If you only have half day to visit town, we suggest you visit the zone classified as World Heritage by Unesco in December 1996.
You can start by visiting the Clerigos Tower, then descending towards Praça da Liberdade and taking a look at the S. Bento Railway Station. At the top of D. Afonso Henriques Avenue you will find the Cathedral. After visiting that wonderful monument you can go down the Sé Stairs, Rua Escura, Rua da Bainharia and Rua dos Mercadores, arriving at Rua do Infante D. Henrique, where you can visit the Stock Exchange Palace and S. Francisco Church. In the direction of Praça da Ribeira you can still visit one of the Port Wine Cellars, if you have the time, after crossing the D. Luís Bridge towards Vila Nova de Gaia.
As an alternative to this walking tour you can choose one of the several organized tours, with a special focus to the Monumental Porto, the Hop On/Hop Off and the Tripeiro Porto circuits, this last one aboard a mini-train, which you can book atPorto Tours.
Departing from the City Hall, your first stop could be at he typical Bolhão Market, leaving then to Rua de Santa Catarina, where you can appreciate the tile façade of the Almas Chapel and take a break at the traditional Café Majestic. At the bottom of Rua 31 de Janeiro you can visit Congregados Church and continue through Praça da Liberdade towards Clerigos Tower. You can then turn back and descend Rua dos Clérigos again visiting this time S.Bento Railway Station. At the top of D. Afonso Henriques Avenue you will find the Cathedral. You can then go down the Sé Stairs, Rua Escura, Rua da Bainharia and Rua dos Mercadores to experience life in the typical Sé and S. Nicolay neighbourhoods. The Douro River will be the landscape your eyes will admire when arriving to Praça da Ribeira. After crossing D. Luís I Bridge you’ll be able to visit one of the several Port Wine Cellars and on your way back to town you can enjoy your lunch, with a typical meal, at on of the different restaurants at Cais da Ribeira. After lunch you can also enjoy the view of the city from on of the boats doing the bridges cruise.
Along your tour you shouldn’t miss visiting the Stock Exchange Palace, with an outstanding Arabian Hall, and S. Francisco Church, with its fantastic golden carving interior, one of the best in town.
Near this monument you can catch the tram 1E, which travels along the river to the river mouth, passing by the Port Wine Museum. After a small walk alongside the sea front at the river mouth, you can catch a public transport to take you to the Contemporary Art Museum, where you can also enjoy the beautiful Serralves Gardens.
Leaving from the City Hall through Rua Formosa, where you can admire some of the most traditional shops in the city centre, your first stop could be the Bolhão Market.
09h30 – At the crossroads of Santa Catarina and Fernandes Tomás you will be able to admire the beauty of the Almas Chapel tile façade. Moving on through Rua Santa Catarina, one of the busiest commercial streets of the city, we suggest you taste a “cimbalino” at the Café Majestic, one of the most emblematic coffee shops in town, which keeps its charming art nouveau decoration since it was inaugurated in 1921.
- You can now descend Rua 31 de Janeiro, still admiring other art nouveau façades along the street. At its bottom there is the Congregados Church with a very nice tile façade. You’re now at Praça da Liberdade, where you can admire the beautiful façade of the Cardosas Palace, from the end of the 17th century. Turning your back on this Palace you will have a good perspective of the Aliados Avenue, short but with some elegant buildings from the 19th century on both sides.
- You can now visit S. Bento Railway Station, one of the most impressive artistic equipments from the beginning of the last century, by the architect Marques da Silva.
- Up the D. Afonso Henriques Avenue you will find the birthplace of this town. Hidden from careless looks, at Beco dos Redemoinhos, there is the House known to be the oldest in this town:
flemish-like, it is believed to have been built in the first half of the 14th century. At Rua D. Hugo you can visit the Guerra Junqueiro House and Museum, in a baroque-styled 18th century house, with a collection of furniture, ceramics, sculpture and toreutics.
Porto Cathedral is a building with a Romanesque structure. Outside it still looks like a fortress-church, with battlements. The Cathedral’s Terrace, one of the best placed belvederes in town, offers you a breathtaking view over the Douro River and the old houses at its sides. At the Largo do Colégio the Sacred Art Museum, in the Porto Grand Seminary, is also worth your visit, as well as S. Lourenço Church, an example of the Jesuits architecture of the 17th century .
- Along the narrow streets of Santana, Bainharia and Mercadores you can experience life at the typical neighbours of Sé and S. Nicolau.
- With the Douro River ahead you will reach Praça da Ribeira, one of the favourite meeting points of the Porto inhabitants.
