Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Porto
Porto in a day: the bookshop to the bridge
Livraria Lello at opening, the Clérigos tower, São Bento's tiles, the cathedral and the stock exchange, lunch on the Ribeira, the six-bridges cruise, the port lodges and sunset from the Serra do Pilar.
Porto is a steep city on a river gorge and the day runs down it: from the top of the town at the bookshop and the tower, through the station and the cathedral, to the waterfront for lunch. The afternoon is on and across the Douro — a boat under the bridges and a tasting in the port lodges on the far bank — and the day ends on the Serra do Pilar, the monastery terrace over the Dom Luís bridge, when the whole city turns orange.
The route, stop by stop
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Livraria Lello
The neo-Gothic bookshop with the red forked staircase, opened in 1906. Timed tickets only, redeemable against a book; the first slot of the day is the only calm one.
30 min here Walk here → -
Clérigos Tower
Two hundred and forty steps up the baroque tower that has been the city's landmark since 1763.
40 min here Walk here → -
São Bento station
Twenty thousand blue-and-white tiles in the entrance hall, telling Portugal's history in battles, royal arrivals and harvests.
20 min here Walk here → -
Porto Cathedral
The fortress church on the city's highest point, with a Gothic cloister lined in azulejos. The terrace in front looks straight down over the rooftops to the river.
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Palácio da Bolsa
The 19th-century stock exchange, seen by guided tour only, which ends in the Arab Room: a gilded Moorish hall built to impress visiting bankers.
45 min here Walk here → -
Ribeira
Lunch on the quay under the tall painted houses. Grilled sardines in season, or a francesinha — the sandwich Porto is proudest of, and should perhaps be less proud of.
60 min here Walk here → -
Six Bridges Cruise
Fifty minutes up and down the gorge in a rabelo-style boat, under all six bridges that cross the Douro here.
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Port Wine Cellars of Gaia
Across the lower deck of the Dom Luís I bridge to the lodges on the Gaia bank, where port has been aged since the 17th century. Book a tour and tasting at one of the old houses.
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WOW Porto
The cultural quarter up the hill from the lodges: museums of wine, cork, chocolate and the city itself in converted port warehouses. Pick one; they are ticketed separately.
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Serra do Pilar
Up to the monastery terrace at the Gaia end of the bridge's upper deck for sunset, the best view in Porto. Walk back across the top of the bridge beside the metro, with the old town lit below.
45 min here Walk here →
More in Porto
Every walking route in Porto, or the full Porto guide for where to stay and what a day costs.