What is there to do in Soajo?
Besides hiking through ancient Roman mountain trails, swimming or diving in cool, clean and crisp rivers, sipping coffee, wine or beer at outdoor cafes, or playing soccer with Soajo's athletic youth, there are a great many attractions within a short drive through the scenic mountain roads.  Soajo is blessed with natural beauty. 
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Soajo is located in the picturesque region of "Alto Minho" (or "upper Minho"). Check out the Região de Turismo do Alto Minho website, which contains lots of useful information about the Alto Minho region. RTAM is dedicated to the promotion of tourism in Alto Minho.
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Check out  VisitPortugal.com for more information about tourism in Alto Minho.

The comforts of home in Soajo
Soajo is a welcoming village.  Many village residents have lived in foreign countries as immigrants and have been exposed to many cultures, languages, religions and people of all backgrounds. In addition to Portuguese, English and French are two of the most widely spoken languages in Soajo. Tourists and visitors are made to feel welcomed in Soajo. In fact, Soajo has been welcoming travelers for centuries. Many travelers have settled in Soajo over the centuries. Although Soajo is a relatively small village with a population of about 1,100 year-round residents, Soajo offers many modern amenities to make a visit comfortable and unforgettable. 

Accommodations & Services
There are three excellent restaurants (Restaurante O Espigueiro de Soajo, Restaurante Saber ao Borralho and Restaurante Videira); four cafe/bars (O Jovem, Casa do Povo, Talho and Capelinha); a bank (Millennium BCP) with 24-hour ATM machine; a medical clinic; pharmacy; a lawyer; two grocery stores; a butcher shop; a general supply store; two bakeries; a pre-school; elementary school; church; a six-room hotel/pousada; and about a dozen vacation rental homes.

Cell phones have excellent reception in Soajo and in surrounding villages and roads.  Inexpensive cell phones can be purchased for as low as $40-$50 (USD) in nearby Arcos de Valdevez. Most phones work on a pay-as-you-go basis. Signing up for a plan is not required. Just buy the phone and add as many minutes as you need. Additional minutes can be added at the local ATM machine in Soajo or at the local grocery store (Mariano's in Carreiras).

Rural Tourism
The village of the Soajo, today with diverse houses of rural village tourism, is a welcoming and relaxing rural vacation destination.  Ecological, rustic, calm, relaxing hiking trails throughout the mountain.  Cows and horses roam the mountains during the summer months.  In the fall, the cows make their way to their owner’s barns.  They all have an innate knowledge of the changing seasons. Perhaps it’s the changing temperature, the reduction of grass on which to feed, or a built-in clock.  Whatever it is, this process has been repeating itself for centuries.  The cows always come home.  

Lodging information
Click here for a link to Casa do Adro, one of Soajo's outstanding Bed and Breakfast Inns.  There are about a dozen other tastefully restored traditional homes which are available as summer rental. Many of these can be rented by contacting the ADERE agency.

Rural tourism is a growing industry in Portugal.  There are about a dozen tastefully restored rustic homes available for rent in Soajo.  Some come with breakfast.  While several are quite small, others are authentic villas.  These homes offer the comforts of modern life, yet provide guests with genuine experience of rural country living.  Almost all have fireplaces, an essential requirement for the winter months. Staying in these homes is a real treat. Waking to the sound of roosters, one really gets to experience life as it was lived for centuries.

 
Soajo's houses are built close to one another creating a real sense of community. The houses are built with granite, with roofs covered by clay tile. This architecture is characteristic of the northern mountain regions of Portugal. The houses are set beside narrow and winding lanes, just wide enough for ox-carts to get by. The lanes are inlaid with stone, which are furrowed due to the heavy ox-cart use throughout the centuries. These rustic stone houses make a tremendous impression. They reveal the hard-work that is at the core of the Soajeiro culture. Their architectural value is clear from the moment visitors stride through the village's narrow lanes. The people ("Soajeiros") are welcoming, family-oriented, hard-working, entrepreneurial, industrious and religious.

 
What to do in Soajo?
Soajo is located in a spectacular part of the country, within the boundaries of Portugal’s largest national park. The mountains are beautiful and massive.  It’s so easy to admire the ancestors who created numerous terraced fields on the side of the mountains, all without the convenience of modern machinery.  Terraced fields can be seen for miles and miles up and down the mountains.  It almost seems that every possible inch of dirt has been cultivated.

 
Nearby Towns
Arcos de Valdevez has all the commercial services and amenities of a typical mid-size city.  There are numerous restaurants, bars, cafes, hospital, banks, car rental and travel agencies, etc. To the northeast of Soajo, approximately a 20 minute drive, is Galicia, Spain. The people of Galicia and Minho are of the same tribe, with nearly identical customs, architecture, and language. A major dam is located 15 minutes from Soajo on the road to the village of Lindoso, which has a castle fortress overlooking the region.

Visitors are Welcomed in Soajo!
Visitors are made to feel at home in Soajo. Soajo has many foreign and domestic travelers come through, especially during the summer months, beginning in mid-June.  Soajo's cultural heritage is an excellent example of mankind's good relationship with nature. Residents still maintain the rural traditional farming heritage. Love of the land remains a strong sentiment in Soajo. During the grape harvesting season (from mid-September to early October) neighbors and families rotate helping one another. As many as 15-20 people will harvest one family's grapes one day and another family's the next day. Women often sing traditional songs while working. These songs can be heard in the distance echoing from all around Soajo's farms. At the end of the day, when the harvesting is completed and grapes crushed, a big feast is hosted by the family whose harvest was completed. These are amazing moments of neighborliness and community that is rarely seen today in the cities around the world.

Visitors can still enjoy the quietness of the environment and the countryside, as well as the peacefulness of the rural folkloric tunes. Soajo is famous for its communitarian grain threshing-ground surrounded by 24 stone granaries (Espigueiros) standing on a granite mound overlooking the village, located next to the village's elementary school. The oldest espigueiro dates back to 1782. These granite monuments are recognized throughout Portugal as a national patrimony. Two religious crosses rest on the top of each Espigueiro, reflecting Soajo's strong Catholic faith. The crosses are used to protect and bless the grain.  These stone monuments were built at a time when corn started to be grown on a regular basis and were used for the protection of grains from storms and rodents. Some of these Espigueiros are still used by farmers.

Soajo's population of about 1,100 year-round residents is aging rapidly. Soajo's young men and women have been emigrating for centuries, but the heaviest loss came in the 1960's and 70's. Soajo's population nearly doubles in August when Soajeiros return to celebrate the "Festas", which is a three-day religious celebration featuring a procession of various Catholic saints, followed by concerts, music, dancing, athletic competitions, drinking and socializing.  Like many other villages throughout northern Portugal, Soajo has experienced a huge level of emigration to countries throughout Europe, North America, South America and Africa

Click here for access to foreign embassies and consulates located in Portugal.