Complete guide to Porto: Things to Do, Tips & Itinerary

Visiting Porto? This complete guide to Porto will help whether you’re spending 48 hours in Porto or have longer to enjoy exploring the city

Porto is almost always described as a hidden gem. It’s not a hidden gem, but it is a diamond.

A city along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto isn’t a secret destination. I’ve definitely seen a lot of tourists when I’ve visited, but there’s nothing wrong with that-places get popular for a reason and Porto really deserves the popularity. Just don’t head to Porto expecting a city with no tourists, that’s not going to happen.

Only 280km from Portugal’s capital city, Lisbon, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and by far one of the most beautiful. I’ve visited a couple of times now and I’m already planning to go back, which says a lot about my view of the city-I’m not someone who tends to return to the same place unless it’s very special. Porto is VERY special indeed.

Visiting Porto makes for a perfect weekend break and if you have even longer to explore, Porto will not disappoint. I hope you find this complete guide to Porto useful and that you’re inspired to book a flight soon.

Flying from the UK to Porto is quick and simple, with direct flights from most major UK airports taking just a couple of hours. If you’re adding Porto onto a multi-city trip there’s easy, cheap and frequent transport from Lisbon, and Porto is also a good airport to transit to some further flung or harder to get to countries like Serbia, Luxembourg, Angola and Brazil, if you fancy combining countries that way. I’m already thinking about doing this to get to Luxembourg.

If you’re planning on visiting Porto (please do!) this complete guide to Porto will give you the information you need to make the most of your time in the city, whether you’re spending 48 hours in Porto (my favourite sort of trip) or you’re there for a longer visit.

Happy reading and enjoy visiting Porto, I’d love to hear about your trip in the comments!

Visiting Porto essentials-currency, language and public transport

Portugal uses the euro, which is handy if you travel often as you’ve probably got some left from a previous trip.

I took 32 euros I had in cash, and only withdrew money once-when a restaurant we wanted to eat at had a broken card machine. Everywhere took card, even for smaller transactions, which made things easy.

Cash would have been just as easily accepted if that’s your preference, though, and it was handy to be able to pay the ferry across the river in cash. We did need to pay to use public toilets a couple of times, so some coins were very useful too.

I didn’t see many places to change currency (I wasn’t particularly looking, but in a lot of cities they are glaringly obvious!) so do be careful if you’re planning on bringing your own currency and converting it to euros, as that may not be easy in Porto.

I always travel with my Monzo card which is fee free abroad, and you can sign up to Monzo here. If you use my link, we each get a mystery reward of £10, £20 or £50 once you’ve completed a transaction. Alternatively if you’d prefer to use your normal bank account, consider Currensea, which links to your usual account. You use your Currensea card to pay with, it’s fee free, and it takes the money straight out of your normal account, no need to move funds, which my partner finds easier. You can sign up for a Currensea card here and if you use my link, once you’ve spent £100 abroad we each get £10. (I am only recommending accounts I use myself. Referral rewards are correct at the time of writing. If you choose to sign up with my link for either of these, thank you! You can of course sign up for these accounts without my referral link)

Porto is, of course, a Portuguese city and so the main language spoken is Portuguese, but everywhere seemed to speak English and have English menus, and we were able to communicate in English whenever we needed to. We also heard a lot of other languages being spoken and understood, it’s a well visited city and you’ll likely be fine wherever you’re from. Google Translate is of course always an option if you’re struggling.

Tipping isn’t expected like it is in some places, but it is recommended-around 10% if you’re happy with the service. We didn’t tip twice, once when my meal arrived as J was finishing his, once when they brought me a different meal to what I ordered then tried to tell me I did order it, and we tipped 10% the rest of the time. Service was, apart from two bad experiences, polite, friendly and fast.

We chose to get a taxi from the airport as we landed around 8pm and we were hungry, just wanting to get into the city, drop our bags and find food. We paid about £10 for this via Uber, but there’s easy transport from the airport by metro (it takes around 40 minutes and is about 3 euros 50 per person from the airport to Sao Bento station) bus or public taxi. Porto airport’s website has more information on public transport options, if you need it.

We got the metro back as we were leaving, changing once, and found it quick and easy to understand, even though a lovely lady on the platform insisted on trying to help us by telling us the airport train didn’t go from the platform the boards were saying it did. Reassuringly, it did in fact go from the platform the boards were saying, but the lady meant well!

