Where to stay near Porto with a car?
 

We will be a on driving trip through Portugal in late March/early April 2020, and we want to avoid driving into larger cities like Lisbon and Porto. I think we have a good plan for Lisbon but now I need to think about Porto. A couple of questions:

I mentioned in another thread that I am a bit "walking challenged" due to arthritis in hips and knees. I know Porto like Lisbon is hilly. Is there a neighborhood that would be better to choose as a base given that? My impression of where people like to stay is either down by the river which I assume is flatter or up more in the centro which I have pictured as a plateau? Is this correct? Since we will probably stay 5-6 nights we prefer an apartment rental so if anyone has good suggestions for hotels or apartment I would love to hear about them. After we decide where we will book we will look for an underground lot where we can leave the car and then just take public transport to the place we are staying.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Along for the ride as we too are planning a visit to Portugal in Feb/March

Hi jpie,
You could stay in lower Porto in the flat area next to the river, the Ribeira district. It's also now the busiest, most touristed section of Porto and you would need to take the bus to climb up to some of your sightseeing: Clérigos Tower & Igreja, Igreja do Carmo, Igreja dos Carmelitas, São Bento rail station for the tiles, Cathedral, Lello Bookshop, art gallery row of Rua do Miguel Bombarda, etc.

You might consider the upper area of Clérigos or Aliados, more at the plateau, to be further from the crowds and to have fewer inclines.

Friends just rented an apartment of Your Opo Apartments, sleeping 5 but they have all different sizes. They have several different buldings and they're on booking.com * These are the same friends who stayed at O Artista in Lisbon. Glad you were able to book O Artista!
Your Opo Apartments.

You also might look at My Story Apartments with family studios & studios, some with a sit out balcony overlooking Rua Santa Catarina.
https://www.mystoryhotels.com/mystor...tarina/en/home

There's also the new-ish Villa Lóios in the Clérigos area. They're too on booking.com and represented by Secret Places.
https://www.secretplaces.com/porto-b...ls/villa-loios

Just a few ideas...

*

We stayed in Santo Ildefonso close to Metro Trindade, in a hotel, and parked our car in a public underground parking lot that was partly paid for by the hotel because they didn't have their own parking. We walked to all that was downhill and took bus or metro when it went uphill. Worked fine for us, especially because I don't like the crowds at the Ribeira!

A big thanks to all-I will start researching the suggestions. I think given what you are saying we are more likely to target staying up on the plateau area versus the Ribeira district. Maribel-thanks especially for the apartment rental info-we are excited to stay in O Artista in Lisbon so I expect we will be interested in the Porto properties too!

rialtogirl: We lease a car on the Peugeot Open Europe plan every year in France and keep it for the 4-6 months we stay in Europe, so we will be needed the car when we get back to France after our prolonged road trip to Spain and Portugal. Normally, if we were just on a few weeks vacation I would totally agree that dropping off the car before we arrive in a large city. But we are perfectly willing to pay for parking for a few nights when we are in large cities and just leave it parked. Most of this trip will be countryside exploration with the exception of Lisbon and Porto.

MyriamC: Do you happen to know the name of the hotel you stayed in and would you recommend it?

Hi jpie,
If I were in your situation, I'd park your Peugeot leased car in an underground garage, manned 24/7, as easy to reach as possible, slightly on the outskirts rather than inside the downtown maze, then use a taxi to/from my lodging, just as you're planning to do in Lisbon.

And I'd look at rental apartment rentals on the plateau, somewhere between Torre Clérigos and Praça da Liberdade (Aliados), around where the Intercontinental, Monumental Palace & Infante de Sangres hotels sit. *I do like the Clérigos area, and there are a number of nice restaurants around there should you want to dine out.

There are now a staggering number of rental apartments in Porto, so it's hard to know which to choose, especially since so many get a 9.0 or above rating on booking.com! * Here's another from my rolodex, just above São Bento rail, that are daily serviced with bread delivery each morning and reception service:
https://apartments.letheshome.com/en/home

Have fun deciding!

The hotel we stayed at (a few times) is the Porto Trindade. It's an okay hotel for budget travellers. We like it because of the parking facility nearby and the proximity to bus/train/metro (just across the street).

