I’m João Petersen, a Portuguese travel blogger, photographer and travel leader, and the creator of The Portuguese Traveler. I write about outdoor adventures, hiking, diving, nature and wildlife, and photography is a big part of how I explore a place.
I studied Architecture at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, graduating in 2015. I spent a year in Austria on an Erasmus program and later worked in Istanbul and Zurich, and living in Switzerland is when I started using my weekends and holidays to explore the world. In 2018 I spent three months traveling around Southeast Asia and three months in South America, and that trip led me to create this blog.
The blog began as a personal travel diary. During the pandemic it became a collection of detailed guides, so other travelers can plan their own trips.
Many of those guides cover places I know well. I lived in Switzerland for about six years, until 2022. I lived in Ecuador, mostly in Quito, from March to September 2022 and again during 2023, and explored it from the Amazon to the Andes and the Galapagos Islands. In October 2024 I went to Sri Lanka on a trip with the Sri Lanka Tourism Board, my 50th country.
Since 2025 I also work as a travel leader for Nomad, guiding groups in Colombia and across Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Through my photos I hope to encourage travelers to look beyond the crowded hotspots, to less visited places, and to travel in a more responsible way.
