist attractions such as the XNUMXth century Sé Cathedral and the Museu da Quinta das Cruzes, among others.

As for the Porto Santo, is located 40 km from Madeira and stands out for its golden sand beaches. Its capital is Vila Baleira and it is where Christopher Columbus lived, so you can visit the Christopher Columbus Museum.

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