Greetings, fellow travel enthusiasts!
My girlfriend and I are staying a week in Porto this summer and would like to plan a side-trip or two. What would you recommend? Coimbra? Foz? Guimarães?
I look forward to hearing back from you. Obrigado!
Posted by
345 posts
Bom Jesus in Braga and the castle in Guimarães are my suggestions.
They are both about 1 hour away by public transit .
Wrote a trip report that has some photos of Braga and Bom Jesus ( it's fairly long , you'll have to scroll to the Braga photos) if you want to check it out
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/extended-trip-to-portugal-1711933/page5/
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1797 posts
Coimbra and Foz are too far, iMO. Braga, Douro valley and Guimaraes would be my picks.
Posted by
8185 posts
We did a day trip to Santiago de Compostela and it was great.
Also, take the train up the Douro River Valley to Regua or Pinhao.
Posted by
11558 posts
We spent several nights in Guimares before arriving in Porto, wonderful , historic city.
Posted by
68 posts
geovagriffith, isn't Santiago de Compostela a long day trip from Porto? Did you drive or take public transportation?
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9202 posts
Santiago de Compestela from Porto??? That is 3-3.5 hours each way. That is not a day trip in my opinion.
There area a lot of towns on the coastal and central Camino paths that might be of interest. Barcelos, Vila do Conde, Valenca (though this might be too far for a day trip)
Posted by
8185 posts
We did a day tour with a local company, I don't remember the name. It wasn't a long drive. We even stopped a one village on the Spanish border and walked around for about an hour.
Posted by
8185 posts
My apple maps says that the trip to Santiago de Compostela is 2 hours and 48 minutes. I think we did it in about 2.5 hours. The ride is scenic and Santiago is great.