Porto: Full Day City Tour

It was in the Porto and in the North regions that Portugal was founded in the 12th century and the Portuguese became a people and a nation. Porto, a World Heritage city, is the gateway and departure point for a journey across the natural and cultural diversity of the region. It is known for the Port wine which is shipped from here all over the world, but also for a heritage which combines ancient churches and monuments, such as the Cathedral and the Church of São Francisco, and modern buildings, such as Casa da Música and the Serralves Museum.

The Porto Cathedral, located in the heart of Porto's historic city center, is one of Portugal's oldest and most important monuments. Also known as the church of Santa Maria do Porto, de Nossa Senhora do Porto da Eterna Salvação or Nossa Senhora da Vandoma. The guide will introduce you to Porto and Portugal history and will explain the archictecture of the building from the exterior and show the incredible views of the river and the wine cellars in Gaia.

Enter this train station and observe its twenty thousand painted tiles to discover the history of Portugal. Built at the beggining of the twentieth century on the exact location of the former Convent of St. Bento de Avé-Maria.

The main city center, impressive by the facades of the buildings that surround it. The gray tones of this huge boulevard will surprise you. The Historic Centre of Porto, the oldest area of the city and classified as World Heritage by UNESCO since 1996, is comprised of the civil parishes of Sé, Vitória, São Nicolau and Miragaia (including the Porto Wine Lodges). Dating back to Medieval times, and despite all the changes over the years, the Historic Centre of Porto maintains its unique urban characteristics, which are a world apart from other European cities. We will now take you on a panoramic tour through the typical streets in this part of the city, where you'll notice various monuments of incalculable cultural wealth and value, as though time had stood still in the Middle Ages!

The Clérigos Tower, is undoubtedly the ex-libris of the city. The baroque characteristics that define it are the maximum expression of the baroque spectacularity, where the typical motifs of this style give the tower movement and beauty. It was designed by Nicolau Nasoni, an architect of Italian origin. He stamped his mark on many monuments around Oporto and the north of Portugal. Nasoni, on his request, was buried here in a small chapel with its gateway at the same level as the top of the double bolster stairway.

Now its time to discover the Port Wine Lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia Port wine is born in the valley of the River Douro, but it is beside the city that gave it its name that it ages and gains the flavour that makes it quite unmistakable. The river has always been used to transport the wine barrels to the quays of Vila Nova de Gaia, where the lodges are clustered in which the wine ages before being marketed worldwide. You will get a Guided visit to a renown Port Wine Lodge in Gaia, getting to know the history and process of production of this unique wine. To end our morning part of the tour and to open your appetite for lunch, you will be able to taste and try different Port Wines samples.

Back in Porto, it's time for lunch. You will have some free time to have lunch in the city (not included), feel free to ask your guide for some good references in town.

After lunch, Grab your camera, relax and enjoy the views of Porto and Gaia from the Douro river. On board of a traditional "Rebelo" boat, you will sail through the 6 bridges that cross the river into Porto.

To fully discover Porto and its history you must go to Foz do Douro. Facing the Atlantic you'll be struck by an incredible quality of life, the utmost romantic walks where every evening sun and sea merge into one spectacular climax. These beaches proudly display the blue flag eco-label, a sign of high quality unpolluted seawater. Take a stroll under the "Pergola da Foz" built in the 1930s. As the story goes, the Mayor of Porto’s wife at the time, had been so enchanted by the pergola of the "Promenade des Anglais » in the French town of Nice that she simply had to have the same in Porto. Here it is called the "Praia dos Ingleses" a reminder that the English (and other British citizens!) have always enjoyed a close relationship with Portugal.

One of Oporto’s leading cultural venues, designed by the architect, Rem Koolhaas. In the Rotunda da Boavista roundabout, half way between the historic centre centre and the Foz zone, we encounter a large-scale, daringly original building that is sure to catch anyone’s attention: the Casa da Música or “House of Music”. The building was designed by the distinguished Dutch architect and urbanist, Rem Koolhaas and was conceived in order to cater to an innovative cultural project of Porto 2001-European Capital of Culture.

We'll end our tour discovering the modern part of the city. Boavista area, with the impressive Casa da Musica building, the biggest avenue that has the name of the area and the city park.