We stayed by the cathedral, and found the location perfect on a small, quiet street.
https://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/bo-...partments.html

The apartment looks lovely. Is there an elevator or parking? Is it in a steep, hilly area (I know this may be a silly question)? We are between that and Mercure Aliados Hotel if there are any thoughts?

I don’t know the street where xyz99 stayed, but I do know the area around Mercure Aliados.
The apartment looks really lovely as do the other ones run by that management group. I’ve bookmarked them!

If you’re staying for a short period of time, 3 nights, you may want to rely on a hotel with a 24-hour desk staff since this is your first visit to the city, just to ask questions about how best to get around, etc.

But apartment management companies have a central office where you can go for any help you may need or call. We’re staying in an apartment now but for 7 nights in a city we know very well and where we have friends to lean on if needed. The kitchen facilities and washer/dryer have come in handy, I must say, and are a money-saver.

It depends on your personal preferences, I think.

xyz99,
Thanks for the link to the Oporto Street apartments! For our next visit, I really like the Sá de Noronha ones and their location. Good find!

Rua das Aldas is the oldest street in Porto. It is on the top of a hill, near the Sé Cathedral. No cars. And probably no lift (this is Heritage, classified by Unesco). It is inside the defensive wall (that no longer exists) built by the Romans between 300-400 dc. This street, as well as Rua da Pena Ventosa and Rua de Sant'Ana, are the only ones inside the old wall that escaped to the portuguese demolition fever.

You really don't need a car in Porto, but there are several parking places, the cost is around 13 euros per day. But to reach these apartments you have to walk. Taxis can leave you close by.

Note that they have several kinds of apartments and not all of them have the same view (or size).

Edit to add: if you search on google maps, you can see that rua de Sant'Ana and Rua das Aldas are very near, and parallel to each other. However, from Rua de Sant'Ana to Rua das Aldas, you have a staircase with more than 100 steps, Rua de Sant'Ana being on a lower level.

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but I am looking at what appears to be an ideal apartment for our needs in Porto, when we will arrive in mid September. We'll have a leased car with us, so parking is important, even though we may not use the car while in Porto. We will stay four nights, and I'm finding it a bit confusing figuring out neighborhoods.

Until we commit to booking, we do not have the actual address, but on a map the apartment is near the intersection R. do Sol and R. do Gen Sousa Dias - between Pte Luiz 1 and Pte do Infante. It is an upper story apartment with a balcony view of the river, and reviews mention that it is quiet at night.

Anyone have opinions as to this location? We are strong walkers and hope to explore the city, and with the car we can venture out a bit further if need be.

Dear Fodorite friends, all of you-thanks for your detailed, and thoughtful, additions to our quests for accommodations. We have made a somewhat "radical" decision--we are going to spend the 3 nights around Porto in the Foz, with free public parking in front. We were just very perplexed by the hills and stairs and decided to stay somewhere quiet and flat, take the tram and uber wherever we need to be. We are following that with 2 nights in Cascais.
Here is the itinerary:
Lisbon-3 nights @ Hotel de Baixa
Evora-2nights @ ADC
Tomar-2nights @ Thomas Boutique Hotel
Cuimbra-2nights @ Pharmacia Guest House
Foz - 3 nights @ Duas Portas
Cascais-2 nights @ Westlight Cascais Chalet

I will be scouring your trip reports for ideas for restaurants and attractions to visit. More another time soon and, I promise, a trip report. I cannot promise, though, that I can do it "live".

I’ve stayed several times in Foz when wanting to be close to the beaches and not in the center of the city.
While Old Foz, Foz Velha, does have some slight hills, the area where we’ve stayed is flat and Foz has a lovely ocean side promendade.

To get back and forth to the city center, we take the double decker bus 500. It also takes us to Matosinhos further up when we want to indulge in a seafood feast at one of the marisqueiras on Rua Heróis de França that faces the fish market. We like O Valentim (Helena and her family have other favorites there that we have on our list to try.

I do know the Duas Portas (flat) location because we’ve stayed nearby in a 4-room B&B near the Jardim do Passeio Alegre. There’s a very nice pastry shop nearby, Paparoca, for breakfast treats and lots of nice, casual, inexpensive dining. We’ve tried Casa de Pasto da Palmeira, Bar Tolo and Pisca, all within walking distance.

We were going to return in October but had to cancel our week at the Vila na Praia apartments but plan to return next fall.