The metro is by far the easiest way to get around the city, if places are too far to walk or you’re struggling with the hills. We mostly walked, taking the funicular up the hill once, and using the cable cars at the other side of the river to save us a hill walk too. The funicular cost 4 euros per person and the cable cars were 6 euros per person one day or 9 for a return.

We also tried the ferry, basically a small boat, across the river and it was quick and cheap at 3 euros per person.

Porto has an old-fashioned tram that takes you to the nearby coastal part, Foz, and we did consider this. but in the end, Foz was on our open top bus tour route so we used that instead. The old tram looked good though and we may do that next time. The old tram takes 25 minutes and costs 2 euros 50 cents, so it’s a great budget way to see Foz.

Where to stay in Porto

Porto is a pretty small city and you’ll struggle to find a bad location to stay in, but it’s worth considering whether you want to be closer to the river or further away. Further away means more hills to walk up to get home, but also that food places closer to where you’re staying will be cheaper. If you need a space to work you’ll be better looking for an apartment and if you’re more price conscious, a B&B is likely to be cheapest.

I’ve suggested a budget, mid range and luxury option below, and if you choose to use my links to book, I’ll get a small percentage of commission at no cost to you. Thank you in advance if you choose to support my work in this way.

For a budget option, I’d usually look at hostels, however Porto’s hostels are not that cheap in comparison to their other accommodation. If you’re on a really tight budget, this accommodation has private rooms but shared bathrooms and access to kitchen facilities, meaning you can make your own meals/snacks. At £34 per night it’s not a huge amount cheaper than a mid-range option, but it will save £16 a night.

A good mid-range option, that we stayed in ourselves, Dear Porto Guest House is 500m from Porto’s main station, Sao Bento. It’s easy to get to on arrival into the city and it’s also 350m from Bolhão Metro Station. Bolhão market, which we loved, is a couple of minutes walk away too. It’s highly rated, cheap (around £50 per night for a double room) and well located, great as a budget option if you just need a basic room. It is uphill from the river, but so is most of the city so I wouldn’t be put off-even with my fibromyalgia I was fine with the slow walk home.

A more expensive option is this three-bedroomed house with a terrace overlooking the river and Luis I Bridge . In an absolutely amazing location, just five minutes across the bridge from Ribeira, and puts you in the heart of the city. But it’s not cheap, at £400 per night. For three couples though, at £133 per night per couple, it’s a great option for a more luxurious trip.

Only have a short time visiting Porto? Do these three things

If you’re only visiting Porto for a day, or you’re in the city for work and only have a few hours to explore, the top three things you should do are:

1. Take an open top bus tour around the city. If you use the red buses, the red route takes you all around Porto and takes around two hours, the blue route is the other side of the river, Vila Nova de Gaia and takes around an hour and a half. If you’re short on time, do the red route as you’ll see the main sights of Porto, quickly.
2. Walk around Ribeira, the prettiest part of the city. There’s plenty of places to grab a drink or food if you need to, and the views across the river as well as of the surrounding houses are breathtaking. Ribeira is one of my favourite parts of the city for sure.
3. Walk across Luis I bridge and then walk up the hill (or take the cable car) up to Jardim do Morro to watch the sunset. It’ll be busy but there will be a spot for you to sit on the grassy hill, there’s usually a band playing and if you fancy a beer, you can take your own or buy from the sellers who are wandering around selling a selection. It’s an absolutely perfect way to end your day.

How much will I spend in Porto?

For three days in the city, we spent £263 on our flights from Manchester. These could have been slightly cheaper (Skyscanner has May flights from £100 per person) but we wanted a specific weekend for J’s birthday. Accommodation-wise, we spent £94 for two nights, and there are plenty of options around £50 a night, all across the city.

Eating well in the city is not too expensive either, and we did a steakhouse on our first night, had decent sized portions for every meal with a couple of drinks and daily desserts, a few coffees and a fancy hot chocolate each for under £250 between us.

If you’re on a budget, Porto has plenty of places you can grab a snack or something from the supermarket, and no shortage of pretty outside space to eat in. You can definitely eat well enough for half of what we spent if you’re less bothered about big full meals, alcohol and ice cream.

Porto’s McDonalds is one of the prettiest in the world so you can tick off an attraction as well as getting a cheap meal if you’re so inclined.

We spent £60 each on activities and that could easily have been less, with the open top bus tour costing a big chunk of that budget. We did however choose not to do a couple of things that were higher in price, like the golden church, as I’d been inside it before. If you want to have plenty of money to do everything in Porto, a budget of £100 should cover everything easily.

