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Porto, Portugal

Writer's picture: Christina IrvinChristina Irvin

Updated: Jul 8, 2019

Oh what a DREAM this city is. Porto truly agreed with us. Maybe because it was the first stop on our first ever #dreamlife trip, or it could have been the magic of the area - probably a little bit of both.


We stayed at Hotel Vincci Porto, a modern hotel on the river - not a far walk to the cities riverside sights and nightlife. I'm so glad we stayed slightly out of the way because it gave us some gorgeous walks and opportunities to explore. Plus, we found our favorite restaurant ever, Taberna Cais das Pedras - try the octopus salad.


There is SO MUCH TO DO in Porto and the surrounding areas. Porto is located directly across the river from some of the oldest port wine cellars, as well as a quick day trip away from Braga and Peneda-Geres - one of the most BEAUTIFUL parks filled with history (a Roman road,) stunning scenery (waterfall swimming holes and a reservoir!) and free roaming domestic and wild animals. If you're booking a trip here, there's plenty to choose from!


We spent three and a half days in Porto, and really made the best of it. If you haven't figured out by now, we are explorers! We don't do a whole lot of chilling out - we pack a lot into our days. We flew into Lisbon, and caught a train to Porto from there. You can book these in advance, but we didn't! Our first days were spent exploring Porto, we spent one day on a full day tour of Peneda-Geres and the last day we stuck around Porto to catch what we missed and soak up all the magic we could. And drink more Port wine.



Top 5:

- Peneda Geres tour with Keen Tours (100000% percent worth it.)

- Port Wine Cellar hopping in Villa Nova de Gaia

- Walking the Ribiera and across the Dom Luis I bridge

- Capela do Senhor da Pedra

- FOOD - Arroz de Marisco and Octopus salad all day long please!


What we missed:

- Jardins do Palácio de Cristal

- Livraria Lello (we went, there was just a crazy line to get inside!)


Eric's fave: Walking the Ribieria

Christina's fave: Capela do Senhor da Pedra and Peneda-Geres!


PS. A lot of the fresh seafood sells out early, so don't wait until 10PM to find restaurants like we did!


PPS. Taberna Cais das Pedras is open pretty late ;)

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