Porto in June - recommendations?
Apr 26th, 2011, 05:41 PM
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Porto in June - recommendations?
Spending a week near Porto this June. Looking for recommendations for daily activities/places to visit. We enjoy visiting an occasional cultural site, but really enjoy checking out towns/cities by walking the streets, enjoying good food & drink, art, finding hidden gems/nontraditional tourist spots, and also would love to find a good outdoor activity or two (hike, kayak, etc.). We plan to visit the beach one day and the wineries in the Douro on another day. Any recommendations for other days??? We will have a car. Thanks in advance!
Apr 27th, 2011, 10:57 AM
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I's worth leaving your car one day and doing a tour by train and bus - from São Bento station (try and see this anyway-amazing azulejos in the foyer) to Livracão on the Douro line then change for the branch line to Amarante. Find the times of trains on the other branch from Vila Real to Peso da Regua and then back to Porto. Make sure you get a bus from Amarante to Vila Real in time for this train.
With your car this time go to Viana do Castelo and explore the lovely interior round Ponte de Lima, Arcos de Valdevez and Ponte da Barca - not forgetting the delightful Romanesque church at Bravães. I believe the National Park is also well worth seeing.
Try to see the ancient capital of Guimarães but only bothe with Braga if you are seriously religious.
Vila do Conde on the coast is attractive and not particularly 'touristy.
With your car this time go to Viana do Castelo and explore the lovely interior round Ponte de Lima, Arcos de Valdevez and Ponte da Barca - not forgetting the delightful Romanesque church at Bravães. I believe the National Park is also well worth seeing.
Try to see the ancient capital of Guimarães but only bothe with Braga if you are seriously religious.
Vila do Conde on the coast is attractive and not particularly 'touristy.
Apr 27th, 2011, 11:13 AM
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See days 1, 2 and the beginning of day 3 in my trip report re: things to do and restaurants in Porto. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-portugal.cfm
May 3rd, 2011, 06:18 AM
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Ponte de Lima is on the "Way to Santiago", one of the Pilgrim Paths, El Camino Portugues. There are several very nice historic towns in between Ponte de Lima and Santiago de Compostela, which is about 150 km total. Santiago de Compostela itself is an incredible place, but a day trip from Ponte de Lima would be very rushed, IMO.
Tui and Pontevedra are the two Spanish towns south of Santiago that would be on the top of my list for day trips from Ponte de Lima.
I apologize if these next comments are a bit off topic, but I thought I'd throw them in anyway since you say you are renting a car.
I have rented a car in Portugal and traveled from Portugal to Spain many times, but this most recent trip in March gave me a surprise. The car rental agency (which was Budget) told me that some of the coverage included in the price of the car only covered Portugal, and that to be fully covered in Spain we needed to buy extra. We were jet-lagged and thinking kind of fuzzily, but we went ahead and spent the extra 60E or so for a total of 5 days in Spain. I don't really know what the rules are, and I haven't yet called my credit card company to see if their coverage would be valid, but this is something to pay attention to.
The other possible complication is the new highways in the north of Portugal whose only payment option is the use of a transponder, which your rental car won't have, or payment made in person at a number of places within five days of using the highway. There are threads on this forum that explain what's happening, here is one I started upon my return in April: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...toll-booth.cfm
Have a wonderful trip to Northern Portugal, I would second the recommendations of Guimaraes and Viana do Castelo. And for your trip to the Douro, I highly recommend a train trip from Pinhao east to the end of the line. I have posted details here, to avoid repeating: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-the-douro.cfm (the section on the trains is a further down in the thread, posted June 27, 2009).
Tui and Pontevedra are the two Spanish towns south of Santiago that would be on the top of my list for day trips from Ponte de Lima.
I apologize if these next comments are a bit off topic, but I thought I'd throw them in anyway since you say you are renting a car.
I have rented a car in Portugal and traveled from Portugal to Spain many times, but this most recent trip in March gave me a surprise. The car rental agency (which was Budget) told me that some of the coverage included in the price of the car only covered Portugal, and that to be fully covered in Spain we needed to buy extra. We were jet-lagged and thinking kind of fuzzily, but we went ahead and spent the extra 60E or so for a total of 5 days in Spain. I don't really know what the rules are, and I haven't yet called my credit card company to see if their coverage would be valid, but this is something to pay attention to.
The other possible complication is the new highways in the north of Portugal whose only payment option is the use of a transponder, which your rental car won't have, or payment made in person at a number of places within five days of using the highway. There are threads on this forum that explain what's happening, here is one I started upon my return in April: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...toll-booth.cfm
Have a wonderful trip to Northern Portugal, I would second the recommendations of Guimaraes and Viana do Castelo. And for your trip to the Douro, I highly recommend a train trip from Pinhao east to the end of the line. I have posted details here, to avoid repeating: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-the-douro.cfm (the section on the trains is a further down in the thread, posted June 27, 2009).
May 10th, 2011, 01:16 PM
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LowCountry, if you will be staying in Porto, check out Guest House Douro. It's the most charming little place I've ever stayed, with the most accommodating owners. http://guesthousedouro.com/
May 10th, 2011, 03:32 PM
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We loved Northern Portugal and Galicia. Guimares is a wonderful small city to explore. Across the border in Spain you can visit Baiona where Columbus' first ship, the Pinta, made landfall. Santiago de Compostela is a gem; make sure to visit, and even better,spend the night.
