Must Do List for Porto, Portugal

Top Things to do in Porto, Portugal

Porto – The Northern Gem of Portugal

I think if I had to choose one city to live in – I would choose Porto. Porto has a special place in my heart and I am sure I will return here many times. 

Porto is the second biggest city in Portugal, although in comparison to many other European cities it is relatively small. Porto has around 215,000 inhabitants. I love Porto because it is smaller and less busy than Lissabon, but it is still a buzzling, colourful and beautiful city. 

If you are travelling to Porto I would say 2-3 days is enough to see the city and enjoy the views. If you are staying longer, you can always make a trip to Douro valley or just enjoy the city longer. 

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Here is my must do & visit list:

1. Cais da Ribeira and Luís I Bridge

For your first encounter with the city I would suggest just walking along the Cais da Ribeira, a main promenade of Porto. Enjoy the beautiful promenade, colourful houses, Douro river and dozens of seagulls. 

Climb up to the Luís I Bridge to enjoy one of the best panoramic views of the city. From here you will actually see two cities: on the right Porto and on the left Vila Nova De Gaia (a district very well known for its port wine cellars).

2. Cross the bridge to Vila Nova De Gaia

The other side of the bridge is a must-do for all the port wine lovers. Here you will find wine cellars and wine tasting offered from the biggest port producers like Grahams, Cálem, Sandeman and more. You can basically walk into any of them and have a short tour or a simple port wine tasting. And if you never tried port wine before it is a great chance to sample different ones (and trust me the Porto people are very proud about their Port wine).

Cost: the prices vary depending on the cellar and the tour you choose, but it starts at around 15€ for a 3 port-wine tasting and a short tour.

It is also just generally nice to walk and explore this side

3. Enjoy sunset at Jardim do Morro

If you are not a Port-wine fan you should still cross to the other side of the river. There you will find Jardim do Morro – a small park/view platform. I would say it is quite a local thing to meet the sunset here with a glass (or bottle) of wine and a small picnic. Definitely would recommend. 

4. Enjoy more sunsets & city views

Actually it would be quite unfair to just list one place for sunsets, because in Porto you can meet a beautiful sunset literally nearly everywhere.

 My favourite spots are:

• Parque das Virtudes – the main lookout platform is quite popular with students and the locals, but you can find a hidden getaway in the park nearby.
• Praia dos Ingleses – it is a short bus/tram station away, but you can enjoy nice sunsets at the beach.
• Miradouro da Vitória – nice city views.
• Miradouro da Rua das Aldas – nice city views.
• Miradouro das Fontainhas – nice bridge views, not crowded at all.

5. Visit the Vitória District

Vitória is a great district to explore during the day, and to enjoy a drink on one of the busy bar streets during the night. During the day you will find some of the most know sightseeing spots of Porto here, such as:

• Clérigos Tower – the bell tower was built in the 18th century and it’s to date the highest building in the historic centre of Porto. It is 75 metres high and you can climb 230 stairs up to enjoy the panoramic views of Porto.

Cost: 6€ (including the admission to a small Clérigos Museum)

• Igreja dos Clérigos – it is a beautiful baroque church attached to the Clérigos Tower. It is the first church in Portugal which was built following an elliptical layout, with stained glass windows and beautiful marble decorations. It is worth a visit when you are nearby.

Cost: Free

• Igreja do Carmo – one of the most beautiful churches in Porto, completely covered in Azuleijos (blue and white tiles).

• Livraria Lello – oh well, it is in the region so I had to put the ‘famous Harry Potter inspired’ Library here. Honestly, I was there and I would not recommend going inside. The queues are always huge, you will waste 2-3 hours there and inside is nice, but not sure if it is worth all the hype. But I am pretty sure that everyone will still go there just to check it out.

Cost: €5 standard or €15,90 priority (the voucher is applied to a book purchase, but several vouchers can’t be combined together)

6. Enjoy the beautiful Azuleijos

Azulejos are blue and white tiles that you will see nearly everywhere in Porto. Porto was not as badly affected by the 1755 earthquake as Lissabon, therefore you will see more preserved buildings here. They say the blue and white tiles trend came from China and Netherlands, and stayed in Portugal for the tiles ability to reflect heat in summer. And honestly I am happy it stayed, some of the buildings lined with Azuleijos are just breathtaking. 

Definitely check out this buildings:

1. Capela das Almas (Chapel of Souls)
2. São Bento Station
3. Igreja de Carmo
4. Sé do Porto (Porto Cathedral)
5. Iglesia de San Ildefonso

7. Ride a bike to Matosinhos

If the weather is sunny (and it probably is), make a half day tour along the coast to the Matosinhos area. You will have a lovely bike drive along the coast, with beautiful sandy beaches and you will finally reach the area of Matosinhos. You will recognise it easily as everywhere you will see seafood being made on the grill. 

Traditionally Matosinhos is a port and fishing town, and to this day it stays popular with all the seafood restaurants it has. I definitely recommend getting lunch or dinner here! We had amazing seafood from Restaurante O Valentim, their grilled octopus is to die for. 

Small note: a lot of restaurants are closed for a break between 16 to 18:30. 

