Day trip to Guimaraes

We slept there a few days, in the Pousada. We had a car. It was a nice visit. We took the cable car up to a town park, filled with locals enjoying the weekend. Check what else you can do without a car. I thought it was nicer than a vineyard or port-producer, but that's a matter of taste.

I noticed the same thing. There are several tours available To Guimaraes, but I was surprised Rick says nothing about it in his book. Instead, i think we will visit Aveiro and Costa Nova.

I'd recommend Guimaraes and/or Braga. We spent 3 days in the Minho area and loved it.

I normally like Rick Steve's books, but in regards to Portugal, I wasn't as impressed and would recommend supplementing it with other sources. One source is JulieDawnFox Blog which does a good job of covering the Minho region.

https://juliedawnfox.com/tag/minho/

Completely personally opinion, but I prefer Guimaraes to Aveiro and Costa Nova.

Thank you!

A great place to pair with Braga and Bom Jesus. Two of my faves. Your tours in Porto and Braga offer a great escorted day tour to all the highlights.

We took the train from Porto to Guimaraes. This is why. “ With its hilltop castle and medieval architecture, it is said to be Portugal's birthplace, the city boasts UNESCO status and houses manicured gardens, a historic palace, and a 13th-century church.” It was well-worth a day-trip and easy to get to. Just cause RS doesn’t mention it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a visit!!

It's probably best to rely on word of mouth as well as a selection of guidebooks. I agree on Julie Fox
....she has a lots of information that explores less crowded areas. Having been to Aveiro..yes its pretty but Guimaraes and Braga are prettier in my opinion.

RS doesn't cover anything in Portugal north of Porto. I've found Lonely Planet helpful for that area.

It's definitely to be recommended: I visited Guimarães in late 2017 and loved it; it's a beautiful medieval city where I gladly spend three nights, and could easily have stayed longer. If it's not mentioned in the RS guidebook, that's probably one of its saving graces.

Not Aveiro. We visited both and much preferred guimaraes.

Guimares is the first capital city of Portugal. Do not miss it. Aviero does not begin to compare to Guimares. We enjoyed our stay in the Pousada in Guimares.
Rick Steve’s’ books focus on where his tours go and and are quite limited in their coverage.

I am currently in Portugal on vacation. We did a "day trip" to Guimaraes while staying in Porto. In my opinion, it was not worth it. We took the train (1 hour each way), but our return train, which was listed as happening, ended up being canceled due to the strikes. So, we had to wait 2 additional hours for a train to return to Porto after seeing the sights. I inquired about buses, but the staff at the train station said they didn't know anything about that.

The staff at our hotel said we could do Guimaraes in a morning. They were right. If you are thinking of visiting other things in the area, then sure do a stop in Guimaraes. For us, it was not worth it as we had limited time in Porto. I am not sure if you are planning to take the train here or drive from Porto. The train is a decent uphill & downhill walk to where the historical sights are.

I don’t know whether Guimarães has changed in the past five years, but I found at the time of my visit (Dec. 2017) that with three good museums, several old churches, a castle, a large and furnished 15th-century manor house, several restaurants and cafes, a cable-car to a hill-top viewpoint, and a beautiful historic center to explore, there was quite enough to fill two full days in a leisureluy way. It may not have the Grand Visual Spectacles some tourists require — no Taj Mahal, Versailles Palace, Colosseum — but Guimarães gets uniformly good reviews on this and other forums, and I saw for myself why.

We are going to Portugal in June, and have lined up a guide to take us from Porto to Braga, Guimarães, and several stops in between. I'm looking forward to it as these both have been recommended by others.

The Minho region was my favorite area of Portugal.

We just returned from a trip that included 3 days in Braga and 3 days in Guimaraes. Both are worth more than a day trip. Also consider Viana do Castelo.