Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps us run this site. We only recommend products and services we trust and personally use.
Porto was one of our stops on our 4-month European Adventure. We spent 3 days here in early April 2024. If you’re looking for more of a guide, rather than an itinerary, check out our Porto guide. If you want to see where we ate gluten free, click here.
Two days would be enough to explore the city, but 3 will allow for a day trip or venturing to some lesser-known areas. We had originally planned on a day trip for one of our days, but didn’t end up doing that as we were quite tired and at the end of 6 weeks of travelling at this point. This was our first time in Porto, so we wanted to make sure we hit the main attractions. We’ll put suggestions at the end of things we didn’t get to but came up quite a bit in our research, as well as day trip suggestions that we have heard are great options. We have also included a map with everything on it at the end of the post.
We stayed at the Hotel Moov Porto Centro. The hotel itself is very bare bones and basic (breakfast included) but is very inexpensive. However, we really liked the location (Downtown Porto, at the end of Rua Santa Catarina).
It was super easy to get around to everything on foot, and to catch our hop on-hop off bus by City Sightseeing. Our itinerary will assume you’re starting in a similar location, so adjust accordingly if you’re staying in a completely different neighbourhood.
Here’s what we did during our 3 days (4 nights) in Porto:
Day 0: Arrival, Church of Saint Ildefonso, Rua Santa Catarina, Sao Bento station
Day 1: City Sightseeing bus tour, Rua das Flores, Miradouro Vitoria, Torre dos Clerigos, Churches of Carmelitas and Carmo, Porto Cathedral, Miradouro da Rua das Aldas
Day 2: Livraria Lello, Ribeira, Vila Nova de Gaia, famous McDonald’s
Day 3: Mercado do Bolhao, Bolhao neighbourhood, Capel of Souls, Rua Santa Catarina
Day 4: Departure
DETAILS
DAY 0:
Arrival day! We arrived via the Porto-Campanha train station and took a Bolt (like an Uber) to our hotel, Hotel Moov Porto Centro. While you can take public transport, we found it easier and faster to take a taxi or rideshare.
Once you have checked in, it’s time to do a little bit of exploring! Check out the Church of Saint Ildefonso and walk down the main shopping street, Rua Santa Catarina. If you’re in the evening, many of the stores may be closed alone Rua Santa Catarina and you may need to return another time if you’re hoping to do some shopping. Grab some dinner somewhere along this street – there’s lots to choose from!
Explore the Bolhao neighbourhood, which will likely be all closed up after dinner, but it also means no crowds while you’re getting your bearings. Visit the Sao Bento train station – it is absolutely beautiful. However, expect it to still busy at after dinner. We visited at 10pm and it was still full of night tours!
DAY 1:
Start your day by hopping on the City Sightseeing Hop On- Hop Off bus at Batalha Square. We bought 48-hour tickets. We suggest taking the blue line first, which goes across the river and through the Vila Nova de Gaia neighbourhood. It takes about 30min. Once the route is done, switch to the red line. This goes through a bit of the old town before heading out to the coast/beach (Foz do Douro), and then along the river and back into old town area. This route is about 2 hours. The commentary provided on both routes wasn’t great, but we liked that we got to see areas we wouldn’t have likely seen or explored otherwise. The 48-hour pass also comes with a free Port wine tasting at one of four Port wine lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia (which we’ll use tomorrow).
Once you’ve taken the hop-on, hop-off busses, start exploring by foot. After getting off your second bus at Batalha Square, head towards Rua das Flores, a Main Street in the old town with lots of shops. The buildings are beautiful and are all intricately tiled, and there are many little side streets you can wander through with colourful buildings. Make your way to Miradouro da Vitoria for a view of the city and the river. You can see churches and the garden across the river. From here, find your way to Torre dos Clerigos, which you can pay to enter and climb if you like. There are so may little streets to wander through!
Walk across the street to the park, Jardim Infantil Cordoaria, then wander to the churches Igreja do Carmo and Igreja dos Carmelitas. Research had said they had cool tile, but we only saw it on Carmo. It was quite busy here when we went, so we didn’t spend a ton of time in this area. You can enter both of these churches if you want, but make sure to check their opening hours and any restrictions on attire. Across the street is the beautiful teal coloured fountain – Fonte dos Leoes. Next, walk past the Livraria Lello bookstore. Walk from here to the Porto Cathedral, which backs onto Miradouro da Rua das Aldas that has wonderful views down the river (you can also get tickets into the cathedral).
If you’ve opted to enter and tour through most of the optional spots on this day (the tower and churches), you may run out of time to fit everything in. In that case, you can easily add it into tomorrow or to Day 3 with a little rearranging.
