Olá friends👋.

So last week From Viana arrived a day early. 

A small reminder that this publication is made by real people with real calendars and full lives. 

We got a little distracted watching the power of community unfold in real time.
A simple question about finding a place to work turned into a quiet network of cooperation.

It reminded us that building a life and a project here is rarely a solo journey.
It happens through conversation, generosity, and people choosing to support one another.

So this week’s letter is about more than coworking.
It’s about the spaces where work, wellbeing and community meet and what becomes possible when we start connecting the dots.

Now, let’s dive in.

🎁 Special Feature: Where we work and connect

🗞️ Community News:  Free training for entrepreneurs

🎉 What’s On: Alto Minho Science Fest

☁️ Weather & Tides:

(Together we go further.)

It began with a simple question in a WhatsApp group. 

A vision for a quiet wellbeing cooperative.
A space for depth, not noise.

And then a reply

Gentle, practical, generous:

Maybe the space you’re looking for already exists… and is waiting for you.

Within minutes, women across the region were sharing places, resources, links, and encouragement.

Not competition.
Connection.

Because building something in Alto Minho isn’t always easy.
Sustainability here is fragile.
And cooperation isn’t a nice idea…it’s how things survive.

As one voice in the conversation put it:

“Sometimes we take the long road when what we need already exists.”

And another added the deeper layer:

“What’s missing is a quiet, inward space.  A place to reconnect with ourselves.”

Between those two sentences sits the real story of this region right now.

Not just desks.
Not just Wi-Fi.
But ecosystems.

The conversation unfolded inside Minho Chicks. A wonderful women’s community built on collaboration, generosity and real support.

These are not offices.
They are places where projects grow roots.

🌿 Quinta da Quinhas
📍 Vila Praia de Âncora
Coworking rooted in rural tourism, therapies and slow living, with private offices, shared rooms and outdoor space. A place for people building long-term, values-led projects.

🎯 Best for: therapists, retreat leaders, remote workers wanting nature + community
🔗 Quinta da Quinhas

🌊 Moledo Cowork
📍 Moledo
A relaxed coastal workspace where laptops close for ocean walks and ideas move at a different rhythm. Flexible and drop-in friendly.

🎯Best for: creatives, freelancers, part-time remote workers
🔗 Moledo Coworking

🏙️ DINAMO10 – Creative Hub
📍 Viana do Castelo
An urban innovation space for culture, entrepreneurship and collaborative projects shaping the future of the city.

🎯 Best for: start-ups, designers, cultural and impact projects
🔗 DINAMO10 – Creative Hub

🌱 Roots – Art Gallery · Coffee · Wine · Coworking
📍 Viana do Castelo
Part café, part gallery, part meeting point, part event space.  A social and creative environment where work happens alongside conversation and local initiatives.

🎯Best for: creatives, community builders, flexible working days
🔗 Roots Art Gallery – Art · Coffee · Wine · coworking · local experience

🌿 Casulo – Espaço de Integração do Corpo com a Natureza
📍 Viana do Castelo
A green, ecological setting for slower rhythms, reflection and small-scale work.

🎯 Best for: coaches, writers, wellbeing practitioners, deep-focus work
🔗 Casulo | Cocoon

🌼 Onnea Cowork
📍 Vila Nova de Anha
A smaller, neighbourhood-scale base for focused work and meaningful connection, with a calm and personal atmosphere.

🎯 Best for: freelancers, remote workers seeking a quiet regular base
🔗 Onnea Cowork Viana do Castelo

🧭 MAAK Espaço Cowork
📍 Ponte de Lima
A flexible coworking environment in Portugal’s oldest town, supporting independent professionals and small projects in a practical, central location. Includes a podcast studio — a rare resource in the region. 

🎯 Best for: remote workers, consultants, people based in the Lima valley
🔗 MAAK Espaço Cowork

✨ Collaboration-open venues
(not traditional coworking — but part of the ecosystem)

🏡 Casa do Sardão
📍 Carreço
A tourism and retreat project that opens its doors to workshops, gatherings and collaborative initiatives.