I also know the location of your lodging in Cascais, as we passed it every day going back and forth from the Cidadela into the center. It looked lovely and couldn't be more central. The pedestrian walkway from the Cidadela all the way to Boca do Inferno is easy and very flat, if you hit a nice sunny day, and there is the Casa de Guia, a manor home converted into shops that also has several restaurants with terraces overlooking the ocean where one can stop for coffee. The local bus will also take you there and Uber and Bolt worked well for us in Cascais. I could live there. It´s a lovely, well manicured seaside community.

I don’t know the Pharmacia in Coimbra. I see it on the map but can’t tell how much climbing will be involved. We stayed on the other side of the river at Quinta das Lagrimas, took a taxi to the University and after our city touring, walked back home along the river and over the bridge.

awww, thanks Maribel for all of your information and validation!

Virginia, I love the location! I think you are going to have a very good time!

The bus mentioned by Maribel, the 500, will be a very good friend of yours! You can use a Visa card (not amex, eurocard, etc, just Visa) to pay the trip or just buy with cash your ticket from the driver. Both ways are interesting: if you take the bus west direction, untill Matosinhos, you will find all those great restaurants of fresh fish. Went to "O Fernando" a few days ago, and even not being a favourite for me or any member of my family, I must say their seafood rice is really very good!

On the oposite direction, the 500 bus leaves you (last stop) at São Bento train station. You can also take tram nr 18 that leaves you uphill near Clérigos tower and the surroundings (my neighbourhood, so the best in Porto, try to have a meal at "Taberna Santo António", one of the best family restaurants in Porto).

You can easily walk to the garden "Jardim do Passeio Alegre". It is a very nice garden, and there are parrots there (you have to look up), don't ask me why, they are foreigners that adopted Portugal as their country, In that garden you should visit the toillets - not to use, just to visit. On the ladyies side, the "cabinet" on the left is protected with a glass and you can see the most beautifull sink (etc) you can imagine on a restroom! In front is the fortification named "Forte de São João Baptista da Foz" - very interesting. And... well, I'm not going to talk about the lighthouses! Just be sure the waves are not crazy, or you will be really wet!

Again... nice choice! The city center is easily reachable, and you will be more in a "local" place!

Helena

Yes, do visit the toilets at the Jardim!

For a nice, ¨fancier¨ meal in Foz, but that have a very reasonably priced business menu for lunch, we have enjoyed Wish in Old Foz, next to the church, and Cafeína, a few blocks up from the beach. And for burgers, you have Peebz.

Chef António Vieira -Restaurante Wish, Chef António Vieira

https://www.cafeina.pt/pt/

https://peebz.pt

Foz is a very relaxing place to stay in a more local environment. We do both, stay in Porto in the center and in Foz when we want to be next to the ocean. Duas Portas is located right where the Douro River meets the Atlantic.

HelenaFatima and Maribel—thanks! We are getting very excited and appreciate these ideas so much!

19t,
Just a little info about the family behind Duas Portas. To renovate the 19th century house and turn it into a small 8-room boutique hotel was the idea of Luísa Penha, the architect- wife of the acclaimed Porto architect and Pritzker-prize winner, Eduardo Souto de Moura. His daughter, María Luisa, also an architect, runs the inn. On our first visit to Foz we stayed in a 4-room B&B, now closed, that had been designed by Souto de Moura. His style is minimalist-Nordic. It was opened in 2019 and has a garden, a very unique place that feels more like a sophisticated home rather than a hotel.

The vintage tourist tram 1 passes right by the house, but you will be better off always taking the bus 500.

I just got back from a stay on Rua de Santa Catarina. Booked it because it is a block and a half from the Bolhao Metro stop, which is only three stops from the Campanha station where I got in, and I was thrilled. Pastry shops every 50 feet, including one where they crank out the natas one sheet after the other and serve them fresh and warm, super convenient for transportation all over town by bus and Metro, pleasant walks down toward the funicular or all the way down to the river, plenty good eats nearby. Friendly area, with a Pingo Doce grocery three blocks away (the Bolhao market was 2 blocks) and many coffee options. Paid 52 Euro/night to stay at the Casual Raizes in a modern, fresh, super quiet room with fridge with a view to the courtyard where I slept for an hour after a big lunch in the swinging wicker basket chair (the only negative was that the courtyard is floodlit at night so you have to keep the drapes closed). Here's my piccies, including of the hotel: