Porto, Portugal Travel Diary
Last August, I spent a week in Porto, Portugal. I personally would not book a trip to a large city in Southern Europe in August (crowds, heat, prices), I’d go during off season and stay in a smaller place on the coast and go into town on day trips only. But I was traveling with my brother, he wanted to stay in the city, and it was the only time he could go, so we booked a trip together.
Two days before we were flying down from Stockholm, I got a text “I’m sick, I can’t go”. He had gone on a last minute trip to Berlin with a friend the week before and caught something. It was too late to cancel, so I ended up going by myself. Which wasn’t the end of the world, I’m used to solo travel, and was going down to Cascais for a month after that anyway, but a disappointment nevertheless. Living in different parts of the world, we don’t get to see each other all that often. Swissair made things a little bit better by giving me a surprise upgrade to business class (perks of solo travel!) – thanks Swissair!
I arrived in Porto late afternoon, right on schedule, and took an Uber from the airport to the Airbnb we had booked. I was met by a super nice guy who showed me the apartment and the cute garden and separate little garden kitchen that came with it and gave me some tips on things to do. I mentioned I wanted to get to the beach and he recommended checking out Foz do Douro, a part of Porto where the Douro river meets the Atlantic.
I was so tired after traveling that I just went out to buy water and went to bed early. And this is how I spent the rest of my week in Porto:
- Day 1: Porto: Getting my bearings and grocery shopping
- Day 2: Foz do Douro
- Day 3: Boat trip on the river & walk back to town
- Day 4: Beaches: Praia da Aguda
- Day 5: Beaches: Espinho
- Day 6: Packing & Photo museum
- Day 7: Bus to Cascais
Day 1: Porto
I spent the first full day getting oriented, stopped at the tourist office, walked around town with my camera, and bought groceries for the week. I never eat out by myself, I find that very stressful, and I’m not a big foodie. I pretty much live on water, coffee, crackers, cheese, chocolate, fruit and nuts when traveling. The one thing I’m picky about is that everything has to be organic (or even better, biodynamic) and after doing some research online, I took the subway to the Casa da Musica stop and went to IdealBio. It was a tiny store, and a bit dark, but they were super nice and had a lot of great stuff, all organic, and I found exactly what I wanted. I took an Uber back to the Airbnb with everything. IdealBio – R. de 5 de Outubro 352
Day 2: Foz do Douro
After spending the entire first day in the city, I wanted to see the ocean, and went out to Foz do Douro. It’s really easy to get to, and there was a bus stop just down the street from where I was staying. There is a vintage tram that you can take as well (Line 1), but I had heard it’s always packed, and the bus arrived first, so I went with that. I stayed on until Matosinhos, a port and fishing town about 30 minutes on the bus from Porto, known for good beaches and seafood restaurants. I got off the bus at Praia de Matosinhos, a popular, but in my opinion, not very scenic, beach. Looking back, I wish I had explored the town a bit more, but my plan was to walk back to Foz and maybe all the way back to Porto as well. I could see thick fog out over the ocean and suspected it was headed towards land, so I decided to get started on the walk right away.
There were a couple of nice walkways all the way back, one a bit higher up from the water and one right along the ocean, and I passed beach after beach. I walked through the famous Pérgola da Foz
and continued on to the red and white-striped [lighthouse] Farolim da Barra do Douro, which I had seen in the distance and wanted to take a closer look at.
There’s a long pier leading out to the lighthouse, it’s a really nice walk with fresh ocean breezes and the occasional surprise wave splashing across the pier. The tide was coming in, and between the fog and the waves, it was all quite magical.
Back on land, so to speak, I continued along the water back towards Porto and stopped at the [garden] Jardim do Passeio Alegre where I found the most beautiful (and immaculately clean) public bathroom! I wasn’t sure if it was a museum or bathroom at first, but there was a man working there who assured me it was for public use, and even gave me a little tour. 🙂
Moving on, I stopped by the historic tidal gauge Marégrafo da Foz do Douro, and the Farol de São Miguel-o-Anjo, the oldest still standing lighthouse in Portugal. I had meant to keep walking, but it was getting really hot at that point, and I took the bus back to Porto.
Getting to Foz from Porto: You can either take the No 500 bus from the Sao Bento bus stop (€2.50 if you buy the ticket on the bus, or €1.40 if you use the Andante card), or the Linha 1 tram, which leaves from the Sao Francisco church in Porto and costs €6.00 roundtrip.
