Porto

SHARE THIS PAGE

Return flights from Manchester for £38! The best deals are “out of season”, early March has amazing prices on offer.

Porto is famous for it’s gorgeous buildings,with so many of them covered in beautiful blue and white tiles. The train station (São Bento) interior is a must see for tiles, plus Igreja do Carmo and Capela das Almas are the best for those picture-perfect photos!

Where we stayed

Eurostars Porto Centro is a budget friendly hotel which is centrally located with all the sites right on your doorstep. This hotel offers nice little extra surprises in the form of a free welcome drink, plus free little pastries (pastel de nata) at reception.

As a four star hotel it was nicely decorated, clean and comfortable.

We really liked the location because it was central and we felt safe. It was in our opinion a good base but nothing really to write home about. As Ronseal says, it did what it said on the tin and for the price we paid, it was good.

Where we stayed

Everything in Porto is walkable so you can leisurely stroll through the city at your own pace. However, if you do fancy a break from the city, take the old fashioned “tourist tram” to the beach one day. What’s not to live, a beach and a beautiful city.

There was also the wonderful sightseeing cruise’s, each with incredible details about the history of Porto, it bridges and how the Expo came about. It’s also nice to just sit and enjoy the beautiful buildings on a relaxing boat ride. When we went out of season, the prices were very reasonable, but still worth full price in season. Do also buy your tickets in advance to ensure your prefered trip time.

Visit the worlds most delightful library, Livraria Lello. It is so enchanting, it is strongly rumoured that it was the inspiration of the Hogwarts library in Harry Potter. Do note that it is VERY popular and even out of season there are often long queues. They do also charge 10 euros to enter, which can be redeemed against a book.

Finally, breath in the wonderful street art and architecture as it’s seriously difficult to take a wrong turn in this beautiful city. If it isn’t the winding streets, gorgeous buildings, parks and heritage then you’ll in awe of the amazing tile work and street art, young and old.

Where we stayed

There are three things Porto is famed for when it comes to food and drink, Pasteis De Nata (a Portuguese tart similar to an egg tart but sweeter), sardines and of course port! Where you try these delicacies from are plentiful and no need for recommendations on where to find them, only that you should.

We booked our hotel with Hotel.com and had breakfast included one of our nights as a VIP upgrade. On the second morning, however, we ventured to Café A Brasileira which was a few yards for Eurostars Porto Centro. Here we had what seemed the never-ending brunch option. It was absolutely existquitte and worked out with the excahnge rate at the time £11 each. Considering the quaility of food, service and volume of food, this was exceptinonal.

Our lunchtime favourite was a relaxing lunch on the beach at Praia Da Luz restaurant, approximately a 15-minute walk from the end of the tram line. A sandwich and glass of wine each cost a total of £12.23, a far better spend than two big mac meals!

With regards to evening restaurants, the most beautiful we visited was Capela Incomum. Set in an old church it had a fantastic choice of wines and sharing platters however we’d recommend more for a light bite.