Personable Porto

We spent about two months in Porto and we both absolutely loved it. Honestly, it’s a little hard writing this post because it makes me miss the city quite a lot. We found the people to be incredibly friendly, the city to be charming, and the food to be spectacular (more on that in another post).

The city itself is gorgeous. It is very hilly and the Douro river separates Porto from its neighboring city, Vila Nova de Gaia (commonly referred to simply as Gaia). Despite being two cities, they feel like one metro area. There are a handful of bridges to cross from one to the other, a few of which are pedestrian or pedestrian and public transit only. Walking across the Luis I Bridge is a must!

There’s a bit of rivalry between Gaia and Porto and a lot of the folx from Porto would say, the only reason to go to Gaia is to see the beautiful views of Porto. I disagree as there were quite a few enjoyable things to do in Gaia — but I did find the views from Gaia quite spectacular.

One of the things that stood out while wandering around Porto was the varied, high-quality street art. It was everywhere and so much of it was clever, beautiful, and professional-grade. A post dedicated just to street art in Porto will be forthcoming.

The contrast between the street art with the iconic and classic architecture was fascinating. Porto is known for the blue-tiled, azulejos, buildings and these did not disappoint.

We were in Porto for the Christmas holiday and the city sure did know how to decorate for it. The city is already charming and romantic and the lights and festive decorations brought these sentiments to the next level. I would definitely return to Porto for the holidays!

In terms of things to do while in Porto, a few highlights included attending a Fado show, a wine tasting day trip in the Douro Valley, and visits to the nearby beach of Matosinhos.

We attended two Fado shows at A Casa do Fado and loved the experience. Fado is a traditional Portuguese musical genre that typically includes a guitar, a Portuguese guitar, and a vocalist. The shows we attended were in a cellar and the audience sat around old barrels of port which served as tables. The performance included some explanation and history of the genre. The musicians were immensely talented and it was a very unique cultural experience.

Porto sits above the Douro River and, if you follow the river east, you enter the Douro River Valley which is famous for its wine and port making. There are many day tours that are offered to explore this beautiful region. The one we selected included visits to three wineries which were very different from each other and showed us the variety in types of winemakers.

In the opposite direction of the Douro Valley, is the Atlantic Ocean and the closest beach town is Matosinhos. From Porto, you can take a bus or metro and be at the beach in about 40 minutes. My favorite part of the coast was a section with walkways along the coast, sometimes going into the ocean a bit. Some of the shore reminded me of British Columbia in Canada with its rocky shoreline. During our time in Porto, I visited the coast a handful of times and thoroughly enjoyed each visit.

As you can probably tell, we loved Porto. I would recommend spending at least a week in this delightful city to soak up its history, culture, and lifestyle. You could easily spend more time, especially if you are looking to do some day trips to nearby towns. You will not be disappointed!

Tips for Porto:

• The bus and metro are easy to use and inexpensive. The metro is a great way to get to and from Gaia as well as to the airport. While public transit is efficient and clean, it does not seem to follow the posted schedule so give yourself a bit of a buffer if you are needing to be somewhere at a specific time.
• There are a lot of day trips that are possible from Porto. We used FlixBus which was incredibly cheap, fairly reliable, and pretty comfortable.
• Definitely visit the World of Wine (WOW) museum complex in Gaia.
• Do a walking tour. It’s a great way of getting to know the history of the city.
• Just wander around and check out all of the street art. It’s everywhere. If you start at the river and walk up Escadas do Codeçal, you’ll encounter a ton of amazing art.
• Santa Catarina is a huge shopping street that is worth wandering around and window shopping.
• For stunning views of the city, do the Porto Bridge Climb. It is not challenging and not scary!