Along the Ribeira Quay you will be able to examine on the walls of the houses the marks showing how high the river has been for years in this part of town. You can also admire the monument in honour of the victims of the bridge of boats disaster, known as “Alminhas da Ponte”, from Teixeira Lopes, as well as the former Suspension Bridge pillars.
- Crossing the D.Luís Bridge you will be able to visit one of the many Port Wine Cellars and taste a glass of this famous wine as appetizer, enjoying the magnificient scenery.
- We suggest you return to Ribeira for lunch, also admiring the Ribeira Negra Panel by Master Júlio Resende. You can enjoy your meal in one of the several restaurants available, some with a view of the river.
- After lunch you can still go on the Bridges Cruise, having a unique perspective of the city and being able to admire D. Maria Pia Bridge, projected by Gustave Eiffel. After your travel you can visit the North Tower, with a museum centre presenting a model of Medieval Porto, among others.
- Afterwards you can visit the Stock Excchange Palace, one of the most visited monuments in town, located in the historical centre of the city, with the famous Arabian Hall.
- Right next to the Stock Exchange Palace, there is S. Francisco Church, one of the few medieval buildings we still have and the only gothic church in town. It was part of a Franciscan Convent. Its construction started in the end of the 14th century and ended in the beginning of the next century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its interior would become completely covered by golden carving, composing a kind of golden box, one of the most beautiful baroque interiors of the country. You can also visit the catacombs and the Dispatch House of the Terceira de S. Francisco Order, by Nicolau Nasoni.
- Near the church you can catch tram 1E, which travels along the river, passing by the Transports and Communications Museum, Port Wine Museum and Tram Museum, with a remarkable collection of trams and an American tram wich circulated in Porto since the 19th century, ending the trip at the river mouth by the pleasant Passeio Alegre Garden, where you can admire two obelisks by Nicolau Nasoni.
- From now on you can take a walk along the Porto sea front with several esplanades enviting you for a rest .
- On Rua do Teatro, in the old part of the river mouth neighbourhood, you can catch a bus which will take you to the Contemporary Art Museum, projected by the architect Siza Vieira. The wonderful gardens surrounding this Museum, with different species and environments, also deserve your visit.
2nd DAY
DEPARTURE: 10h00
- Visit to the Clérigos Church and Tower, by Nicolau Nasoni.
You can go up the 75,60 m high tower, one of the city ex-libris,
and enjoy its magnificient view.
- Now we suggest you visit the Soares dos Reis National Museum whose building is also known as Carrancas Palace, an excellent example of the neoclassical architecture, with several collections of paintings, sculpture and decorative art (china, glazed pottery, jewellery and furniture).
- Next to the Museum you can go for a walk in the Crystal Palace Gardens, from which you can also enjoy a wonderful view. Through these gardens you will find your way to the Romantic Museum, which reconstitutes the interior of a rich Porto home from the 19th century.
- In the Boavista area there’s a building, which calls for attention: the House of Music, by Rem Koolhass. Polyhedron-shaped, with 12 floors, it is the first place specifically built to house musical events and which will work as a new cultural centre in the city. In the middle of Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque, known as Rotunda da Boavista, there is a monument to the Peninsular War (1808-1814), quite outstanding owing to its impressive and dramatic look.
- You can have your lunch in one of the restaurants of this area.
- Still in this area, in Rua Nossa Senhora de Fátima, you can visit the Marta Ortigão Sampaio House and Museum, with outstanding collections of paintins and jewellery.
- We now suggest you descend Boavista Avenue, more than 5 km long, alongside which you can admire the most beautiful palace-like houses in town.
16h00 – Before arriving at the City Park, you will find António Cupertino de Miranda Foundation, with the Paper-Money Museum and a permanent exhibition on “Money and Transports”.
- We now suggest a walk to the City Park, projected by the landscape architect Sidónio Pardal. It is the biggest urban park in the country with more than 80 ha and 8,5 km of tracks. It is connected to the sea front, where you can admire, among other interesting spots, the S. Francisco Xavier Fort, also known as Castelo do Queijo (Cheese Castle). If you want you can walk forward to the seashore, through the beautiful Montevideu Avenue and the emblematic Pergola, with a nice view over the sea.
3rd DAY
Profiting from your stay in this lovely city, you can choose for your 3rd day from a series of circuits, which will lead you to discover North Portugal. Besides being the oldest demarcated region in the world, also classified as World Heritage, the vine-growing Douro is definitely one of the recommended tours. From all the Minho has to offer you, we must point out the cities of Guimarães (birthplace of the nation, with an historical centre classified as World Heritage), Braga (with emblematic monuments, as the Cathedral and Bom Jesus de Braga Sanctuary), Barcelos and Viana do Castelo.
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