Porto ages its wine on the other side of the river.
Which lodge pours the tawny worth crossing for. What a full day in the Douro costs once lunch and the boat are counted. Whether Braga and Guimarães fit into one day out. Reviews of every tour you can book in Porto and the north.
Four bookings a first weekend in Porto hangs off.
A cellar, the valley, fifty minutes on the water and a room with a guitar in it. What each costs and how long it takes.
01The first afternoonPorto: Taylor’s Port Cellars & TastingTaylor’s barrel halls above Gaia, then the tasting on the terrace with the whole city across the water.
02The day upstreamFrom Porto: Douro Valley w/ Boat Tour, Wine Tasting & LunchThe valley by minibus: two quintas, lunch among the terraces, and an hour on the river before the drive back.
03Fifty minutes afloatPorto: Six Bridges CruiseThe six-bridge run out of Ribeira. Short, cheap, and the only angle that shows you how the city is stacked.
04The eveningPorto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port WineFado in a small room with a glass of port, close enough to hear the guitarist’s fingers on the frets.
Porto first, then the valley, the walkways and the Minho towns.
Porto
Douro Valley
Aveiro
Arouca
Braga
Guimarães
Viana do CasteloPort is aged in Gaia and poured three different ways.
Every house on the south bank runs the same shape of visit and prices it differently. Three kinds of tasting, what each costs to walk into, and where the wine was actually grown.
The days out most travellers in Porto book.
Every review, in one list →The tours more people take here than anything else, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
The Unvanquished Tour in Porto City Center
Explore Porto’s historic center on a 2.5-hour pay-what-you-want walk covering Lello, São Bento, the cathedral, and local stories.
From · $3
Read our review →
2
From Porto: Douro Valley w/ Boat Tour, Wine Tasting & Lunch
from $82
3
Complete Douro Valley Wine Tour with Lunch, Wine Tastings and River Cruise
from $101
4
Porto: Six Bridges Cruise
from $21
5
Porto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port Wine
from $23
6
Porto: 6 Bridges Douro River Cruise
from $23
7
Porto: Torre dos Clerigos Entrance Ticket
from $11
8
Douro Valley: Wine Tour with Lunch, Tastings & River Cruise
from $113
The river decides how a day in Porto goes.
Six bridges in fifty minutes out of Ribeira, a rabelo from Pinhão with terraces climbing both banks, a sunset deck and a glass of white port. This city looks better from the water than from any street in it.
Porto, the valley behind it, and four places within an hour.
A granite city on a gorge of a river, the terraced valley that fills its barrels, a lagoon town with painted boats, a footbridge over white water, and the two Minho towns Portugal began in.
Porto rewards a morning on foot and an afternoon on the water.
Up Clérigos before the queue builds, down through the Ribeira lanes to the quay, back across the top deck of the Dom Luís at dusk. Almost everything else in the city sits within twenty minutes of that walk.
- 1The Unvanquished Tour in Porto City Centerfrom $3
- 2From Porto: Douro Valley w/ Boat Tour, Wine Tasting & Lunchfrom $82
- 3Complete Douro Valley Wine Tour with Lunch, Wine Tastings and River Cruisefrom $101
What a day out in Porto actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good share of the best of the north comes in under the price of dinner for two.
Cellar tastings, river cruises, tower tickets and walking mornings in the old town.
- 1Porto: Six Bridges Cruisefrom $21
- 2Porto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port Winefrom $23
- 3Porto: 6 Bridges Douro River Cruisefrom $23
The full-day standards: the Douro with lunch, Braga and Guimarães, the Arouca walkways.
Private drivers, small-group valley days with a long lunch, and the helicopter over the gorge.
Three things that happen in the north and nowhere else.
Wine cellars exist everywhere. Ageing houses stacked along one riverbank, a steel walkway bolted to a gorge wall, and a song with rules do not.
The Gaia lodges
Port is made upstream and matured down here, in long low buildings on the Gaia bank where the temperature barely moves. Taylor’s, Cálem, Cockburn’s and the rest sit within ten minutes of each other, each with its own barrel hall and its own idea of how many glasses a visit ends with. The walk over the bridge is part of it.
- 1Porto: Cálem Cellar Tour, Interactive Museum & Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,113 reviews
- 2Porto: Cálem Cellar Tour, Fado Show & Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,530 reviews
- 3Porto: Cockburn’s Port Lodge Tour and Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,360 reviews
The Paiva walkways and the 516
Eight kilometres of timber decking run along the Paiva river through a granite gorge an hour south-east of Porto, and at the top of it hangs the 516: a suspension footbridge over the white water, crossed on a booked slot in a wobbling line of people. The walkways are stairs, thousands of them, and the river is loud the whole way.
- 1From Porto: Aveiro, Paiva Walkways and Arouca 516 Footbridge★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 957 reviews
- 2516 Arouca Bridge & Paiva Walkways Tour with Lunch from Porto★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 645 reviews
- 3From Porto: Arouca 516 and Paiva Walkways Guided Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 456 reviews
Fado, the Porto way
Fado belongs to Lisbon by reputation, but Porto keeps it in smaller rooms: thirty chairs, a Portuguese guitar with twelve strings, and a rule that nobody talks while the singer is going. Most shows run a single set with a glass of port, and the back row is close enough to see the fingering.
- 1Porto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port Wine★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 6,498 reviews
- 2Porto: Cálem Cellar Tour, Fado Show & Wine Tasting★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,530 reviews
- 3Porto: Authentic Fado Show, Port Wine & Handmade Instruments★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,737 reviews
Four Porto bookings that will not wait.
Most of this city can be sorted over breakfast. These four run on timed slots, one morning departure, and rooms with thirty chairs in them.
- 01Porto Walking Tour, Lello Bookshop, River Cruise and Cable CarEntry to the bookshop is a timed voucher and the queue outside is real. It is bought before you turn up, not at the door.
- 02From Porto: Aveiro, Paiva Walkways and Arouca 516 FootbridgeThe 516 bridge is crossed on a booked slot, and the walkways shut when the river weather turns.
- 03From Porto: Douro Valley w/ Boat Tour, Wine Tasting & LunchValley days leave Porto early in one minibus. Through harvest the small-group ones are gone days ahead.
- 04Porto: Live Fado Show with Glass of Port WineFado rooms hold thirty people and run one set a night. Late booking means the back wall, if anything.
Porto rains sideways, and the best of it is indoors anyway.
Winter and spring hand the city a grey afternoon most weeks, and the answer is already here: barrel halls that never see daylight, a tile studio, somebody’s kitchen, a bookshop with a red staircase. Keep the cruise for the clear day and these for the wet one.
By place — the city, the valley, the belt
By kind of day — cellar, boat, gorge or kitchen
The newest Porto tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Private Walking Tour, highlights and secrets of Porto
Read our review →
Portuguese Wine Tasting w Local Cheese & Cold Cuts pairing
Read our review →
Private Porto Half-Day Tour – Wine Cellars & Cheese Tasting
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Small Painting Group with a Local Artist in Porto
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Porto: Full-Day All-Inclusive Private City Sightseeing Tour
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From Peso da Régua: Visit 3 wineries, tasting and viewpoint
Read our review →
Private Tour to Santiago de Compostela and its stunning Cathedral
Read our review →
From Arouca: Paiva River Rafting Adventure – Adventure Tour
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Private 3-hour walking tour of Porto with official tour guide
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From Arouca: Canyoning Adventure – Adventure Tour
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Private Tour to Aveiro, to the Sparkling Wine Cellars and Piglet Tasting
Read our review →