We are doing the "Heart of Portugal in 12 Days" tour beginning next week. At the conclusion of the tour in Porto, we have all day before we need to head to the airport for an evening flight to London. If you've been on this tour and found something fun and interesting to do that was not included in the Heart of Portugal tour, please share!
Posted by
Calgary, AB, Canada
481 posts
I haven't been on the tour, so don't know for sure what you will see, but I took a look at what they include.
If you don't go to one of the Port lodges on the tour, I would recommend that as they are intriguing to see and learn about. You can always choose a very small tasting, I think, if you don't want to have drank too much before your flight home.
Other sites we enjoyed were the Chrystal Palace gardens, a little bit of a walk but were pretty.
If you have not seen too many churches there is also Igreja dos Carmelitas and Igreja do Carmo,. Two churches side by side that were kind of interesting to see. I believe they are near the bookshop and torre de clerigos, although it has been a while.
Posted by
OP
Sacramento CA
30 posts
Lisa, thank you for your suggestions! I will definitely research these ideas!
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1678 posts
You could take the bus out to Matosinhos. It’s a suburb right on the sea. There are a number of restaurants that grill their fish outside. The whole area has the wonderful aroma of grilling fish. And it tastes great too.
The port lodges are a must, if you don’t do them on your tour.
Posted by
141 posts
I have not done this trip of Rick's but did just return from Portugal, where I stayed a few days in Porto. There is a ton of construction going on right now in Porto, and while it is technically still off-season, I think that is changing. If you are using Rick's latest guidebook, be warned that some parts of his walking tour may not make total sense due to the construction. While we were there, one day we could go one way, and the next, something would be blocked. It was very busy and many riverboat cruises were docked in Porto during our stay in the city.
If you want to just take the day to explore Porto, get down to the riverfront, where you can walk and stop at any number of cafes. You can take a 1-hour boat cruise on the river, take a cable car high up across the river, visit Port wineries, and take a trolley car (we took the trolley out to Foz, a beach area very touristy but nice). We also visited a church in Porto with a great view of the city. Be prepared for lots of walking, lots of steep uphill & downhill climbs! We also visited Lavraria & Lello bookstore, which is a popular attraction as it inspired the Harry Potter book series (if you are interested in that), dubbed the most beautiful bookstore in the world. It was pretty, but you must purchase a ticket for a timed entry.
As you may know, there is currently a train strike happening in Portugal. I would caution with a flight in the evening, having just the daytime to explore, that you don't leave the city via train to explore another region. We did a day trip by train to another town an hour away, and our return train ended up being canceled due to the strikes, even though it was listed as operating when we left Porto. We were stuck until a later train came several hours later. Luckily this was the day before we were flying out but if it wasn't we would have missed our flight.
Enjoy your trip!