Visiting Douro Valley

We stayed in douro for 2 nights. We used our car rental to get around to the wineries.
I understand now they have boat cruises from Porto.

I spent 2 nights at Quinta de Maroccos and loved it. The dinners were wonderful and their wines were better. I had a rental car.

We did a week long river cruise on the Douro and it was fantastic. There is a train that goes up the valley. The tracks are close to the river on the north side.

I suggest taking the train. Good places to stay would likely be in Pinhao or Peso da Régua

https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/portugal/porto-rio-douro/

There are day cruises from Porto that go up the river, but you don't see the best part.

Thank you all!

We just spent 2 nights at the Casa do Visconde de Chanceleiros in the hills above Pinhao. It was amazing in every aspect (except slow Internet in some areas). Ursula, the owner, and her trusted friend Adelaide take wonderful care of you. We took the scenic train from Porto to Pinhao where Ursula had a taxi waiting who took our luggage while we went on a boat tour. Then the taxi picked us up and delivered us to the Casa where we spent a lovely few hours enjoying the amazing grounds. We had dinner, paired with wonderful Douro wines, at the Casa each night dining in an elegant dining room. They planned a private wine tour with a driver for us which was also wonderful. Highly recommend.

Thank you, pmytkowi! What you are describing sounds like a great mix of pubic and private transportation. Did you feel like two nights were enough at the casa you recommend? Were there any other areas that you wished you had visited in the Douro area? Thanks again!

2 nights at the Casa worked well for us.

Here's another vote for Casa do Visconde de Chanceleiros. It was an amazing place. We stayed two nights but wish we'd stayed one more as we would have liked to have spent more time around the pool and on the hotel grounds. As it was, we spent most of our days traveling to quintas and to see the village of Provesende. Breakfasts and dinners were fantastic, and it was fun meeting people from all over Europe and America over meals. Can't recommend highly enough, particularly during good weather months.