Portugal was at the top of our honeymoon destination list since the very beginning, although I’m not quite sure how it got there. A year and a half after our wedding, we finally booked our flights to three Portuguese destinations: Porto, São Miguel and a resort in the Algarve. We researched each destination extensively (as we do with most trips) to make the most of our limited time in each location.
Shoulder season in Portugal begins in April and I’m so glad we took this trip before most tourists arrived for the summer. The weather was great and attractions were well-staffed, but nowhere felt crowded. Many of the tourists we did see seemed to be from within Portugal itself; we crossed paths with very few Americans, despite it feeling like everyone I follow on Instagram visited Portugal in the last year. Perhaps if I lived somewhere warmer or sunnier than Buffalo, shoulder season wouldn’t be worth the risk of less than ideal weather. But if you’re going to need an umbrella either way, I’d rather be walking on cobblestones than driving the 290.
We read dozens of blog posts and forum threads to decide which city we’d visit on the trip, Porto or Lisbon. Porto is smaller and older (due to a devastating 18th-century earthquake in Lisbon), while Lisbon feels like a European capital city (because it is). Porto seemed like a better fit within this itinerary but I’d love to see Lisbon someday too.
Three (ish) days were perfect for Porto. If we had more time here, we would have spent it outside city limits, most likely on a day trip into the Douro Valley, or perhaps in a beach town on the Atlantic Coast. Instead, we made the very most of our three days within the city, wandering between incredible meals, great coffee shops and stunning buildings.
Day 1
We landed in Porto on a Thursday afternoon after a red-eye from Toronto and, because we had booked apartment-style accommodations, we couldn’t check in early. While this meant rolling carry ons across cobblestones for a couple of hours, otherwise our stay at Mouzinho 160 was perfect. Two full bathrooms?! A game changer. The apartment’s central location (and the city’s relatively small downtown) was also great; we stopped in multiple times a day for water, the aforementioned bathrooms and extra layers, which eliminated that very specific tourist feeling of packing everything you might need for the day in the smallest, cutest bag possible.
While waiting to check in, we had lunch at Prégar‘s Baixa location. The lovely staff gamely stored our suitcases and fed us excellent steak sandwiches, which was exactly what we needed after a long day of travel. This was just the first of many delicious meals in Porto. Of course, we had researched restaurants fairly extensively beforehand, and we travel with a pretty strict policy of eating only at places with at least 4.5 stars on Google when possible, but I really think you’d have to try to have a bad meal in this city.
We still had a half hour or so until check-in, so we headed up Rua de Mouzinho da Silveira to the closest location of Fábrica Coffee Roasters, a regional chain with shops in Porto and Lisbon. Coffee is deeply ingrained in Portuguese culture and there’s no shortage of third wave roasters and brewers to choose from. The coffee was great—we split one, because the next thing on our itinerary was a nap—but the views were even better. This Fábrica location (which it seems has since closed) was on the second floor of a centuries-old stone building, with seating along the open windows that lets you watch the busy street below while sipping your drink.
This is the part where we (finally) checked in, showered and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Next, we headed out for dinner, stopping on our way to Thailander to see the Torre dos Clérigos and Igreja de Carmo, our first glimpse of Portugal’s iconic azulejo tiles, which adorn buildings throughout the city.
After dinner we headed to Baobab, an excellent craft beer bar exclusively serving local beers. The friendly expat bartender (who was also the bar’s owner) had great recommendations for both of us. Beer culture is really interesting in Portugal; it’s closely tied to the country’s political history, which limited options to regional favorites Super Bock (in the north) and Sagres (in the south) until just a few decades ago. After Baobab, we stopped at A Fábrica da Picaria; the beer wasn’t as good here but we had a nice time sipping our drinks outside on a warm spring night.
While the night was still young, we knew we needed to get a good night’s sleep before our first full day in Portugal. We went to be without setting an alarm, reasoning nothing we had planned for the next day needed to happen very early.
Day 2
We woke up mid-morning on our first of two full days in Porto. We headed up worn stone steps and steep streets to breakfast at CAPELA 51. This small, cash-only spot was the only place we ate in Porto where our server didn’t speak English but he was seemingly unbothered by our mispronunciation and pointing as we ordered. Breakfast in Portugal is often a ham and cheese sandwich; most places had an “American” option on the menu, which included an egg.
We headed out the door into the sunny morning, off to do the most touristy items on our itinerary: Igreja e Museu de São Francisco do Porto and Palácio da Bolsa. At one time, the Portuguese empire was the largest in the world; nowhere is that more obvious than the gold-plated interiors of these buildings. Photos are not allowed inside the chapel at Igreja de São Francisco, although they are permitted in the attached convent and catacombs. We wandered through the buildings, taking in the beautiful Gothic and Baroque architecture and artistry more than anything else.
We left the church and booked the next English tour at Palácio da Bolsa, which was built to house Porto’s stock exchange in the 1800s and still serves as offices for the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We spent our time waiting for the tour eating gelato and window shopping in perfect spring weather. The tour itself was informative and fun. There is so much to see; the detail in everything from the wood floors to the plasterwork is truly astonishing.
The tour was long enough that we were starting to get hungry, so we headed northeast across the city center to A Sandeira do Porto for huge sandwiches packed with fresh ingredients. From there, it was just a 5-minute walk to Porto São Bento, the city’s gorgeous train station.
