A Weekend Guide to Porto & the Douro Valley

Looking for a purse-friendly weekend getaway? Porto & the Douro Valley make for the perfect pairing – a trip filled with excellent food, fantastic port wine, cultural sights, storied streets and a balmy microclimate.

Visit in late spring or early autumn to explore when the two destinations are, quite remarkably, still relatively crowd-free. When you arrive, here are the best things to see and do…

Porto

Head straight down to the waterfront and the Cais da Ribeira, the beating heart of the city, which buzzes with energy and has the famous Dom Luis I Bridge as its striking backdrop.

Crossing over the bridge provides incredible views of the river on both sides – you can walk on the lower or upper walkway, but the top walkway is the best – stroll over or hop on the tram to reach the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal on the other side, where you’ll find beautiful gardens to have a rest in and also the best Instagram photo spot.

From here you can wander back down to ground level, where a lazy twenty minute stroll gets you to Gaia, a trendy part of the city where the majority of the port wine cellars can be found. We stopped for a drink at one of the restaurants where glasses of white port were a modest three euros a glass – to give you an idea of costs, this is considered expensive by Portuguese standards.

If you’re keen to learn more about Portugal’s most famous export, head to Taylor’s Port wine, on the same side of the river for a museum tour, which ends in a tasting. Nearby is the new cultural neighbourhood allied WoW (World of Wine) which, as its name suggests, is home to lots of immersive wine museum experiences, a huge variety of restaurants and bars and boasts yet another cracking view of the city. If you have more time, take a boat trip along the river or hop on the cable car to take a ride across the river.

Another day calls for an exploration of the city’s old town – where you can find the historic Clerigos Tower, which dates back to 1763. Nearby is Livraria Lello – named by Lonely Planet as the third most beautiful library in the world. It’s a tourist hotspot, so expect to queue and make sure you book a ticket online beforehand to gain access.

Hit the shops on the lovely Rua das Flores and make a stop for lunch at Cafe Santiago to try the traditional Portuguese sandwich francesinha, essentially layers of meat and cheese in bread and covered in a gravy, followed by pastéis de nata.

A coastal city, Porto is blessed with beautiful beaches, some of which are just a few miles from the centre.

Where to stay: Infante Sagres and The Yeatman.

The Douro Valley

It’s much easier than you’d think to get out to Douro from Porto’s São Bento station – worth a visit anyway for its famous interior. Considered one of the most beautiful train stations in Europe, take time to admire the station’s azulejos, beautiful Portuguese tiles which depict historical life scenes.

The beauty of the Douro is not far away, it takes just over two hours on the train, which hugs the River Douro upstream as it winds its way through an incredible landscape to the vineyards.

The spectcaular terraced hillside vineyards produce the port wine grapes and you can book various visits to wine estates for tastings and vineyard tours, or take a local boat trip to explore the area from the water.

Quinta da Roeda wine estate belonging to Croft Port, in Pinhao, is definitely worth a visit. Here, you can enjoy a picnic amongst the vines or on the bougainvillaea-draped terrace, a port tasting and treading of the grapes during the grape harvest season, which usually takes place in mid-September.

Where to stay: The Vintage House Hotel.

Getting there

You can fly direct to Porto from the UK with easyjet, TAP Air, Ryanair, Wizz Air and British Airways, flights take between two and two and a half hours. Taxi prices are reasonable in Portugal and a ride to the centre of the city takes about 30 minutes. Alternatively you can take the metro, which takes about 45 minutes and costs around five euros per person.