Photo tour Astro Portugal

An 8-day photography tour through the Portuguese inland will treat you to enchantingly beautiful astrophotography locations! Startrails and the Milky Way… a true photographic spectacle!

What highlights are you going to see in eight days?

• Starting and ending point Lisbon, with the famous Vasco da Gama bridge
• The inland of Portugal with its typical menhir 'Megalithic' stones, olive groves, and vineyards.
• Various ruins and dolmens that provide a perfect backdrop for astrophotography
• A visit to the Lago Alqueva Observatory
• An optional boat trip on the beautiful lake, located near Monsaraz
• Bonus: we continuously focus on the right conditions for the Milky Way and star circles, which are incredibly beautiful to photograph in Portugal!

Participants:

• There is a minimum of 3 participants and a maximum of 6 participants.

Date:

• Date: August 9th until August 16th - 2026

Price:

• Costs: 2395 euro p.p.
• Extra cost for single cabin: upon request. Send me a message and I’ll get back to you.

Heavyness of the trip

• ***** this trip is suitable for everyone with normal health

Extra personal cost:

• Depending on your spending pattern, you can count on 40 euros a day

Included:

• Transportation during the tour in a van
• Parking fee and petrol
• All nights, based on a shared room
• Swimming pool at the accommodation
• Various landscape, astro & night photography workshops
• Rating and feedback on your best photos
• Demonstration and reference in video and ebook, about post-processing in Lightroom & Photoshop
• Milky Way photography with a startracker

Excluded:

• Transport or (international) flight to Lissabon
• Meals, drinks and personal expenses
• Optional boat trip Monsaraz
• Travel insurances

Throughout the journey, you can capture photos at your own pace and relish in all the beauty Portugal has to offer. There's no time pressure, and our professional guidance is readily available. In case of less favorable lighting conditions for photography, we'll visit locations that are less dependent on it. This round trip is an experience you won't soon forget!

If you’re interested in another workshop, please have a look here. Or maybe you’re more into photography tours? Then check out our photo trips and tours. Of lees over diverse nieuws items en fotografietips.

Travelmarks photography.. your experience! Till clicks!

A carefully curated route through Portugal awaits you. A welcome change from the inland and the hunt for the Milky Way, and a welcome respite during the day. Be amazed by the natural beauty, the historic ruins, and the spectacular menhirs inland! A filled memory card guaranteed.

Day 1

Arrival day in Lisbon. After checking in at our accommodation, we'll get acquainted and walk through the photography tour. In the evening, we'll head out to photograph Lisbon's iconic landmark: the Vasco da Gama Bridge!

Day 2 & 3

After a hearty breakfast, we set course for the inland of Portugal. This is a completely different world, one that is undoubtedly rewarding for astrophotography. We visit the Atalaia da Cabeca Magra and the Castle of Noudar, which serve as a backdrop for the Milky Way and star circles.

During the day, we'll provide inspiring explanations about astrophotography and show you how to take photos with a Startracker. There's also plenty of room to cool off in our on-site pool.

Day 4 & 5

We move to a new accommodation, where the pool awaits us. And, of course, to a new environment with new foregrounds for the Milky Way and startrails. We visit the Menir do Outeiro and also the Observatório do Lago Alqueva to get a good impression of the impressive and endless astronomical world above us.

Inland, there are numerous olive groves and vineyards whose interplay of lines makes them challenging to photograph. The same goes for the "lonely trees," which are spectacularly beautiful at sunset. On the fifth day, you have the opportunity to take a relaxing boat trip on the beautiful lake at Monsaraz.

Day 6 & 7

We still have so much beauty to explore, which is promising. We have two dolmens for you that would make a perfect foreground subject. Naturally, we'll capture them under the best astronomical conditions. The Aldeia da Mata Dolmen and the Menir Meada are in the open and are perfectly suited.

Even at our final accommodation, we offer plenty of peace and quiet for your own leisure time or a refreshing dip in the pool. And of course, our guides are on hand to answer all your questions and guide you through the post-processing of the Milky Way and the merging of the startrails.

Day 8

All good things come to an end. After an exciting week packed with photography and impressions, our return trip is scheduled for today. Depending on our flight schedule, we'll naturally use the time available to capture the last few images. We'll pamper ourselves one last time before saying goodbye for our return flight.

Guidance:

Joost Smeets photography guide at Travelmarks-photography

“Photography is capturing the beauty of life.”

Joost Smeets is a 41-year-old passionate semi-professional landscape photographer from the Netherlands, currently based in Nazaré, Portugal. After a long creative break, he rekindled his love for photography in 2021 — and hasn’t looked back since.

For Joost, photography is more than just taking a picture. It’s about the entire journey: preparing the gear, traveling, finding the perfect moment and location, immersing himself in nature, and finally seeing the result displayed on someone’s wall. Every photograph tells its own story. Beyond the artistic aspect, photography also serves a therapeutic purpose. Nature brings peace, calms the mind, and relieves stress — a quiet power that’s reflected in his work.

Practical information:

• We will meet in Lisbon at a time and location to be determined.
• If you have any food allergies or diets, please inform me about this.
• Non-photographing partners are more than welcome to join.
• During this diverse program, you’ll also have a lot of free time.
• Together we decide which workshops to do.
• Portugal uses the Euro and no visa is required.
• This trip includes the land package, but we are of course happy to advise and assist you with booking flight tickets.

Climate

The time of year means that temperatures are pleasant and the sky is often clear, which is welcome for spectacular photos. On Climate information contains useful information

Accommodations

We stay in neat hotels that are booked upon confirmation based on availability.

• STO Garant

This booking is covered by the STO Garant guarantee. You can find the conditions for this guarantee scheme at www.sto-garant.nl/en/downloads. You will receive an email from STO Garant (info@sto-garant.nl) containing information about how you can pay for this booking. You will receive a confirmation email from STO Garant for each payment received. You can find all information relating to STO Garant at www.sto-garant.nl/en.

• VvKR

I am a member of the association of small-scale travel organizations (VvKR). VvKR defends the interests of small, often specialist, travel organizations. Via VvKR we combine our strengths and share our expertise in order to achieve the reatest possible certainty and satisfaction for both consumers and the travel organization. 

• Travelife

Travelmarks Photography covers more than 100 criteria, related to a travel company's office management, product offerings, international business partners and customer information. The Travelife standard covers ISO 26000 corporate social responsibility topics, including environment, biodiversity, human rights and industrial relations; and is formally recognized as fully compliant with the UN supported Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria.

• Trees for all

Samen geven we een groene en gezonde aarde door! Bomen zijn hét middel tegen klimaatverandering. Trees for All plant bomen in Nederland en het buitenland en compenseert CO2-uitstoot. Onze missie is om wereldwijd nieuw bos te planten en bestaande bossen te beschermen via duurzame bosprojecten. En jij plant mee! Voor elk individu die mee op reis gaat, laat Travelmarks-photography een nieuwe boom planten. Voor ons zijn bomen geen goed doel, maar een noodzakelijk doel! Bossen zijn één van onze grootste bondgenoten in de strijd tegen klimaatverandering.