Porto must try foods

Porto is known for the Francesinha, a sandwich made with layers of meat and toasted bread with melted cheese and a beery tomatoey sauce on the top. It’s not for me, but it’s one of the main reasons J fancied visiting Porto. He agreed to help me out with this post and tried three different Francesinhas, which I’ve asked him to review below.

The first one was at a steakhouse-it had decent quality steak in and came with an egg on top, which is a typical addition. The second one was in a cafe and the meat wasn’t as good quality, so the sandwich wasn’t as tasty, but the price was cheaper than the first. The third one had a choice of meats, which was good, but the quality was still not as good as the first one, and the price was similar to the second one.

From our limited research, you definitely get what you pay for and the Francesinhas with better meat are the best. Just look at all that melted cheese on top-so good.

Portugal is also well known for Pasteis de Natas, little flaky pastry cases filled with custard. Now these, I can get on board with! They’re best when they’re fresh and you know they’re fresh when the pastry is flaky, if your nata is chewy then it’s older. We tried a tasting box of 6 natas-one original and 5 different flavours-at Nata D’Ouro, next to the cable car station by the river, on the Vila Nova de Gaia side. They were all good but in my opinion, they’re delicious enough and don’t need added flavours, I like the original best. I can recommend this place if you’re after a variety of flavours though.

Tripas à Moda do Porto, a tripe stew, is a popular dish in the city, as is Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, a codfish casserole. We’ve not tried either and I’d love to hear your thoughts on them if you do. J enjoyed trying alheira, a white sausage traditionally made with chicken or turkey and bread and, of course, Porto is famous for its port wine. Port is totally wasted on me, who drinks mostly vodka or cocktails, but if you like port, you can book port tasting sessions to get a good selection.

We found the local market, Mercado do Bolhao, really good for food, with many small snack options and quite a few stalls selling a huge variety of dried fruit and fruit juice. We bought fruit juice and dried fruit both mornings and really enjoyed it, and if we’d been staying longer, with cooking facilities, we would have enjoyed buying ingredients for a meal here.

Time Out Market, attached to Sao Bento station, has a variety of different food stands and plenty of seating. This is a great place to have a final meal in the city if you’re about to get the train to the airport to fly home, and with a door leading straight into the station you won’t get lost. There’s a completely meat-free kitchen if you’re vegetarian or vegan, delicious looking smashed burgers if you’re a meat eater, and even octopus rice if you’re feeling more adventurous.

For a sweet treat, Chocolataria Equador was highly reviewed online so we tried it out to double check.

They offer a variety of chocolate treats including alcoholic shots with a chocolate truffle (which were really, really good) you can also buy boxes of individual chocolates or small and medium bars to take home. It’s not cheap-we spent 17 euros on two drinks and two small chocolate bars-but it was so worth it.

Visiting Porto-the best aerial views

Sé do Porto

The Porto Cathedral, known for its beautiful blue tiled interior shown below, has a tower you can climb for amazing views over the city. It’s an absolute bargain at 3 euros to enter the cathedral and tower and the stairs, whilst steep, are much easier than similar towers I’ve climbed in other cities. I was a little bit out of breath by the top but the view was so, so worth it.

Porto’s cable car

The Cable Car, from the station at the side of the river, on Vila Nova de Gaia side, gives great views from a different angle. It also saves you walking up the hill, which is a big win-it’s a very big hill! Tickets for a one way journey are 7 euros for adults, and a round trip is 10 euros, but do keep an eye on the opening times. We went up for sunset and the cable car closed before we would have wanted to come back so we paid for one way and walked back to Porto side along the top floor of the bridge.

Jardim do Morro

Jardim do Morro is a well known sunset spot in the city. At the top of a hill, with a band playing and everyone drinking a beer, it’s always packed full of people and it’s like that for a reason. Ending the day here, surrounded by strangers, all appreciating how beautiful the view of the city is, was a special experience for me.

Dom Luis I Bridge

The bridge itself is, obviously, a massive Porto landmark, and has made it into most of my shots on this post. Unsurprisingly though, the view from the top of the bridge, down the river with Porto on the right and Vila Nova de Gaia on the left, is a view of the city you shouldn’t miss seeing. If you’re smart enough to be able to catch it in the middle of the day AND at sunset, you’ll see one of the best views in Porto. I caught the most amazing sunset, with the birds flying over the river, and I love this shot.

