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5 Nights in Porto - Hop On/Hop Off for 2 days or just buy an Andante card?

Posted by (Fairport, NY) on

Hello! My husband & I were looking into purchasing a 2-day Hop On/Hop Off tour package which includes the 6 Bridges boat tour & wine tasting at Calem port lodge in Gaia. After reading many reviews, it seems that there were many complaints about long wait times for buses, a lack of communication regarding points of interest, and overall disappointment. We are now rethinking about purchasing this package.

It seems that the Andante Card may be best for us, but there are many variations that makes it difficult to determine which type to purchase. We will be spending the first - third days touring Porto. The fourth day, we're heading to Guimaraes. I think Comboios de Portugal had a special fare utilizing the Andante Card for the Guimaraes route. The fifth day, we're planning to take a r/t train for a day trip to Pinhao.

We're staying in the Bonfim district, so I foresee utilizing the metro quite a bit.

Am I on the right track (yes, pun intended!) with this strategy? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Muito obrigada!

Posted by
1455 posts

Public transport is very cheap in Porto so I wouldn’t worry too much about buying the exact best ticket. I just loaded my card with a certain number of journeys. The options were quite complicated on the machine but it worked fine and it’s about a euro a ride so not worth overthinking.

Posted by
8331 posts

We did Porto and a seven day Douro River cruise in 2018, it was great.
We stayed at The InPatio Guesthouse, BEST BnB EVER. We walked all over the city and didn't need transport.
Frankly, I don't think a HoHo bus would be good for Porto. Not sure if your boat was the only HoHo or what.

You didn't say what it cost. I would expect that you can do Porto on your own, however taking a boat up the river sounds great. If you can go all the way to Regua and Pinhao, that is even better.

Posted by
238 posts

Just my opinion, but the 6 bridges is kind of a tourist trap. Yes you see both margins, but you can see it better if you're not in a boat in the midle of the river. And the information is not accurate, and besides that it should be the 4 bridges not 6, as the boat don't go exactly to the 6 of them. Besides that, Porto is hilly, as you probably know, so the bridges are there in the high...

Concerning Calém: I have a particular atraction for this house, for private reasons. It is in fact gorgeous but... so are them all. Trust me, I visited them all, several times (when I was young, visits were free, and 3 glasses of port were offered at the end of it). You can buy tickets to visit this cellar or other without these "combinations".

Hop on/Hop off: Porto is a very old city, the most interesting area is the historic center, with very narrow streets were buses cannot go. So...

Posted by
45 posts

Thank you for your advisement, Helena. My husband and I are so excited to visit your city for 5 nights in late April, early May. Muito Obrigada!
Amy

Posted by
238 posts

Amy, I just forgot to tell you that in my opinion, after your legs, the best option to visit Porto are tuk-tuks. They go where the other transports don't go. But... they are very expensive! And you need some luck with the driver, some really like what they are doing and are very informative, others just do the ride and that's it.

If you trust your legs, just rely on them!

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