DAY 2:
Start today by walking to Livreria Lello, which you will need to book tickets ahead of time for. Even if you have an entry time, make sure you arrive early. When we visited, it was very busy and there were lots of tour groups. We spent about an hour inside the bookstore.
Next, walk to the Riberia neighbourhood, making sure to visit Praca da Ribeira which is right on the water. This is where you can get any of your boat tours that you have booked, and there are lots of restaurants that have nice views and patios. Walk across the Dom Luis 1 bridge – we took the lower of the two bridges. Explore Vila Nova de Gaia, and cash in your free port tasting that comes with your hop on hop off tickets. If you haven’t opted to do the bus, or want more Port Wine experiences, some highly rated individual port lodges include Cockburn’s, Graham’s, and Taylor’s. You can also get tours that bring you to various tastings.
If you’re feeling like you’d like a slower day, catch the blue line of the hop-on, hop-off bus in Vila Nova de Gaia back to the Batalha stop. Here, you can switch to the red line and ride it around its 2-hour route again, getting on and off wherever you’d like. One spot to stop and enjoy for a bit is the Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique, which is a beautiful grass park near Bolsa Palace.
We got off our hop-on hop-off bus at the Torre dos Clerigos to find a spot for dinner in that area. You can then find a good vantage point to watch the sunset from. We went to the Miradouro de Vitoria, but it turned out we were pointing the wrong direction for the sunset – oops! It was still pretty, but if you want a great sunset spot, go across the Dom Luis 1 bridge to the other side of the river, to Miradouro da Serra do Pilar.
If you’re feeling like you’d like to do more exploring, or if you’re planning a day trip on Day 3, today you could add in Mercado de Bolhao, Church of Souls, or any of our suggestions on the “extra things to do” list below.
Before you return to your hotel for the night, make sure to stop at the “most beautiful McDonald’s in the world“, which is near Sao Bento station (McDonald’s Imperial).
DAY 3:
Day 3 was a slower day for us, mostly meandering around the streets and neighbourhoods and just exploring. While this is not as fast-paced as most of our itineraries, we wanted a slower day. Much of this day was spend wandering in and out of stores and exploring the cute streets of the Baixa (old town) and Bolhao neighbourhoods. It would be a good day for a day trip if that’s what you’re interested in doing.
If you’re wanting to continue to explore Porto, we suggest starting the day at the Mercado de Bolhao. You’ll likely find some food and souvenirs here. Once you’re done at the market, wander around the Bolhao neighbourhood. You can head over to the Chapel of Souls, and even go inside if you want! Walk back towards Batalha along the major shopping street, Rua de Santa Catarina. If stores were closed on your arrival day, now is a good time to check out the boutiques or one of the hidden malls! We stopped at ViaCatarina, which was deceivingly large.
If you have more time in your day, you can include anything you perhaps ran out of time for from our previous two days or check out our “extra things to do” list for suggestions.
MAP of Things to Do in Porto
HOW TO USE THE MAP: Click on the Wanderlog logo in the bottom right corner to open the full-size map up in a new tab. There, you can choose to just look at one type of activity at a time or see all the activities on the map at once (click the 3 squares in the top right to choose). You can also export the map to Google Maps, share the map with others, or save the map.
Possible Day Trips
We didn’t end up taking a day trip as we weren’t feeling very well, but we sort of regret it as there were so many that were recommended to us. You can rent a car, in many cases take a train, or book a tour. Here are some suggestions:
- Braga (45 min drive)
- Douro Valley (1 – 1.5 hrs drive)
- Guimaraes (45 min drive)
- Aveiro (1 hour drive)
- Obidos (2 – 2.5 hrs drive – far for a day trip…best bet is to stop here & Nazare on the way between Porto and Lisbon)
- Do Braga & Guimaraes together
Other Things to Do (that we didn’t get to)
- Bolsa Palace (purchase tickets on site)
- Take a 6 Bridges river cruise
- Igreja de Santa Clara (tickets on site – 5 Euro each)
- Take a food tour
- Miradouro da Serra do Pilar
- Do a walking tour – free & ticketed options
- Casa da Musica
- Serralves Contemporary Art Museum
- Cafe Majestic
Helpful Planning Tips
I rely on these tools when planning my trips:
- Get Your Guide – book tickets for experiences like Livraria Lello, Port Wine lodges, or a 6 Bridges cruise
- Airalo eSIM – get Portuguese mobile data instantly on arrival, without roaming charges
- Stay22 – compare hotels across Porto, near neighbourhoods like Ribeira, Bolhao, or Foz do Douro
- Wanderlog – organize your itinerary and map your Porto days efficiently
