Best Things to Do in Porto

Porto's finest experiences revolve around its dramatic granite gorge, its centuries-old Douro wine trade and its craft traditions in gilded woodwork and blue-and-white ceramic tiles. Group your days by altitude so you work with the hills rather than against them.

1. Read the history of Portugal in tiles at Sao Bento Station. Step into the vestibule of the central railway station to see twenty thousand blue-and-white azulejo tiles painted by Jorge Colaço between 1905 and 1916, depicting royal processions, country harvests and medieval battles.
2. Walk both decks of the Dom Luis I Bridge. Cross the lower road deck from Ribeira into Gaia right above the wooden rabelo boats, then return across the 60-metre-high upper deck beside the slow-moving yellow Metro trains for the finest panorama of the Douro gorge.
3. Tour and taste at the Port wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia. Cross to the cooler south bank where historic shippers mature thousands of oak vats and barrels brought down from the Douro Valley, comparing Ruby, Late Bottled Vintage and aged 10- or 20-Year-Old Tawny Ports.
4. Sunset from Jardim do Morro and Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar. Join locals on the circular stone terrace below the 16th-century monastery in Gaia as the late afternoon sun turns the stacked terracotta roofs and pastel facades of Ribeira gold across the river.
5. Sé Cathedral and the stepped medieval lanes of Barredo. Stand on the fortified 12th-century cathedral terrace, visit its blue-tiled Gothic cloisters, and wind downhill through the steep flagstone alleys of Barredo to the Cais da Ribeira waterfront.
6. Igreja de Sao Francisco and the Palácio da Bolsa. Pair the austere Gothic church whose interior is clad in hundreds of kilograms of carved, gold-leaf baroque woodwork (talha dourada) with a guided tour of the 19th-century Stock Exchange Palace and its gilded Moorish-revival Arab Room next door.
7. Clerigos Tower, Livraria Lello and Igreja do Carmo. Climb the 225 steps of Nicolau Nasoni's baroque bell tower, step inside the neo-Gothic bookshop around the corner, and photograph the monumental rococo tile wall of Igreja do Carmo.
8. Mercado do Bolhao and Capela das Almas. Sample cheeses, olives, tinned fish and a glass of Vinho Verde inside the restored two-tier iron market hall, then walk two blocks up Rua de Santa Catarina to see the blue-and-white tiled exterior of Capela das Almas.
9. Jardins do Palácio de Cristal. Stroll through shaded avenues of camellias, peacocks and rose beds on a bluff west of the centre for quiet viewpoints looking downstream toward the Arrábida Bridge.
10. Ride Tram Line 1 to Foz do Douro and Matosinhos. Follow the north bank of the river out to the Atlantic oceanfront at Foz do Douro to watch waves break over the Felgueiras lighthouse, then continue to Matosinhos for fresh fish grilled over charcoal on the street.