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Winding navigable canals, picturesque fondamenti lined with pastel-hue buildings, and impossibly narrow alleys that lead to hidden piazzas with ornate fountains… there’s many a reason why you should visit the floating city of Venice.

At the same time, there are many why you should avoid it altogether:

Think of the jaw-dropping prices, with hotels in the historic center averaging $251 a night, or the overcrowding––and by that, we mean you simply can’t walk around the historic center without brushing shoulders with strangers.

That’s without factoring in the blatant anti-tourism policies, from the restriction of short-term rentals, to the introduction of a new ticketing system for day trippers.

Fortunately for crowd-wary, budget-conscious travelers, there’s a lesser-known Venice dupe all the way out west in Portugal, also traversed by a grand canal and famous for its richly-decorated gondolas:

Did You Know There Even Is A Portuguese Venice?

Aveiro boasts a high concentration of Art Nouveau architecture, skinny edifices draped in colorful tiles, and magnificent Baroque churches, but then again, this could be used to describe any other Portuguese city.

Its distinctive feature is the fact that it’s built on a lagoon, connected to the Atlantic Ocean by means of passing waterways, and it’s essentially born out of seaweed harvesting:

As the settlement grew over the centuries, and Aveiro’s exports grew bigger, a number of water-filled passageways were constructed to provide workers with easier access, from their place of residence to the harvesting hotspots.

These manmade canals are precisely why Aveiro is known as the ‘Portuguese Venice‘.

How Do Aveiro And Venice Compare?

Now, we won’t lie to you and tell you that’s a perfect comparison: there’s truly no other city like Venice in the world, built on a sheltered lagoon over oak-pile reinforced swamp isles and absent of streets and wheeled traffic.

Aveiro has navigable canals, but traffic runs alongside them, and unlike Venice, which has too many of those to count, its Portuguese equivalent has three main waterways.

Though they are not as numerous, but one could argue they’re equally scenic, especially with the colorful barcos moliceiros, the Portuguese gondolas, that travel around them––you can even take a canal tour for as cheap as $15.94.

Shall we remind you again how much those will cost you in the actual Venice?

Additionally, Aveiro rarely ever feels crowded, except for a handful of peak summer days, and even then, most of the visitors hail from other parts of Portugal or just neighboring Spain:

It’s yet to catch the gaze of most prying Instagrammers who are looking for the next European hidden gem or guided tour.

Other than charming canals and a timeless townscape, Aveiro is popular for its landmark cathedral, featuring a whitewashed bell tower, and delicious cuisine:

Great Food At Cheap Prices

It is the birthplace of ovos moles, a well-loved Portuguese sweet treat rivaling the world-renowned pastel de nata, made with pure egg yolks and sugar only––if you’re asking us, the best ones are served at this bakery called M1882, open e very day except Sunday.

Unless you’re vegan, make sure you add Tasquinha do Leitao to your list of restaurants to check out: they have the best roasted suckling pigs in town, presented with orange slices, and prices are more than reasonable.

Expect to pay around $14-16 for a main dish and a glass of local wine.

For sea beam and the signature Portuguese salted codfish bathed in olive oil and accompanied with baby potatoes, Necas’ House is the place to go, and if seafood’s the way to your heart, you can’t leave Aveiro without sampling some of Palhuça’s market-sourced squid and prawns.

Where To Stay In Aveiro This Spring

Looking for somewhere to stay in the heart of the Old Town, within walking distance to both the canal front and the train station?

The aptly named Veneza Hotel has nightly rates starting from an acceptable $72 this April, and in case you don’t mind splurging a little—if $104-a-night can even be considered a splurge at all—the 4-star, canal-lining Hotel Aveiro Palace is centrally located near all the best restaurants and photo spots.

It’s also a 10-minute drive from Barra and Costa Nova, two sandy beaches on the Atlantic that Aveiro locals commonly escape to in the balmy Portuguese spring.

The cheapest listing, however, is a 3-star economy room at Hotel Imperial, that should set you back by an almost-negligible $47 per night––no prepayment needed, free cancellation, and with an option to add breakfast for only $8 more on Booking.com.

Bottomline

On average, a weekend trip to Aveiro will run you up $316 as a solo traveler, as per Budget Your Trip estimates, placing it in the mid-range to cheap bracket.

For comparison, the same website indicates that a three-night stint in Venice is an eye-watering $869, and we’re inclined to believe them, based on hotel rates alone and the price of food, museums, and sightseeing tours.

Naturally, prices can widely vary depending on your profile as a traveler, but there’s no denying Aveiro is a much-better bargain than its famous Italian sister.

The closest airport to Aveiro is Porto International (OPO), some 41 miles north, hosting flights from Newark (EWR) and Boston (BOS).

From Porto, there are multiple train and bus connections to Aveiro daily, for as cheap as $7 one-way.

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior lead writer at Travel Off Path, has over 60+ countries under his belt (and currently weaving tales from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative stories that will have you packing your bags.

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This article originally appeared on TravelOffPath.com

Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

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