This paper critically reviews tourism developments in the Alto Minho province of northern Portugal over the period 1986±1996. At the time of Portugal's accession to the European Union this region was widely regarded, certainly by sociologists, as the most rural area of western Europe. By contrast to many other western European rural areas it has a relatively high population density, although emigration and return migration has characterised the society for many centuries. Although the coastal fringe to the south of the Alto Minho was developed in the nineteenth century, it was only in the 1960s that the littoral area of the Alto Minho witnessed any signi®cant tourism investment, principally in the form of small to medium sized, medium quality hotels. Later the advent of aid and incentive packages, available from the Tourism Fund of the Portuguese Government in the 1970s, stimulated developments in the rural hinterland. These concentrated initially upon the provision of accommodation, essentially targeting the international rather than the domestic market. When Portugal joined the European Union in 1986 the rural regions of the Alto Minho quali®ed for a range of development initiatives, such as the community based LEADER programmes. This new and welcome form of investment allowed the tourism sector to address the need for attractions and activities to complement earlier investment in the accommodation sector. An analysis of these events provides the basis for a series of observations and recommendations relating to the introduction of new tourism attractions into regions whose traditional strengths have been their strong socio-cultural characteristics and natural environment.