The best things to do in Porto are Livraria Lello, the Ribeira quay and the Luís I Bridge, a port lodge tasting across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia, and the tiled hall of São Bento station. Three days covers the historic centre, the cellars and Serralves. Add a fourth for the Douro, come in May, June or September, and book Lello and the bigger lodges before you land.
Porto & Douro
Porto is a working river city that happens to be beautiful, and most of it fits inside a walk. The ten entries below run downhill from the Clérigos tower to the Ribeira quay, across the Luís I Bridge into the Gaia lodges, then west to Serralves and the Atlantic. Read them as a route rather than a list: the historic centre is small, steep and best taken in one direction.
The 1906 bookshop is the reason half the queue on Rua das Carmelitas exists, and the crimson staircase earns the attention it gets. Entry is by ticket-voucher bought online for a timed slot, and the price comes off a Livraria Lello Editions book if you buy one inside. It opens daily 09:00 to 19:30 and closes on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May, 24 June and 25 December.
Porto's medieval riverfront is part of the UNESCO World Heritage property and still the best single hour in the city. The terraces run along the quay under the Luís I Bridge, the rabelo boats sit moored in front of them, and from late afternoon the light lands on the Gaia lodges opposite. Come down from São Francisco and you arrive with the sun behind you.
Landmark· Ponte Luís I, Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia
Téophile Seyrig, who had partnered Gustave Eiffel on the Maria Pia bridge upstream, won the competition for this one and finished it in 1886. The upper deck carries metro line D and a walkway at the height of the cathedral terrace, which is why it is the view everyone photographs. Walk over to Gaia, drop down through the lodges, and return along the lower deck at river level.
Every major port house ages its wine on the Gaia bank, minutes from the bridge, and almost all of them run visits that end in a tasting. The differences are real: hillside terraces and long tawnies at Taylor's, food pairings at Graham's, theatre at Sandeman, a museum and fado at Cálem. Two lodges in an afternoon is plenty, and the popular slots go early in summer.
Landmark· Rua de São Filipe de Nery, 4050-546 Porto
Nicolau Nasoni, the Tuscan painter who spent his career remaking Porto in baroque, set the church on an elliptical plan and gave it a 75.6 m bell tower. There are 240 steps to the top and the reward is the whole city at once: the river, the bridge, the Gaia bank, the sea. The complex opens daily 09:00 to 19:00, last entry half an hour before closing, and the tower and museum ticket is 10 euros.
Landmark· Praça de Almeida Garrett, 4000-069 Porto
Jorge Colaço spent eleven years, from 1905 to 1916, covering the concourse in roughly 20,000 blue and white tiles. They are not decoration. The panels run through the Battle of Valdevez, the meeting of Egas Moniz and Alfonso VII, the arrival of João I and Philippa of Lancaster, and the conquest of Ceuta. It is a working station, so the visit costs nothing and takes as long as you let it.
Church· Rua do Infante D. Henrique, 4050-297 Porto
A plain gothic shell with a baroque interior that goes further than anywhere else in the country: carved, gilded talha dourada over every surface, including the Tree of Jesse on the north wall. The ticket also covers the Casa do Despacho and the catacombs beneath it, where the ossuary is visible through a glass floor.
Porto's merchants built themselves a stock exchange on the ruins of the Franciscan convent next door, then spent decades decorating it. The set piece is the Arab Room, a Moorish revival ballroom finished in gold leaf. Access is by guided tour only, the tours run about 30 minutes, the language is assigned in arrival order, and a single ticket is 14 euros.
Museum· Rua Dom João de Castro 210, 4150-417 Porto
Portugal's leading contemporary art museum sits in a low white Álvaro Siza building at the edge of a park, with a pink art deco villa from the 1930s at the other end of it. The general ticket, 24 euros, covers the museum, the Siza wing, the villa, the park, the treetop walk and the Manoel de Oliveira cinema house, which is a half day if you use it properly.
