Porto

Vila Nova de Gaia

A separate city that everyone treats as Porto's back garden — and the one place where the wine the whole region is named for actually sits in barrel. The riverfront is a line of 18th- and 19th-century lodges with English merchant names on the roofs, a quay of restaurants facing the best view of Porto that exists, and a cliff behind it carrying a cable car, a circular Renaissance monastery and a garden where half the city drinks at sunset. It is ten minutes on foot from Ribeira and it feels like a different trip.

Who it's for: Anyone who came for port, obviously — this is where it is aged and where the tours are, and doing Porto without crossing the river is like going to Bordeaux and skipping the left bank. Also, and more usefully, anyone who wants to look at Porto: every good photograph of the stacked UNESCO waterfront is taken from this side. Sunset people. Anyone who wants to eat facing the city rather than standing in it.

Things to know

  • Getting here is free and takes ten minutes: walk the LOWER deck of the Dom Luís I bridge from Ribeira for the quay, or the UPPER deck for Jardim do Morro and the monastery. Metro Line D (Jardim do Morro station) does it in one stop on a normal Z2 fare.
  • Two lodge tours in a day is the maximum that teaches you anything. Three is a hangover. Pick one big historic house and one smaller or Portuguese-owned one — the contrast is the education.
  • Lodge prices vary widely and move: Ferreira sits around €12, Cálem around €18 (€25 with the fado show), Sandeman around €22–23, Taylor's self-guided about €25, Graham's premium experiences €30–45 and up. Book the popular ones online in season.
  • Skip the sweet ruby port everyone starts on. Ask for a 10- or 20-year tawny, or the dry white port that locals actually drink as an aperitif with tonic — that is the drink you will want to take home.
  • Jardim do Morro is free, has the single best view of Porto anywhere, and fills with people drinking supermarket beer at sunset. It is two minutes from the upper deck of the bridge and one metro stop from São Bento.
  • The Teleférico is a one-way tool, not a round trip: about €7 one way, €10 return, five minutes. Walk ACROSS the upper deck to Jardim do Morro, ride the cable car DOWN to the quay, then walk back on the lower deck. That sequence costs €7 and covers everything.
  • Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar is UNESCO-listed, has the only circular church and circular cloister in Portugal, and costs about €3 for the viewing platform — the cheapest great view in the metropolitan area.
  • Gaia is a separate municipality with its own council, not a district of Porto. Locals here will make the point.
  • The quay restaurants along Avenida de Diogo Leite are priced for the view but are noticeably better value than the equivalent strip in Ribeira — you are paying for the Porto skyline rather than for being inside the postcard.
  • The lodges keep proper business hours and most last tours are mid- to late afternoon. Do cellars in the day and viewpoints at sunset, not the other way round.