Porto 7 Day Itinerary

A week in Porto is enough time to stop treating every attraction as mandatory. By day four you’ll have earned the right to skip things, and that’s when this trip actually gets good.

Day 1: Land and get the lay of the land

Metro Line E runs from OPO into Trindade in about 30 minutes, roughly 2.85 EUR for the first ride once you’ve bought the reusable Andante card at the machine, which can mean a short queue since almost nobody can just tap a phone yet. A taxi is metered, not flat rate, 25-35 EUR and slower in traffic, plus a night surcharge after 9pm. Settle in centrally, somewhere between Baixa and Ribeira, and spend the evening walking without an agenda; the hills will humble you soon enough, so wear real shoes from day one.

Day 2: Ribeira and the bridge

Spend the morning in the Ribeira quarter, the riverside UNESCO old town, free to wander and photograph. The Church of Sao Francisco has an interior worth the entry fee if Baroque gold carving does anything for you. For lunch, walk away from the water; the restaurants directly on Cais da Ribeira post laminated multilingual menus and station people outside to pull tourists in, and you’ll pay double for worse food than a street or two back uphill. Cross Dom Luis I Bridge’s upper deck in the late afternoon for the classic view over the Douro.

Day 3: Sao Bento, Lello, and Bolhao

Start at Sao Bento station for the free azulejo tile hall, over 20,000 tiles, no ticket required, still a working station. Then face the Livraria Lello decision honestly: it’s a timed pre-booked ticket only now, 10 EUR silver (redeemable against a book) or almost 16 gold, and “skip the line” tickets still queue you outside. Go at 9am opening or after 6:30pm, or skip it and put that money toward Clerigos Tower instead, 8-10 EUR for a genuine panoramic climb.

In the afternoon, Palacio da Bolsa is 14 EUR and only accessible via a mandatory 30-minute guided tour, so time your visit around that. Then wander Bolhao market for a real, unstaged lunch and dinner scene.

Day 4: Gaia and the port houses

Cross into Vila Nova de Gaia, its own municipality across the Douro, not a Porto neighborhood no matter what half the guides say. Every port lodge lives here: Sandeman, Taylor’s, Graham’s, Ferreira, Calem. Sandeman’s standard tasting runs about 22 EUR for three ports and pulls the biggest crowds, but I’d point you toward Graham’s or Ferreira for a tour with more substance and less brand theater. Spend the evening at the Gaia viewpoint above the lodges; it beats the Ribeira side for the actual skyline shot.

Day 5: Full day in the Douro Valley

Give the Douro Valley its own day, not a bolt-on to something else. The train from Sao Bento to Pinhao takes roughly two and a half hours each way, about 12.20 EUR one-way. DIY is doable if you just want the scenery, but the quintas are spread out with few taxis on the ground in Pinhao, so a guided tour makes more sense if tastings matter to you. Either way, don’t try to combine this with sightseeing back in Porto; the travel time alone claims most of the day.

Day 6: Foz do Douro and Cedofeita

Ease back into the city with Foz do Douro at the river mouth, upscale and coastal and considerably quieter than Ribeira. I’d rather spend an evening here than fight the crowds back at the bridge. In the afternoon, walk Cedofeita and Rua Miguel Bombarda for the bohemian arts scene, galleries, vintage shops, street art, none of it costing you anything to browse. If you want a proper art stop instead, Serralves is out west and needs a bus or taxi, 24 EUR for full entry or 15 for park-only.

Day 7: A day trip and departure

Use your last full day for a single trip out of the city, not two crammed together. Braga, about an hour by train, is the country’s religious capital and home to the Bom Jesus do Monte sanctuary and its Baroque stairway, though Bom Jesus itself sits a few kilometers outside Braga’s centre, not inside Porto as some pages carelessly imply, so plan time for the funicular or the climb. Guimaraes, also about an hour out, is where Portugal was effectively founded, with a walkable medieval core. Aveiro, the canal town nicknamed Portugal’s Venice, sits in the opposite direction from both, so don’t try to chain it onto whichever one you pick.

Head back for a last dinner and order a Douro red or vinho verde, not port itself; port here is a dessert wine, not something you drink through a meal. And if the table gets bread and olives you didn’t ask for, that’s couvert, a legitimate but easy to miss charge, usually 2-3 EUR, decline it if you’d rather not pay.