but, Porto first...

If there is one stop you must have in your itinerary to Portugal, it is Porto. If you feel Porto is only for Port/wine lovers, you are so wrong. The city boasts beautiful churches/cathedrals, famous Bolsa Palace, all the beautiful riverfront cafes' and unending strips of bars and restaurants.

Dom Luis Bridge

We spent about 4-5 days in Porto and that still was not enough. It was our first time in Porto so we could not cover a lot of points suggested in various travel books but we tried our best :). I added a couple of options for our itinerary for next September when we visit again plus a few more options in case you want to do non-wine things.

Porto is over 900 years old and a beautiful city. There is so much to do, I am sharing a few suggestions below and then will also share our itinerary.

Stay in Porto

1. There are multiple areas you can explore depending on what you want to do, a few ideas - Villa Nova de Gaia (majority of the wine lodges are here, great for Wine tasting), Ribeira (A UNESCO heritage site, best for nightlife and great cafe's by the river for Lunch too), Baixa (home of Porto University) and its nearby neighborhoods, Foz Do Duoro (a great old Town with delicious fresh grilled Fish in Matosinhos).. really there are so many places in Porto but if this is your first time to Porto, my suggestion would be Baixa, Ribeira or Villa Nova de Gaia. Note - If you do decide to stay in For or Villa Nova de Gaia, they are not super close to Porto downtown but an Uber or driving of 12mins can get you there.

2. There are many amazing hotel properties to choose it from Yeatman, Intercontinental, Torel Palace, Pestana Palacio etc. Once you have aligned on your budget, you can find the one that works best for you.

3. We decided to use Airbnb for our stay here that had beautiful views of Dom Luis bridge.

4. Fun Fact for my American friends - A lot of houses in Portugal do have Washers/Dryers however the dryers don't dry out your clothes the way they do in our US dryers so if you plan to do laundry, please keep that in mind. All hosts usually will provide you with a laundry stand to put your clothes for drying. Additionally, most of the time, a washer is in the kitchen.

Food in Porto

Porto trip is not complete till you have been to Matosinhos and tried their catch of the day, fresh

Matosinhos Beach

Seabass grilled with just sea salt (Caught in the morning and served at lunch). It is so delicious that you would want to eat here everyday. We went to a restaurant called "Sao Vantim". We got some Prawns with garlic sauce, grilled Seabass, bread/olives and butter all was to die for. Highly recommend it.

Fun tip - basket of bread, butter and Olives are not complimentary so feel free to decline if you don't want them but usually they cost between 2-4 EUR depending on the restaurant. Do try the local olives and Portuguese fresh cheese at at-least one restaurant.

Grilled Seabass, Cabbage, Roasted Potato @Sao Valentim

Prawns in Garlic, Butter Sauce @Sao Valentim

Sweet roasted Chestnuts, you will find local vendors by the streets. A cone of chestnuts is about 3 EUR and a great snack for you to enjoy. Just peel the roasted shell and pop it in your mouth.

Gelato - Please don't skip it. I heard from a friend's, Italian friend that Portuguese gelato is the only one that comes very close to Italian gelato. We went to a place called "Santini". Their Mango, coconut, Pistachio gelato's were really good and refreshing after a long walk.

Anything from Portuguese White/Red wine, Sangrias and Portuguese Sparkling wines are delicious to try. Some restaurants offer house red and white wine which are equally juicy and delicious to enjoy.

1. We enjoyed early brunch at Zenith Cocktail & Brunch and their Veggie Eggs Benedict was too good.

2. Coffee - Ok, so Portuguese Coffee requires its own bullet point. No matter where you go, the coffee is really good. Whether you like Espresso or with milk, they have it. Even their Servico's or service stations have great coffees (not to mention super clear restrooms).

Things to do in Porto

Try various Port wine tastings at Graham's, Calem and Kopke. For Graham's, I would recommend making an appointment. We were able to walk in to Calem and get an available table. However, I bet it would be busy during peak times so please check for reservation guidance.

Walk at Ribeira and find a waterfront lunch spot. We had lunch at one of the restaurants and it was delicious. Prepare to have long wait times before you can get a table. But the views and food is so worth the wait.

Ribeira at Porto

Greek Salad and Bacalau

Vinho Verde Sangria

Take a walk around and see Porto University, many churches, Porto Cathedral (one of the oldest monuments in Porto) and Bolsa Palace (requires to book a tour and takes about 30mins to complete the palace tour, a must visit).

