Vila Real belongs to the former province of Tras-os-Montes and Alto Douro, bordered at North to Spain, at East to the district of Bragança, at South with the district of Viseu and at West with district of Porto and the district of Braga.
As tourist attractions in the district, it highlights the village of Bisalhães, where still produces an original and quirky way of working the clay, known everywhere as the "crockery of Bisalhães or the farms, where is produced Porto Wine. The principal centers of Port Wine producers in the region, are in the town of Peso da Régua and Sabrosa, with its fifteenth-century houses and vineyards overlooking the Pinhão River.
The capital of the district is the city of Vila Real, located on a plateau at the confluence of the Rivers Corgo and Cabril, being framed in a beautiful natural landscape of Corgo cliffs, having as a backdrop, the saws of Alvão and more distantly, the Marão. At North of Vila Real, there is the historic city of Chaves.
The city of Vila Real presents beautiful monuments, which highlights the temples and noble houses. The city was, in other times, known as the Court of Tras-os-Montes, due to the fact that in her live and having palace, the Marquis of Vila Real, noble family that had a close family connection with the Portuguese Royal House.
Vila Real has as gastronomic specialties, the soups, the veal and the lamb roasted with rice in the oven, the guts to sauces, the covilhetes, the Maronesa meat, the knee of the nut, the meat ball and various sausages, but also other specialties from other locals, as the cod dishes, the Portuguese stew and the corn.
Its area, is 4328 km ² and its resident population is 218 935 inhabitants in 2006.