 🎯 Best for: facilitators, pop-up events, small group experiences

🏡 Casa do Sorrio
📍 (Alto Minho)
A rural project welcoming partnerships, creative residencies and community-based activities.

🎯 Best for: retreats, seasonal programmes, collaborative events.

This list is built with the community. If you run or know a space that’s genuinely open to cooperation write to us at [email protected]

From this shared conversation comes a shared resource.

We’re now gathering these spaces into an Alto Minho–wide list.  Not to promote services to clients  but to help projects find each other.  Because the future here isn’t one place.

It’s a web of places.
A cooperative map.
An ecosystem.

As more connection spaces appear, another need is being voiced by Sabrina Hilchner — somatic movement therapist, yoga teacher and founder of Minho Chicks:

Where do we go to disconnect?
Where do we go to turn inward?

That vision…for quieter, wellbeing-centred environments  is also part of this new chapter.

New people arriving with ideas.
Long-rooted projects holding infrastructure.
A shared desire to collaborate instead of compete.

And conversations that turn into something real.

Maybe the future of work in Alto Minho isn’t a single space.

Maybe it’s a collaborative network.

And maybe it starts like this… with one message, one reply, and a group of women choosing to build together.

If you’d like to receive the guide when it’s ready. Just reply to this email with ‘COWORKING’

If you know a space that should be part of it, we’d love to hear from you.

This only works if we build it together.
📩 [email protected]

Patricía Laboreiro - Director, Quinta da Quinhas — Vila Praia de Âncora 

A project rooted in rural tourism, cooperation and sustainable ways of living and working in Alto Minho.

💛 Patricia is part of a generation quietly rebuilding the cooperative spirit that has always existed in Alto Minho

📅 March–June 2026 (várias datas)
📍 Valença
🗺️ Map: HERE
🚗 ~45 min from Viana

Valença is launching a new cycle of free training sessions for entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals, focused on practical tools for the local economy. From digital skills to business development and innovation.

The programme is designed to support small projects and strengthen the region’s professional network, with accessible sessions and open participation.

Great for: small business owners, freelancers, people starting a project, anyone wanting new skills
💛 Why we’re sharing it: real, practical support for the people building their lives and work in Alto Minho.

📌 Info & registration: via the municipal channels.

📅 12–15 March 2026
📍 Centro Ciência Viva dos Arcos – Oficinas de Criatividade Himalaya, Arcos de Valdevez
🗺️Map:Google Maps 

🚗 ~35 min from Viana

A four-day festival that brings science into everyday life through talks, live shows, debates, exhibitions, humour, and hands-on experiences for all ages. The 2026 theme focuses on brain, health and wellbeing, with guests from music, literature, medicine, sport and television.

Proof that science belongs to everyone, not just laboratories.

Great for: families, curious minds, rainy-day plans, anyone who loves learning something new
💛 Why we like it: regional, inclusive, and genuinely different.   One of the few events in Alto Minho that mixes culture, knowledge and community in the same space.

🎟️ Programme & tickets: Programme & details: via Centro Ciência Viva dos Arcos channels. 

Next week in Viana is basically a meteorological identity crisis.

It starts with a grey, hungover Monday that makes you want to quit your job. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday tease you with a sunny 18°C—pure "gaslighting" weather designed to make you leave your coat at home and regret it by noon.

By Thursday, the sky remembers it’s actually depressed and dumps "light rain" all over your mid-week motivation. We finish the week with a lukewarm, indecisive Saturday that’s neither beach weather nor cozy-indoor weather. It’s just... there. Like an uninvited guest who won’t leave.

The Strategy: Dress like you’re preparing for three different seasons and two different funerals.

This week became a reminder of what this region's diverse community does best. 

People showing up for each other, sharing what they know, and building something together.

Thank you for being part of it.
For reading, replying, connecting the dots and helping this publication become a meeting point for the community.

With love,
From Viana 💛

P.S. The Alto Minho Coworking & Collaboration Guide is now in the making.
If you’d like to receive it when it’s ready, just reply with COWORKING — and if you run a space that should be included, we’d love to hear from you.