TOURING THE DUORO VALLEY
 

in may my wife and i are spending 3 days in the duoro valley region using lamego as a base. we will have a car and i was considering driving the region but after reading some past postings, the train trip sounds great. my question: should we leave the car in regua then take the train to pinhao, spend some time, then train to pocinho and then back to regua. or better to drive to either pocinho or pinhao and then train from there. that way we would have more freedom to stop along the way and so some exploring of small villages. or perhaps train the whole way and then return by car to areas that looked interesting. thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Although the train is interesting, since you have your own transportation, I'd stick with it.

You might be interested in reading the following: Exploring the Alto Douro Wine Region (http://tinyurl.com/jnxcsgb).

i planned on driving but i keep seeing reading that the region east of pinhao is the most beautiful and only the train goes along that area.

The train follows the river for awhile, but there are enough roads to get around on and be able to see things.

I've always had a car in the Douro, but have also always made time to park it in Pinhao and hop on the train to Pocinho and back. You can park the car in Regua and get on the train there, but parking is more complicated and you can drive along the river from Regua to Pinhao anyway. Parking in Pinhao is easy and free. The train trip is really beautiful, and though you can drive out to certain points on the Douro (on the stretch from Pinhao to Pocinho) from further inland, but sitting in the train as it chugs along the coast is a a lot more fun.