Braga

Braga is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality had a resident population of 212 635 inhabitants (in 2025). Its area is 183.40 km2. Its agglomerated urban area extends to the Cávado River and is the third most populated urban area in Portugal, behind Lisbon and Porto Metropolitan Areas. It is host to the oldest Portuguese archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Braga of the Catholic Church and it is the seat of the Primacy of the Spains. During the Roman Empire, then known as Bracara Augusta, the settlement was the capital of the Roman province of Gallaecia and would later become the capital of the Kingdom of the Suebi, one of the first territories to separate from the Roman Empire in the 5th century. Inside the city there is also a castle tower that can be visited. Nowadays, Braga is among the most noted entrepreneurial and technological centers of the country, as well as a major hub for inland Northern Portugal, and it is an important stop on the Portuguese Way path of the Road of St James.