We are considering taking the Douro River Valley cruise to Regua and then the historic train from Regua to Pinhao, round trip. Has anyone experienced this and can give guidance. This would be for mid-September.
I haven't experienced that, but my suggestion is to skip the cruise to Regua and take the regular train from Porto. We rode the train from Porto to Pinhão, but I've heard that most of the cruise from Porto is pretty boring. The train is a couple of hours whereas the cruise is all day. But I think that the historic train you are looking at would be fun.
Something to consider when planning your historic train trip.
We took a historic train trip at another location in Portugal and reggreted it.
The steam train is powered by coal, the sulphur smell of the burning coal was very strong and unpleasant.
Now we only travel on electric trains.