When imagining Portugal, there are many desirable destinations that might spring to mind for the first-time visitor, or even for the ardent Lusophile.

There is Lisbon, the iconic capital, departure point for many seaborne expeditions that would take the fabled Portugese Navigators around the globe; Oporto, another coastal powerhouse with its often hilly city streets, surrounding Douro valley and world-renowned Ports and underrated vinho tinto vineyards; Faro and the Algarve with its promise of sunshine and relaxation, and an hour’s flight from the Portuguese mainland, the floral beauty and sensory overwhelm that is the island of Madeira.

With these familiar ideas in mind, it is perhaps unsurprising that Braga, the nation’s third-largest city, hidden away inland in north Portugal, goes relatively unnoticed – but you may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Settled for millennia, Braga was an important centre of commerce for the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula, and indeed its Latin name Bracara Augusta hails from the title bestowed by the eponymous Roman emperor. Nowadays there are ancient ruins to explore just a short walk from the city centre, and the foundations remain of a long-vanished pillared structure at the back of trendy tapas restaurant BRAC.

Braga was influenced by the Celts, just like northern neighbour Galicia, but it is the more recent Catholicism of the region that has left Braga, similar to Galician city Santiago de Compostela, as an essential stopping point for religious pilgrims in the modern day.

With less than 150,000 people, Braga boasts some 300 churches, and a cathedral.

After navigating the Baroque staircases leading to Bom Jesus do Monte, the magnificent Basilica set atop the south-eastern slopes of the city, and quite often a glamorous wedding venue, foodies and hungry travellers alike can descend again and choose from a range of restaurants and cafes offering the multicultural cuisines you would expect of a city.

Beware, though, that in keeping with the gastronomy of much of southern Europe and Latin America, Braga’s residents clearly have a carnivorous taste, with prices for steak and cured meat platters ranging from place to place. For seafood lovers, Braga folk enjoy bacalhau – dried and often salted cod fish – prepared in hundreds of different ways as desired, and Camarão (prawns) in various recipes.

There are, however, two vegetarian restaurants, Anjo Verde on Rua do Souto being the best known among locals, with the usual international choices from India, China, Italy and more than one Japanese option available. The Singhs’ thematically-titled Indian Tandoori Restaurant is an unwitting but quality haven for any veggie food enthusiasts.

Braga has a reputation in Portugal for being a generally young city in Portuguese terms, with a vibrant student scene at the city’s Universidade do Minho. Sporadic outbursts of impassioned chanting and singing rings around the residential campus area’s cafes and bars, but like the rest of the city the atmosphere and intention is friendly, if a little more lively.

It was partly for this reason that Braga was named Ibero-American Youth Capital in 2016 - and next year it will be the European City of Sport.

The main sport, football, like across Portugal, runs through the veins of the Braga people, and the city’s professional club SC Braga has punched above its weight in Europe in recent years. The Guerreiros do Minho, or Warriors of Minho, referring to the Roman conquerors who marauded across the region in days of antiquity, is the current national cup holder, as well as regular ‘best of the rest’ behind the country’s traditional Big Three clubs, Sporting and Benfica, both from Lisbon, and FC Porto. Futsal, the famed five-a-side variant that has produced many eventual football greats from the Lusophone world, is played casually on concrete and dusty wasteland, as well as professionally.

Even if not a sports fan, the club’s home ground, Estadio Municipal, is a genuinely interesting stadium, skilfully built on a hillside in the south of the city in preparation for Portugal’s hosting of the European football championships in 2004, with a minimalist but somehow artistic concrete structure on the inside, and only two stands, situated facing each other, overlooking the pitch. It is an architectural anomaly; completing the special ambience is a rough rock face which, sat slightly higher, overlooks the stadium and makes for one of the most naturally atmospheric grounds in Europe - and well worth a stadium tour.

Music is also important in this corner of Portugal, with fado, the inherently sad singing and guitar strumming of Portuguese men and women of all ages, reverberating around the city centre’s venerable stone buildings on weekend afternoon performances, reflecting the state of saudade, an untranslatable emotional term referring to a great national longing, perhaps for past glories, or for those who left the country for foreign shores, as hundreds of thousands did during the 1950s and ‘60s. Even the statues and the paintings to be found, of famous religious and cultural figures, have melancholic faces, and bear something of a collective burden of circumstance on their shoulders.

There is, though, so much to admire about the people of north Portugal, who live and work in an area which has suffered badly through economic hardship in recent years; they are humble, pleasant, and always ready to help disoriented visitors find their way.

Back on the historical trail, Braga’s Sé Cathedral is an unsurprisingly striking city centre structure, and one can only imagine its importance as the focal point of Braga’s immediately surrounding Old City. The aforementioned Bom Jesus do Monte should be explored too, and outside the city, 10 to 15 minutes’ drive away, and accessible by bus, is the monastery of Tibaes, where those seeking to reconnect with north Portugal of the past can walk its stone corridors, listen to a detailed (multilingual) audio tour with numbered cues, and peruse the living quarters of the Benedictine monks of centuries past who lived, ate, prayed, meditated - and spent sunny evenings playing chess on the balcony - together. It is a place of genuine tranquillity, of organic noise, allowing visitors to distance themselves from the present and consider lives that were led in a dramatically different guise.

There is a final, but nonetheless key, aspect to consider before any trip - the weather. Braga is situated in a valley so it means that while temperatures in the twenties are totally normal in January, when the rain arrives, it is likely to be on for a few hours, or the whole day. Temperatures reach into the high thirties and break into the forties on rare occasions in summer months, so springtime, or into September and October, when basking in mid-twenties sunshine and enjoying a scenic walk or a glass of the region’s red wine with your evening meal, will be a pleasure for those visitors who don’t like it too hot.

With Porto international airport highly accessible to European travellers, and just 40 minutes away by shuttle bus from Braga station, it is a place where those looking for a new and convenient city break, for hidden history, sport, Iberian food and drink, or general tranquillity reminding us of a Europe long since vanished, can easily make their pilgrimage.

Destination: Braga, North Portugal.

How to get there: Fly from Edinburgh Int’l to Porto Francisco Sa Carneiro airport. Twice-weekly service with Ryanair, Tuesdays and Saturdays. Avg. price £70 return. Shuttle buses throughout the day from terminal exit to Braga city centre, 40 minutes’ drive - £8 a ticket.

Where to stay

Hotel Melia Braga is the city’s top hotel. Five-star, with the spa treatments and pool access that goes with it. Prices from £75 per room per night before add-ons. A 30-minute walk to the steps of Bom Jesus do Monte.

Hotel Senhora A Branca is located in the city’s Avenida Central, with prices from £45 per night. Restaurants, cafes, sights and shopping are nearby.

Hotel Mercure, a solid option as a business or holiday hotel. Breakfast buffet available before heading to Sé Cathedral. Prices from £50-60 per room per night.

What to do Bom Jesus do Monte is perhaps the most famous church in Portugal. A place of religious pilgrimage and a popular spot for surveying the city.

Estadio Municipal, Braga – take a taxi for €5 or walk 30 minutes from the town centre. Take in a stadium tour, or an SC Braga match match from €10 per ticket. Architecture and atmosphere.

Braga Sé Cathedral – a vision of old Portugal, and a truly beautiful structure.