Day 3: Boat trip on the river & Walk in Vila Nova de Gaia
The next day, I went on a morning sailboat cruise on the river with Douro Captain. They left from the Marina da Afurada in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the other side of the river from where I was staying, and I took an Uber over there. It was a quiet Sunday morning and it was a fantastic way to start the day.
The weather was beautiful, and I was lucky and got the best seat on the boat, right in front. We traveled slowly down the river while the crew served drinks and snacks and told us about the landmarks we passed and their history, and when we got to the Luís I Bridge, we turned and went back towards the Atlantic.
We were supposed to go out on the ocean as well, but when we got to Foz, a thick fog rolled in again, and they had to skip that part. Too bad, I was looking forward to being out there and maybe seeing a few dolphins too, but safety first, of course. Douro Captain.
Back on land, I followed the wooden walkway that runs along the river all the way back to the Luís I Bridge, and it was a beautiful walk.
When I got to Cais de Gaia, there was a market going on, with TONS of people, and it had gotten really hot as well, so I took a cable car (Teleférico de Gaia) up to the top of the bridge. It was a fun, quick, 5-minute ride with beautiful views.
Once up, I walked up to the Miradouro da Serra do Pilar, which has great views of the bridge and city. After hanging out there and shooting for a while, I walked back down and across the bridge. It was packed with people and traffic, but it was fun anyway and the views were fantastic!
Day 4: Beaches: Walked Praia da Aguda to Madalena
Separate post here → Praia da Aguda to Madalena
Day 5: Beaches: Walked Espinho to Praia da Aguda
Separate post here → Espinho to Praia da Aguda
Day 6: Packing, Porto & The Centre for Photography
I spent the last day packing and walking around Porto. I stopped by the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal and Livraria Lello, the famous bookstore that is said to have inspired some scenes in Harry Potter, (although I’ve also heard that that’s a myth), but the lines were around the block, so I ended up skipping it.
I went to the Centro Portugues de Fotografia instead, which is housed in in an impressive building (former prison) and free to enter. The lower floors had a few photo exhibits, but my favorite part was the camera collection on the top floor. So many cool and beautiful things!
Day 7: Porto – Cascais
My last morning in Porto, I took an Uber to the bus station to catch a Flixbus to Cascais, but at first, I wasn’t allowed on the bus because of my camera suitcase (which I had actually bought a separate ticket for!) After a long and animated discussion with the driver (who didn’t speak any English, and my few words of Portuguese were no help in this situation, but that didn’t stop either one of us from trying to get our point across 😄) about what I was allowed to bring on board (I was NOT about to put my camera equipment in the cargo area), a security guard who spoke a bit of English stepped in to mediate. A few loud arguments and arm waves later, all was resolved, and I was allowed to board the bus with my camera suitcase. The security guard patted me on the back and assured me that Portugal is a beautiful country with nice people, and that I would have a good time. 😄 An uneventful 4-hour trip later, I arrived in Cascais, and it was SO good to be back!
Getting Around Porto with the Andante Card
The Andante card is a rechargeable card that you can use on the metro, buses, and some trains in the Porto metropolitan area. It’s a pretty confusing setup, not nearly as easy as Lisbon’s Navegante card (formerly known as the Viva Viagem). In Lisbon, you can just load the Navegante card with any amount you want and then use it on buses, trams, subway, commuter rail, even some ferries, etc. until you run out of money and then fill it up again. Porto’s Andante card on the other hand is set up by zones. The city center and out to Foz do Douro is Zone 2, but if you want to go just a little further north to Matosinhos, like I did, that’s zone 3. Or to go south to Miramar, that’s zone 4. So if you get a zone 2 card and load it up with 5 trips you can use those as you want in zone 2, but if you want to go to a zone 3 destination, you need to get a separate card for that. You CAN get a zone 3 card and use that in zone 2 as well (I did, by mistake), but you’ll end up paying more for each trip, since zone 3 trips are more expensive than zone 2. The cards are personal, so if you’re traveling with others, everyone needs their own card. If this is all too much and you don’t want to deal with figuring it out, you can always buy tickets directly on board the buses (not on the trains though), but they will cost quite a bit more than they do with the card.
Shoutout to the extremely patient and kind girl at the Porto tourist office who took the time to explain this to me several times without any signs of irritation. 🙂
More Portugal on the blog
PS. Looking for a great pair of walking shoes? My favorites are from Xero – the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you click a link and purchase something. While clicking these links won’t cost you anything, they will help me keep this site up and running. I never recommend anything that I don’t own and love myself.