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Itinerary · Europe

Porto to the Border

10 days · EasyPortugalFrom €1,380 / $1,490
Porto city center and the Douro river, Portugal.
Duration
10 days
Countries
Portugal
Difficulty
Easy
Est. budget
€1,380 / $1,490
The routePorto→Foz do Douro→Pinhão→Quinta do Bomfim area→Guimarães→Braga→Vila do Gerês→Vilarinho das Furnas→Viana do Castelo→Esposende

The north — port lodges, the Douro by train, granite villages in the mountains, and the Atlantic coast that Lisbon day-trippers never reach.

→The Douro line, one of the great railway journeys, for under €15
→Port lodges in Gaia and the quintas upriver that actually grow it
→Peneda-Gerês, the only national park in Portugal, with wild ponies and Roman roads
→Guimarães and Braga, where the country was founded and where it goes to church
→Costa Verde beaches, cold water and no crowds
9°W8.5°W8°W7.5°W41°N41.5°NTHE ROUTEPorto to the BorderNPortoDAY 1Foz do DouroDAY 2PinhãoDAY 3Quinta do Bomfim areaDAY 4GuimarãesDAY 5BragaDAY 6Vila do GerêsDAY 7Vilarinho das FurnasDAY 8Viana do CasteloDAY 9EsposendeDAY 1025 km / 16 mi · route ≈ 292 km / 181 mi
Day
01

Porto

PortoStay: Baixa or Cedofeita rather than Ribeira, which is loud and expensive

Ribeira, the Lello bookshop if you can face the queue, and São Bento station for the tiles. Cross to Gaia in the evening for the lodges and the view back.

Day
02

Porto, the other half

Foz do Douro

Serralves for modern art and the garden, Foz for the seafront, and a francesinha somewhere unglamorous. The city is small enough to walk and steep enough to feel it.

Day
03

The Douro line

PinhãoGetting here: CP regional, about €14 to Pocinho

Train from São Bento to Pocinho. From Régua east the track runs at the water's edge through terraced vineyards for two hours. Sit on the right going up.

Day
04

Douro quintas

Quinta do Bomfim areaStay: Pinhão or Régua

Tastings at working estates rather than city lodges. Many need booking a day ahead; several will collect you from Pinhão station.

Day
05

North to Guimarães

GuimarãesGetting here: Train via Porto, about 3 hrs total

Back west and up. Guimarães is where the first king was born and where Portugal, in the national telling, begins — a compact medieval centre that takes a day.

Day
06

Braga

Braga

The religious capital, and Bom Jesus do Monte above it — a baroque stairway climbed by a water-powered funicular from 1882 that still works exactly as designed.

Day
07

Into Peneda-Gerês

Vila do GerêsGetting here: Bus from Braga, or hire a car hereStay: Gerês village or Campo do Gerês

Portugal's only national park, up against the Spanish border. Garranos — semi-wild ponies — Roman milestones on the old road to Astorga, and granite villages with communal ovens still in use.

Day
08

Gerês trails

Vilarinho das Furnas

Waterfalls at Arado, the Mata da Albergaria, and the drowned village of Vilarinho das Furnas which reappears when the reservoir drops in late summer.

Day
09

To the coast

Viana do Castelo

West to Viana do Castelo — Atlantic surf, a hilltop basilica reached by funicular, and the best of the north's seafood.

Day
10

Costa Verde and back

Esposende

South along the coast to Porto through Esposende and Póvoa. The water is genuinely cold — this is the Atlantic, not the Algarve — and the beaches are empty because of it.

Good to know

Trains and buses cover everything except Peneda-Gerês properly; hire a car for those two or three days if you can. The Douro line is a regional service with no reservations — turn up. Port tastings in Gaia are walk-in; quinta visits upriver usually are not. The north is wetter than the south all year and considerably wetter between November and March, which is also when it is cheapest and emptiest.

Shorter or longer?

Add the Spanish side

Cross at Valença into Galicia for Santiago de Compostela and the Rías Baixas — an easy add of four or five days.

Douro slow

Skip Gerês and give three days to the valley: cycle the quieter bank, stay at a quinta, take the boat one way and the train the other.