The city's historic market reopened in 2022 after a four-year rebuild that kept the 1914 iron-and-stone structure and put the traders back inside it. Fish, produce, flowers, salt cod, and a run of counters that will feed you on the spot. It opens Monday to Friday 08:00 to 20:00 and Saturday 08:00 to 18:00, closed Sundays and public holidays.
Three. One day covers the historic centre from Clérigos down to Ribeira, a second crosses to the Gaia lodges and comes back through Foz, and a third takes Serralves and a neighbourhood. Add a fourth if you want the Douro, which is a full day out.
When is the best time to visit Porto?+
May, June and September. The Atlantic keeps the summer mild and the crowds peak in July and August. June is the loudest month, because São João falls on the night of the 23rd. Winter is wet, but the lodges and the museums are indoors.
Do you have to book Livraria Lello in advance?+
Entry is by ticket-voucher and the timed slots go early in high season, so buy online rather than joining the queue on Rua das Carmelitas. The price comes off a Livraria Lello Editions book if you buy one inside.
Can you visit the port lodges without booking?+
Some lodges take walk-ins and some do not, and the popular slots at the bigger houses go early in summer. Book the day before on the lodge's own site. Almost every visit ends in a tasting, so plan on one or two lodges in an afternoon rather than four.
How do you get from Porto airport into the city?+
Metro line E, the violet line, runs from the terminal into the centre. It is a Z4 fare on the Andante, which is the same ticket that covers the metro, the STCP buses and the CP urban trains.
Across the river
Best port cellars in Porto
Six Gaia lodges that take visitors, from the hilltop terraces down to the belle epoque riverfront.
One Andante ticket covers the metro, the STCP buses and the CP urban trains, priced by the zones you cross rather than by the operator. Three historic tram lines still run, including line 1 along the river to Foz.
Steak, sausage and ham between bread, under melted cheese and a beer-and-tomato sauce. The city's own invention and its loudest argument.
Tripas à moda do Porto
Tripe with white beans, chouriço and cumin. The dish behind the nickname tripeiros, tied to the story that Porto gave up its meat to the fleet sailing for Ceuta in 1415.
Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá
Salt cod baked with potato, onion and olives and finished with egg, named for the 19th-century Porto cod trader who wrote the recipe down.
Sande de pernil
Slow-roasted pork shoulder in a soft roll, usually with a slab of Serra da Estrela cheese melting into it.
Cachorrinho
Porto's hot dog: thin sausage in crisp pressed bread, sliced into fingers and served with a spiced sauce.
Arroz de sarrabulho
Wet rice cooked with pork and cured meats, the northern winter dish, usually served with rojões alongside.
Caldo verde
Potato broth with shredded couve galega and a coin of chouriço. Minho in origin, on every menu here.
Tawny port
Aged in the Gaia lodges rather than in the bottle and drunk lightly chilled. Ten, twenty, thirty or forty years old, and the differences are obvious side by side.
Porto fact sheet
Porto at a glance
The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Portugal
Region
Norte
Population
273K · 1.8M metro
Founded
Roman Portus Cale
Nickname
Cidade Invicta
Language
Portuguese
Currency
Euro (€)
Time zone
WET · UTC+0
Calling code
+351 22
Airports
OPO
Power
230V · Type C/F
Emergency
112
Interesting facts
The historic centre, the Luís I Bridge and the Serra do Pilar monastery across the river were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list together in 1996, as one property spanning both banks.
Portugal takes its name from Portus Cale, the Roman settlement at the mouth of the Douro. The country is named after the city, not the other way round.
Porto is the Cidade Invicta, the unvanquished city, a title it holds for enduring the siege of 1832 to 1833 during the Liberal Wars.
Jorge Colaço spent eleven years, from 1905 to 1916, painting the roughly 20,000 azulejos that line the concourse of São Bento station.
The Douro was demarcated in 1756, which makes it the oldest regulated wine region in the world. The Alto Douro landscape joined the World Heritage list in 2001.
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