In Porto you can rent bikes for half a day or a day through couple of office points, we rented our bikes twice from Vieguini BIKE RENTALS. You can also start your drive directly from here. Be aware that the first 1km you will drive on the tram lines, but afterwards you will reach a nice biking way. This coast also has beautiful sunsets, just be aware of the times till when you have to give back your bike. But overall it can be a really great day.

Cost: 

10€ for 4 hours bike rent

14€ for whole daytime bike rent

8. Enjoy the Douro River

Depending on how much time you have in Porto, there are several things you can do here. If you are only for a couple of days in Porto, you can take a boat cruise to see the 6 bridges of Porto. It sounds like quite a touristy thing to do, but it is actually really nice to have a cruise with a glass of wine and enjoy the city views. You will find a lot of tour providers by the main embankment, or you can book a tour online for example here. https://www.cruzeiros-douro.pt/en/1-day-cruises/6-bridges-cruise

Cost: 15€ for one hour cruise

If you are staying longer in Porto, then I highly recommend getting a car to explore the Douro region with the most famous vineyards in the region. There are also many port wine vineyards to visit. The car drive from Porto takes around 1.30 hours.

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Our itinerary: 

We rented a car at 9 am, headed to Peso da Régua for breakfast (at Pastelaria Doce Neves) and then headed further to the city of Pinhão. From here we booked a 1-hour boat tour with Magnifico Douro telling the history and the importance of the vineyards in the region. We were super lucky as we were completely alone on the boat, and I would definitely recommend it to get to know the region better.

Cost: 11€

Link: https://magnificodouro.pt/en/

Afterwards we headed for a wine tour at Quinta do Pôpa, a small local wine producer. We wrote and booked the tour in advance. They have one of the most beautiful views over the Douro river where you can sit, have a nice wine tasting and enjoy the views.

Cost: 20€ for a premium wine tasting of 5 wines and a short tour

After enjoying the wine tasting, we headed back to Peso da Régua for dinner at Tasca da Quinta. A small, local place with amazing home-made food and a nice choice of wine (they also have wine bottles from their own vineyard). We tried local dishes like shredded Portuguese sausage and some Tapas. Highly recommend it for a good ending to your day 🙂 We then drove back to Porto and gave back our car.

You can of course stay longer in Douro and even stay overnight, but for us one day was actually enough and a good way to spend our weekend 🙂

9. Eat all the food in Porto

Did I ever mention that I love Portuguese food? Porto is a perfect city to try delicious food and it has many local dishes that you can only find there. Check out my next article for must try food in Porto.

1. Francesinha 

Francesinha is one of the most famous dishes in Porto, and you can find it nearly everywhere, especially in the R.de Passos Manuel street. According to the local story, Francesinha was inspired by the French sandwich, but the Portuguese decided to make it better. Basically it has everything in it and it sounds quite perverse: a layer of toast bread, cheese, ham, sausage, steak, cheese, toast bread, fried egg and all topped with a tomato-like sauce. It is typically served with french fries and it makes you incredibly full, but it definitely worth a try if you are not vegetarian!

Place: We had ours at Lado B, you can also share it for two people.

Cost: 9,50€ for a full one

Other places which were recommended to us: Santiago, Bufete Fase, A Regaleira

2. Meat Breads

Well they love their meat in a bread in Porto and there are several special breads to try. We just got all of them to share and had it in a park one day 😀

Here are the different types of meat bread:

1. Bifanas Conga
2. Prego Venham mais cinco
3. Sandes de Pernil (casa Guedes)

3. Tosta Misto

4. Pastel de Nata

Pastel de nata is probably the most known dessert in the entire Portugal: an egg custard tart pastry, optionally dusted with cinnamon or powdered sugar. Although it originated in Lissabon, a lot of places in Porto also make good Pastel de Nata. They cost around 1.30€ and it is perfect to have them any time of the day: for breakfast, lunch, dinner or midnight snack.

My favourite places to try them from:

1. Castro – Atelier de Pastéis de Nata
2. Manteigaria – Fábrica de Pastéis de Nata
3. Nata Lisboa
4. Fábrica da Nata

5. Grilled fish in Matosinhos 

As I wrote in the previous blog here, exploring the Matosinhos region by bike can be a great half-day trip. If you don’t want to bike, you can also get here by metro or by bus. Matosinhos has a delicious grilled fish served nearly on every corner. 

We enjoyed our lunch at Restaurante O Valentim, their grilled octopus is to die for and I can highly recommend it.

Other places which were recommended to us: São Valentim, Dom peixe, O Xarroco

6. Traditional Portuguese food at Taberna do Largo

We have not been here, but it is marked for my next visit to Porto and was recommended to us. Taberna do Largo is a small taverna serving local portuguese dishes, tapas and wine.

7. Coffee

Portugal is not that know for coffee, and ‘galao’ is served everywhere: which is a traditional strong coffee with milk. But Porto has plenty of trendy coffee places serving good quality beans. If you want a nice coffee & cake, you can check out this places:

1. FÁBRICA COFFEE ROASTERS PORTO
2. 7g Roaster Apartments
3. Esquires coffee
4. Noshi coffee & Healthy Food
5. Chocolataria des Flores (well it is more hot chocolate, but I still wanted to put it in)
6. Miss Pavlova

If you are a digital nomad and want to work in a cafe, Porto has plenty of options. Check out my article here to know more.

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If you know more cool places, let me know 🙂