Bolsa Palace

Picture credit - Livraria Lello

Go to Livraria Lello which is a bookstore in Porto. The story goes either JK Rowling got inspired or wrote a few chapters of Harry Potter here. The line is very long and they charge 5 euros to go inside. You can buy the ticket directly at the location just right before entering or on their website HERE

Take a walk on Dom Luis bridge. They say Gustave Eiffel (yep the Eiffel Tower dude) presented this projected however it was ultimately executed by one of his students - Theophile Seyrig.

Wine to enjoy

1. Port - Calem, Graham's. I never got to visit Taylors or Cockburn so if you have time, try to enjoy those as well. Important to note - If you like your Port to smell like spices, taste intense and hard liquor like, try older Tawnies like 30-40year old. If you like your Port to be slightly milder but taste more fruity - try Vintage. I was told Kopke is the oldest wine house and their port wine is good. We ended up picking a bottle of their Tawny from Duty free :)

2. Verde/White/Sparkling - Carm, house white wine of the restaurants, Azul Portugal.

3. Tinto (Red) - Esteva, Evel, Trinca Bolotas, Palato, Altano, Monsaraz, Vallado, Macanita, Esporao, Vallado, Monte Velho. We also had a few Syrah blends which I don't recall. But you can enjoy any of these and more Portuguese red wines and they are easily available in even the mini grocery stores. We would pick up a bottle every day and bring home to drink. The wines are very light, fruity and Syrah blends pack a good acidity for you to enjoy.

Our itinerary

1. We reached from Lisbon to Porto in evening. We were a bit tired from our Obidos day trip and a long driver, we ordered some Uber eats and called it a night. We ordered food from a place called Thamel. We had an order of veg Chowmein and momo’s done 3 ways. Meal was so so delicious.

2. Woke up and had some amazing espresso at home. Went to meet a friend at Zenith Cocktail and Brunch for some delicious brunch. Things we ordered - Burger, Sweet Potato Chips (must eat), veggie eggs Benedict, omelet with side of bread, double espresso, coke and Cappuccino.

3. We took a walking tour and saw - Porto University, Livraria Lello, Porto Cathedral and went to Bolsa palace but got the tickets for next day. We stopped by for some gelato and then drove to Foz to see some amazing Sunset. After that we went to a bakery called "Tavi" which is right in front of the ocean and we enjoyed some more coffee and dessert. Their fresh cheesecake is really good. We reached home, opened a bottle of Duoro wine and called it a night.

4. Next day, we enjoyed some more coffee at a local cafe and drove to Bolsa Palace. We finished the tour and stopped by for some coffee and croissant. Ok, so their butter Croissant was really good. We hung out there and then walked all the way to Ribeira. After looking for spots, we found a great place to sit where we enjoyed some grilled cod-fish, Salad with 1 liter of white wine Sangria (best white wine sangria I have had). We spent good 3 hours here and it was the highlight of our trip.

5. In evening, we went to Calem's and did a Port wine tasting. We purchased their 1999 Colheita and Special reserve. We were so tired that night that we ended up going home and cooked some eggs and toast for dinner and wrapped it up.

6. It was our last full day in Porto so we enjoyed our time in morning with some great coffee and views. My husband had a meeting so I decided to go a Graham's for Port tasting. I had made an appointment in advance. I enjoyed the tour and tasting and purchased 2 bottles of vintage port. We met for lunch at Matosinhos and I talked highly about it above. After lunch, he went back for another client meeting and I hung out at Praia de Matosinhos. There is a coffee shop right at the beach, I had great time enjoying some coffee, views and Whastapp video calls with Mother and Sisters. We met and ordered some food at home to unwind.

7. We left from Porto and had a great day trip to Aveiro and Fatima.

8. Souvenirs - I purchased a lot of them. Porto keychains, simple jute bags, fridge magnets, coasters etc. There are so many of them that you can walk around and compare the prices before you actually purchased anything. I purchased fridge magnets for about 1 EUR each, small coasters 2 for 5 EUR, Keychains ranged between 2-4 EUR depending on style. (For some reason, I thought all the Souvenirs in Porto were high quality and cheaper than the ones we bought in Lisbon)

I really hope you enjoy your time in Porto.