Bragança is the capital of the remote Trás-os-Montes region in Portugal's far northeast, about as far from Lisbon as you can get and still be in the country. The city is best known for its magnificent citadel, a walled medieval compound that crowns the hilltop above the modern town. Inside the walls you will find the Castle of Bragança, a pillory, the Domus Municipalis — one of the rarest examples of civic Romanesque architecture in the Iberian Peninsula — and a handful of houses that people still live in. It is one of the most atmospheric fortified towns in Portugal.
Below the citadel, the modern city is small and pleasant, with good restaurants serving the hearty cuisine of the northeast: alheira sausages, feijoada transmontana, and excellent local wines. The Museu Ibérico da Máscara e do Traje holds a fascinating collection of traditional carnival masks from across the Iberian Peninsula. The Montesinho Natural Park begins just north of the city, a wild landscape of rolling hills, oak forests, and stone villages where wolves still roam and traditional ways of life persist more than anywhere else in western Europe. The park is wonderful for hiking and birdwatching if you have your own transport.