6 Days in Porto and the Douro
Six days adds Coimbra onto the five-day base, the one stop on this list that rewards a full day rather than a half. This extends the 5-day itinerary ; the full case for each stop is in the Porto, Portugal guide .
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival and orientation |
| 2-3 | Douro Valley, overnight |
| 4 | Guimarães and Braga |
| 5 | Aveiro |
| 6 | Coimbra |
Book these before you go: a quinta stay in the Douro for the overnight, and a river cruise or second winery visit for day three; both fill up in the warmer months.
Day 1: Arrival and orientation
Metro Line E covers the airport to Trindade in 30 to 45 minutes on the ordinary fare. Trains from Lisbon land at Campanhã, not São Bento, so don’t wait on the wrong platform for a train that won’t call there. Spend the rest of the day adjusting to the fact that Porto isn’t a smaller Lisbon: “tripeiros” (tripe-eaters, a 1415 nickname worn with pride), Portuguese that is not Spanish, and bom dia, boa tarde, obrigado or obrigada correctly gendered, noticed and appreciated here more than in the bigger tourist zones further south.
Day 2: Douro Valley, out and settled in
Give this two days, not one; a single-day version is mostly transit with tastings squeezed in around it. The regional train from São Bento or Campanhã to Pinhão takes about two hours each way, roughly 12.20 EUR one-way, through the terraced hillsides that make it the best rail scenery in the country. Spend the first afternoon at a quinta and stay over (Quinta da Pacheca’s wine-barrel rooms or The Vintage House in Pinhão, river-view balconies from roughly 180 to 250 EUR, verify at booking).
Day 3: Douro Valley, the second day
Use day two for a river cruise or a second winery before heading back. Book rooms and tastings ahead in the warmer months.
Day 4: Guimarães and Braga
Combine both into a single day; they’re close enough to each other and to Porto that splitting them across two days wastes time you don’t need to spend traveling. Guimarães gets you the Paço dos Duques (5 EUR alone, 8 EUR combined with the castle, 10am to 6pm, last entry 5:30) and the birthplace-of-Portugal story. Braga gets you the Bom Jesus do Monte sanctuary and the world’s oldest working hydraulic funicular (1882, about 1.50 EUR one way, bought at the station, no need to book ahead).
Day 5: Aveiro
The “Venice of Portugal” label oversells it, but the moliceiro canal boats and Costa Nova’s striped houses a short bus ride out are genuinely worth a half day, about an hour from Porto by train. Don’t stretch this into a full day at the expense of anything else on this list.
Day 6: Coimbra
Coimbra is the one day trip on this itinerary that deserves the full day, not the half. Portugal’s old university city sits 70 to 80 minutes from Porto on the Alfa Pendular or Intercidades, and the historic university itself, not just a passing photo of the exterior, is worth building the day around. Have your last dinner back in Porto with a Douro red or vinho verde, not port, which is a dessert wine here, not a table one, and one of the small tells that mark a first-timer if ordered with the meal.