3 Days in Porto, Portugal | Everything You Need to Do and See!

two girls looking out at gaia viewpoint porto
largo da pena ventosa porto portugal
flag of portugal on building in porto
two girls kissing in front of dom i luis bridge porto
two girls laughing in front of chapel of soul porto
douro valley
view from top of porto cathedral

Porto is a town in northern Portugal and it’s best known for it’s famous port wine. Porto actually got it’s name from the port wine that is produced in the region! The town itself is quaint, cute, and walkable — as long as you are okay with going up and downhill. We spent 3 days there and I think it was the perfect amount of time to see the whole city. Keep on reading to see our guide for what you need to do and see when visiting Porto!


How to Get to Porto

Since we were flying from the USA, we arrived in Lisbon first and took the Alfa Pendular high-speed train from Lisbon to Porto. It took about 3 hours and was pretty easy to navigate. Tickets were around €40 per person for a one way ticket. You can also fly directly into Porto if you do a layover or are coming from another place in Europe.


How to Get Around Porto

Cais de Riberia

Walking is the best option if you can do up and downhill! A lot of the streets in Porto are very narrow, cobblestone streets and Ubers/Taxi’s cannot go through anyway. The whole city is walkable but beware of the hills! They are around nearly every corner so walking will most likely take longer than your map says. We really loved walking around Porto and thought it was such a great way to see and get famiilar with the city.

Where to Stay in Porto

Porto is a fairly small city, so you can stay in any neighborhood and it will be fine. We stayed at a vacation rental near São Bento and thought it was the perfect location! We were close to everything and felt very safe walking around at night.

Find other Porto accommodations on Expedia here!


Best Things to do in Porto

girl standing in front of dom luis bridge porto

Dom Luis Bridge

Azulejo Tile

porto cathedral

Porto Cathedral

douro valley wine tour

Douro Valley

  • Do a tour of the Douro Valley! - The Douro Valley is the region where the famous port wine is made and it’s a must-see when visiting Porto! The tours are very affordable and most of them take you to a few wineries and let you sample some of the wine as well. The tours leave from the Porto city center and usually take all day. This is something you cannot miss when in Porto!

  • Walk the Riberia - The Riberia is the Porto waterfront and is beautiful to walk along. You get amazing views of the Dom Luis Bridge and there are cute restaurants and bars along the water as well.

  • Check out the azulejo (blue) tile buildings- Porto (and Portugal in general) is famous for it’s azulejo tiles, which are beautiful blue tiled artwork on a lot of the famous buildings around Porto. They can be found at Igreja do Carmo, Chapel of the Souls, São Bento Station, & more! They are great for snapping photos for Instagram as well.

  • Explore the Porto Cathedral - it was much bigger than we thought! And we thought the museum inside was also really interesting. There you can see more azulejo tiles and learn some Porto history. The ticket only cost €3 per person! It also has amazing views from the top and is a great area to walk around in general.

  • Walk across the Dom Luis Bridge - The bridge goes across the Douro River and the neighborhood on the other side, Gaia, has great views of the city. We recommend going at sunset to get the best views!

  • Take the Gaia Cable Car - Once you are already across the bridge, we recommend taking the Teléferico de Gaia for some more epic views! It costs €10 per person round trip and is a fun activity to do.

  • Visit Livraria Lello - The only thing that had a line in Porto to see (because we visited in the off season). Livaria Lello is a famous book store that inspired the Hogwarts Library in the Harry Potter books. We only saw it from the outside because we didn’t feel like paying for tickets and waiting to go inside, but if you are Harry Potter fan this is a must-see!

Book other Porto tours & activities on Expedia here!


Where to Eat & Drink in Porto

vegan pastel de nata porto portugal

Vegan Pastel De Nata | DaTerra

Outra Espécie

  • Brasão Aliados (where you can try a veggie version of a famous Porto dish, Francesinha)

  • Noshi Cafe

  • Mercador Cafe

  • DaTerra (here you can try a vegan pastel de nata, the famous Portugal pastry!)

  • Gito Natural wine Bar

  • Fabrica Coffee

  • Base Porto

  • Outra Espécie

  • Cruel Ristorante

  • Candelabro

  • The Wall Bar

We filmed almost everything we did in Porto in our YouTube vlog so make you to watch that below for more info!

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Shanna Sciaraporto, portugal, europeComment