Porto is one of those cities where there’s a different gorgeous view everywhere you look, so make sure you’re always looking around corners and over walls and you’ll come across some beautiful views by accident. Exploring Porto is always a delight.

The best day trips when you’re visiting Porto

Braga

Braga is the religious centre of Portugal and is a small compact city, meaning you can explore properly in three or four hours. Flixbus runs Porto to Braga buses, taking around 45 minutes, multiple times a day.

Guimarães

A 70-minute train away from Porto, Guimarães is a UNESCO world heritage site full of pretty cobbled streets and plazas to wander around. You can take a 90-minute cable car up to nearby Penha hill, but this addition will make your day trip pretty long, adding on at least two hours. For Guimarães itself, four or five hours should be enough time to really see the city.

Aveiro

Aveiro is a city full of canals, Portugal’s answer to Venice. The flat city can be explored by free bicycle and it’s known for delicious seafood, if that’s your thing. 45 minutes on a train will get you to Aveiro from Porto.

Douro Valley

I’ve read that this isn’t the easiest of day trips but it’s just about doable. You’d be best booking a day trip via something like Get Your Guide if you’d like to do a wine and food tour of the Douro Valley, so that you’re picked up and dropped off, meaning no need to manage public transport for this one. A cruise along the river, wine and olive oil tasting and a nice lunch will turn your city break into something more relaxing, and the views will be absolutely worth the time spent on a bus.

National Park Peneda-Gerês

If you want to hike and be surrounded by nature, Portugal’s only national park, Peneda-Gerês, is 75 minutes by car from Porto. You can also get a bus, via Braga, but this of course takes longer and will be more hassle. There are deer, golden eagles and even wolves in the hills of the park, so be careful if you do go wandering.

Visiting Porto – best for shopping

If you want to shop in Porto, Rua de Santa Catarina is the main shopping street and has both souvenir type shops and your typical fashion, beauty and electronics too. To take home a taste of Porto consider buying some port wine, an azulejo blue and white tile, tinned sardines, cork and olive oil. Local cosmetics company Claus Porto is well known in the city and has its own store and you’ll find a rooster, the symbol of Portugal, on a lot of souvenirs in city shops.

Shopping Cidade de Porto is a central shopping centre if you’re looking for more shops, and for food don’t miss a visit to Mercado do Bolhão, a large food market we visited each day. Grab a fresh fruit juice whilst you’re there, it’s delicious.

Souvenir shops are everywhere in the Ribeira area of the city and you’re bound to find something to take home there if you haven’t already. Just make sure you’ve got enough room in your suitcase, especially if you’re buying liquids.

The best places in Porto for history

Whilst Porto isn’t known for being a historic city, there are still a few museums you can visit if you’d like to find out more about the city. Some of the better known ones are mentioned below, although I did struggle with this part of the post as there’s not a huge amount of choice for this section.

Museu Militar do Porto

The military museum covers the history of the Portugese army. You’ll be able to learn more about military history if that’s of interest. I’ve struggled to find opening hours or ticket pricing for this museum.

Holocaust Museum of Oporto

Founded in 2021 and ‘the best museum in Porto’ according to TimeOut, the Holocaust Museum is run by members of the Jewish community of Oporto and covers Jewish life before the Holocaust, Nazism, and everything that happened to Jewish people during the Holocaust. It won’t be fun, but it is important, and if you’ve never learnt more about the Holocaust, you should.

Port Wine Museum

This is probably your best bet for some Porto history and at 2 euros 50 per person, it’s a cheap one. Open Tuesday to Saturday, you’ll learn about the background of port wine and its connection with the city, something that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

FC Porto Museum

Not a typical historical museum but if you like your sport, FC Porto has a stadium tour and museum where you can find out more about the club’s past and present. Adult tickets are 20 euros.

If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about visiting Porto, I’ve written about Porto’s street art, and a guide to spending 48 hours in Porto.

You can also check out the Porto tourism board’s website, and I really enjoyed this post from Where Goes Rose during my research. Introducing Porto has a really useful interactive map, which has helped me a lot with writing this post too.

If you’ve enjoyed this post and want to show appreciation, I’d love you to share it-on your social media, with friends and family, anywhere other people can see it. Views are really the best thing for a blogger.

But, if you’d like to support Inside Laura’s Head a little more, you can buy me a coffee. Funds raised in this way will go towards the running costs of the site, and help me to keep creating content. Thank you, sincerely, for supporting my little corner of the internet.