Please sign in to post.

Porto Douro trip?

We are in Porto five nights. Wanting to cruise the river, maybe the train? We have two teenage boys in tow so not sure about tastings and sitting on a boat for five hours. Help please! Any advice is appreciated. Should we train to Pinhao and spend one night? Are there swimming areas along the way? We have no clue what the best activities are. Active family! Thanks in advance!

Posted by
11053 posts

We did a day trip on a boat from Porto up the river to where we got the train back, from Régua to Porto. Nice boat, few English speakers among passengers, good included served lunch on board, sailed past vineyards terraced down the hillsides to the river. I think teens would be very bored, mine would not have enjoyed it all. However, we did enjoy it.

Posted by
1078 posts

For swimming and terrific sea food, you can't beat the Ganja de Baixo area. You can take one of the Metro lines literally to its Western end, and there is a huge sandy beach and, near by, several restaurants that charcoal grill your fish outside. We had Turbot(?) a fish big enough to feed 4 adults.
I can't remember which tour we took to the Douro Valley, however you can email tasteporto.com who are very helpful and could also probably give you some direction for your teens. The tour we took was a van to the valley, some visits to artisanal farms, a huge lunch, boat ride, and some tasting before return. The tasteporto.com has different types of food tours that will fill you and your guys up over 3 to 4 hours-they are a terrific group and we have use them the last 2 years on our trips to Porto