How to spend a weekend in Porto, making sure you got the sightseeing covered and also have some quality time enjoying their amazing food and wine... Here you can find my tips and favourite places.
This time we chose to take a flat, instead of a hotel. The flat was in the city centre, in Trindade - a good walking distance to almost every point of interest in #Porto. It was perfect for us, as we love discovering by walking whenever possible. In the city, we didn't use any public transport, taxis, uber etc., but I would recommend you to take a short ride with their cute little trams.
Friday evening
We arrived in Porto in the late afternoon, so this day was a bit lost, but we still had a nice dinner at 'Restaurante Coma'.
They also have some vegetarian options, which is a must for me when going to a restaurant. I could've been even happier if there were also more vegan options, but the place was more than ok for the people who eat everything.
Saturday
We took tons of pictures with the famous azulejo tile walls in Porto.
Those ceramic tiles are everywhere to find - on walls, benches, street signs, fountains. A true inspiration for the eye.
We first went to see them at the train station and wow... I was amazed. There were also a lot of tourist groups coming to admire those walls and to learn about their historical meaning.
After this, we climbed up the street to see the Church of Saint Ildefonso. I loved it.
Next was Catedral Do Porto. Prepare to pay an entrance fee of 3 euro (possible to pay by cash and card). The queue was acceptable and the place was worth a visit...or two. We had to be patient there as we wanted to take a picture of the whole corridor without any people on it and believe me this was not an easy task (see the picture above).
Finally, we found some time to eat. Through recommendations, we finished having brunch at #Zenith. This place is a paradise for brunchers and food lovers in general. Such a wide choice and great quality. We didn't have to wait a lot as there was a free table outside and thanks to the windy day, most of the people were waiting for a table inside. Be aware that whenever you go to 'Zenith', there is always a queue, but booking is not possible. Btw I chose a vegan shamshuka and a beetroot toast. Yummyy...
After the brunch, we discovered further the city. We went to see the monuments at the #Ribeira area, where you can also enjoy the street music, eat, drink a glass of wine on the riverbank, look at the boats sailing through Douro river, or get a jet ski if you miss your daily dose of adrenalin. Crossing the Luis bridge was crazy, thanks to the wind.
After we crossed it, we went to take a cable car (6 euro) from Cais de Gaia up to where we did a bit of discovery by ourselves and found an amazing rock with an insane view over Porto. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We were hidden in the middle of the city with an open horizon and our only visitors were the Larus flying around.
After we chilled there we went for a drink outside in the Ribeira area to enjoy the Porto spirit. We finished the night having dinner at 'Cantinho do Avillez', a cute Michelin restaurant. We had to eat at the bar as we didn't have a reservation, so if you are planning of going there book in advance. We usually always do it, but for this trip, we were just always lucky to still get a table without a reservation even if all the restaurants were overfull.
Sunday
At our last full day in Porto, we went to Livravia Lello - one of the world's oldest libraries and J.K.Rowling inspiration for Harry Potter. As a huge Harry Potter fan, I was so excited to visit it and did a research how to get there skipping the crazy queues, so a tip for you: buy a priority ticket from 'Tripadvisor' which costs 14 euro and get you also 2 free books about the library. The normal ticket is 5 euro, but with it, you still have to wait a lot. Even with our priority tickets, we went 45 minutes before opening to check in and to be from the first visitors. Before to go out it was already impossible to take pictures. Even 45 minutes before the opening there was already quite a long queue, so if you want really to see and capture something you should be aware of that. If you are not a book rat and Harry Potter fan you may skip this place, but for me, it was worth it.
Next, we went to take some blue wall pictures at the cathedral across the square close to the library.
Our favourite brunch place 'Zenith' was so close that we didn't have a choice, but to eat there again. Tip for you when brunching there: If you rate them on Tripadvisor you get a free coffee. Well, it's not a lot, but we were happy to rate them anyway.
After brunch we made our way to Jardins do Palácio de Cristal. Beautiful gardens with a view over the Douro river and the city. Peacocks, ducks and other kinds of birds were there to find. If you have some more time and want to enjoy the sun and the view, definitely give it a visit.
When we finished chilling there, we headed to the centre and the famous 'Café Majestic' which was unfortunately closed, so instead, we did some quick shopping at the same street the café is based (Rua Santa Catarina) and prepared for our last dinner in Porto. Before the dinner, we caught the sunset with some cocktails and great outdoors music.
Usually, I am not drinking alcohol (except wine), so I was already tired, but we went to eat at a cute place with good food and reasonable prices. The restaurant is called 'Raiz'.
This was our last evening there. On the next day, we had our flight back to Switzerland at noon. A quick weekend getaway which we will never forget.
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