Bom Jesus do Monte is one of Portugal's best-known images. Set in the woods high above the city, the glorious ornamental stairway of granite and white plaster is a monumental homage, commissioned by Braga's vertically challenged archbishop Maura-Teles in 1723 but which took sixty years to complete. There is no particular reason for its presence – no miracle or vision – yet it remains the object of devoted pilgrimage, with many penitents climbing up on their knees. It is a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon or, best of all, early evening. There are wooded gardens, grottoes and miniature boating pools behind the church and, at the far end, just outside the park up the hill, horse rides are available at negotiable rates.

Buses (#2, at 10min and 40min past the hour) run the 5km to the foot of the stairway at Bom Jesus from Avenida da Liberdade, close to the post office. At weekends they are packed, as seemingly half the city piles up to picnic in the woods. Most of the local families, armed with immense baskets of food, ride straight to the top in a hydraulic funicular (daily 8am–8pm; every 30min and usually timed to coincide with buses; €1 single), inaugurated in 1882 and still going strong. If you resist the temptation to ride the funicular and make the climb up the stairway, Bom Jesus's simple allegory unfolds. Each of the stairway landings has a fountain: the first symbolizes the wounds of Christ, the next five the Senses, and the final three represent the Virtues. At each corner, too, are chapels with larger-than-life wooden tableaux of the Life of Christ, arranged chronologically, leading to the Crucifixion at the altar of the church at the top of the steps. As a design it's a triumph – one of the greatest of all Baroque architectural creations – and was later copied at Lamego.