Bonjour!
I’m in France now and getting ready to head to Portugal.
My plan was to stay in Porto for six nights however the Duoro valley beckons, so I’m thinking of renting a car and heading up to stay in the valley staying a night before heading back
I’m a capable senior traveling solo.
My questions are:
- is the road in good condition, and are there any matters I should consider?
- which road is better, more scenic etc? A3, A4 or A7?
Merci beaucoup/ obrigado
Izzie
The roads are reasonably well-paved, and the main N222 is not too narrow. However, the roads are VERY twisty, and, the railway has excellent views of the middle Douro valley. As a solo traveller, I would take the train.
balzo has a point. In your circumstance I would take the train and stay in one of the villages, Pinhao or Regua perhaps. If you decide to stay at a quinta in the valley that is away from the towns (public transport), THEN you might rent a car.
I travelled solo through the Douro in October 2023 and stayed at a quinta without a RAC and it proved somewhat challenging to obtain a taxi. There are no ride share choices there (at least last year there were none).
I really enjoyed gazing out the train windows at the views between Porto and Pinhao, and letting someone else do the "driving." If you take the train, the stunning river views are on the right side (in direction of travel) on the ride from Porto to Pinhao and on the left side on the way back to Porto.
Not specifically to where you’re going, but I drove the back roads around Portugal last September and they were all in good repair. Driving is slow due to speed limit changes and needing to slow down to 30kph when entering towns.
I agree with the post prior to mine. The pace is pretty slow. I drove for a day from Lisbon to Coimbra in March of this year. No issues on my drive. Do you have your International Driver's Permit, in case you are stopped or asked?
I'll add that the back roads in that area are very narrow compared to USA, also slow and twisty, and if you're not used to mountain driving it's probably not the best place to learn.