From there, we walked another 10 minutes to the Mercado do Bolhão, which was very clean and had an excellent mix of vendors: food, coffee, flowers and gifts. If we hadn’t been on the first leg of a three-part, three-climate trip without a checked bag, I would have absolutely crushed stocking stuffers here. At this point, we were less than a block from Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina, which is adorned with stunning azulejo tiles on two sides, so we stopped for a couple of photos before grabbing a quick pick-me-up at C’alma Coffee Room as they were closing for the day.
We slowly made our way back toward the river, stopping first at Armazém da Cerveja for a craft beer and a couple of rounds of cards in the courtyard. We had another beer at Musa das Virtudes with a crowd that seemed to be a mix of European tourists and locals enjoying happy hour. The tables just outside the door had the potential of a great sunset view, thanks to their location across a quiet street from Parque das Virtudes, which sits on a hill over the Douro River. The clouds covered the sun just as it slipped past the horizon, but it was still a lovely place to enjoy a drink. As it got dark, we walked to Generosa Pão e Pizza, the cutest little (and I do mean little) pizza shop, and managed to grab the last pizza of the night.
The last stop of the night was Callejero, a Mexican restaurant that exceeded our (albeit low) expectations for tacos in Porto. We sat outside on the busy street with our food and margaritas, people watching on the busy street that only got busier while we ate.
Day 3
We started our third day in Porto a little bit earlier with coffee at SO Coffee Roasters‘ Sá de Noronha shop (one of three locations in the city) before totally over-the-top, absolutely delicious, American-style brunch at Swallow Decadent Brunch. Unfortunately, it looks like this cute spot has closed since we were there, but there are lots of brunch options to choose from. We also considered CA Downtown, STORY and Do Norte Café by Hungry Biker.
After brunch, we walked all the way down to the Douro River, wandering through the alleys of La Ribeira before we ended up at My Coffee Porto, a darling coffee shop with stunning views of the River and Vila Nova de Gaia beyond. The banks of Vila Nova de Gaia, the city directly across the Douro River from Porto, are dotted with port wine cellars. Port wine can only truly be called such if it’s made from grapes grown in Portugal’s Douro Valley, much like champagne is only from France’s Champagne region. Each year, the previous fall’s harvest is shipped to Vila Nova de Gaia to age into port wine’s various forms before it’s exported around the world.
Although we’re certainly not wine experts or fanatics, we felt a trip to Porto wouldn’t be complete without a couple of port wine tastings. So, after our third coffee of the morning (there were just so many good coffee shops and so little time!), we walked across the lower level of the Ponte Luís I bridge and headed to Porto Augusto’s to book a tour and tasting. Because we’re not port wine people, we didn’t feel the need to visit some of the internationally known brands like Graham’s, Taylor’s or Sandeman.
Instead, we chose this smaller, newer, Portuguese-owned business for its informative (but not overwhelming) tour and affordable tasting. While waiting the half hour or so for our tasting to start, we wandered into WOW Porto, a new “cultural district” with a handful of museums that seems to exist mostly to give people something to do between tastings. Back at Porto Augusto’s, I learned a lot about the production of port wine (most of which I promptly forgot) and also discovered I do like port wine—the older (and more expensive) the better.
I really wanted to see Half Rabbit, a found art installation by Bordalo II just a block from Porto Augusto’s, so we stopped there before one more tasting. We didn’t feel the need to walk any further west, knowing we had to head back across the bridge to Porto, so we opted for a tasting paired with people watching and charcuterie at Gaia Vinhos Quinta do Noval, a small wine shop right on the river.
We wanted to see the banks of the River from the upper level of Ponte Luís I, which required walking straight up a hill (and I do mean straight up) to Jardim do Morro, where you can access the top of the bridge. The walk back to Porto was very high up (
) but did offer incredible views of the two cities.
The one problem with brunch is that it throws off when you want to eat for the rest of the day. We were ready for our next meal midafternoon. We wanted to try Francesinha, a meat and cheese sandwich smothered in a tomato-y beer sauce that originated in Porto, and were running out of meals to do so. We headed back to Prégar to check this off our must-do list and followed the meal with pastel de nata, another Portuguese specialty, from Castro‘s only Porto location just a few doors down from the restaurant.
We used the rest of the afternoon to wander the nearby streets, stopping first at Prometeu Artesanato‘s Rua de Mouzinho da Silveira location for souvenir tiles and then again at Fabrica Coffee Roasters, where we split an espresso tonic made with orange tonic water that was *chef’s kiss.* Next we popped in and out of the shops on Rua das Flores, including the beautiful Claus Porto perfumery.
The sunset was looking promising, so we headed back to Musa and grabbed a park bench to enjoy our beers and watch the sun fade over the river—along with dozens of people enjoying 4/20. As it started to get dark, we walked back up the hill to Baobab for their anniversary party, which the owner had told us about on our first visit. The beer bar was much busier than on Thursday night (it seemed to be a gathering spot for what we assumed to be European expats) and we had our drinks outside.
We headed toward our apartment, with one more stop at FRIK Point for late night window service cocktails meant to be enjoyed at outdoor tables. My mojito hit the spot but recent reviews do not make me want to go back for a meal.
Note: The walk from Baobab to FRIK Point (and, to a lesser extent, back to the apartment) was really the only time I felt like I needed a tall male companion during our time in Porto.
Day 4
We needed to be on our way to the airport fairly early, so we got up with an alarm and headed to breakfast at a tourist trap near the apartment. It was fine, but we should have gotten up just a little earlier and walked just a little further to have CAPELA 51 again. Instead, we treated ourselves to one last pastel de nata from Castro, which we ate on a bench under a perfect blue sky at Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique. Then we headed back to the apartment to call an Uber to the airport for our flight to Ponta Delgada, where we’d spend our next 72ish hours.