MyriamC-thanks for the hotel name. They must be popular because they are almost fully booked on our dates. We ultimately decided on renting an apartment unit (details below) since we are staying 5 nights, but I know there are others following the thread that will find the info useful :)

Maribel: So I ultimately decided to book an apartment property rather than a hotel since we will be there 5 nights. I ended up booking a property with free cancellation on booking.com called: Myo Design House Rua das Flores 179 Porto, Portugal It is in the area your mentioned and actually only 2/10 of a mile from the LETHESHOME Apartments. The only reason I decided for the Myo Design House was that it has a queen size bed versus the double beds that the other units that were suggested have. It gets great reviews-9.7 Exceptional on Booking which is equivalent to the ones you recommended, so I will follow up and let you know what we think. My one hesitancy was that it is on a pedestrian street, but folks in the reviews say that it is easy to unload luggage and we will actually be traveling pretty lightly since we are leaving most of our things back in France and just taking the minimum with us, so we could always just park the car first and either walk over or take a cab or uber from the parking. And apparently even though it is a busy street, people comment on that it is extremely quiet inside the unit..

For the parking, there is an underground lot called the SABA Cardosas at Rua Trindade Coelho 16, a minute away that is pretty pricey-probably around 30 euros/night. But there is another lot called Parque do Carregal at Rua Professor Jaime Rios de Sousa 51 that is only about 7/10th of a mile away that is only 10 Euros a night. So we may just drop of the luggage and then park the car there. My husband is a big walker so either he can walk back or if it isn't hilly I will join him. Google says it is about a 15 minute walk.

Maribel one other question for you-my husband seems to have his heart set on taking a full day train/boat tour out to the Douro Valley from Porto one of the days we are there. We could still drive around there as well if we want but I do see the advantages of a tour. Have you done anything similar to that kind of a tour from Porto? I have sort of mixed feelings about taking one of Porto days to do that but with 5 nights I don't think we will be too rushed.

That's great. In fact, I almost mentioned the new Myo Design to you. I really like the look and style. Great minds think alike:)

My husband and I spend 4 nights in the Douro (headed there again in Nov.), but I've arranged several day trips from Porto for friends. I'm really not too fond of the boat/train combo and think that the Douro valley is best experienced by car, either via a private excursion or small group tour, which can include a boat ride on the river from Pinhão.

For something moderately priced, a small group van trip, look at the day excursion offered by CoolTour OPorto. I've also used them for day trips from Porto to Guimarães/Braga.
Cooltour Oporto - Small Goups. Great Rides.

For a "gold star" experience with gourmet dining and private visits to the most prestigious vineyards, I've recently also used Douro Exclusive. I believe poster cruiseluv, has gone on this tour of theirs. This couple lives in the Douro and knows the area so very well. Lunch is usually taken at Rui Paula's D.O.C., right at the river's edge (I've dined there and loved it). But this trip is naturally more expensive, since it's their "Gold Experience".
- Wine Tourism - Douro Tours




Hope this helps!

Thanks so much for the information on the tours and the feedback about experiencing it by car. The Douro Tour looks amazing so maybe that would make a very special splurge!

Glad you know about the Myo Design-I think we enjoy it and know that I have plan for the parking as well that is a big weight off :) Porto doesn't seem quite as crazy or intimidating as Lisbon to "approach" by car especially since it looks like the map will route us from the "plateau" side of the city versus coming up from the river. I am definitely going to discipline myself this trip to document it along the way-the good bad and ugly, both for future peregrinations as well as writing a trip report!

So glad you have the Porto portion well under control. Have fun planning the rest of your long journey!

Thanks-enjoy your trip in November! And thanks again for the all the help on the details :)

I considered the river trip to the Douro but everyone I know who did it said it was OK but got boring after the first bit. We did a small group tour from Porto and loved it - visited three different wineries and had lunch at one. I booked through a wine group but the actual tour provider was EFun Tours who were superb.

When you're a nature/wine lover, this trip along the Douro never gets bored. We spent a long day, driving from Porto to Pinhão. Stopped numerous times to admire the views on the lush countryside and the vinyards of vinho verde and port.

jpie,
Here's yet another local company that offers both private & small group, one day Douro excursions. I haven't yet used them but have them on my list because they receive solid reviews. https://www.labportugaltours.com

I'd choose an excursion that takes you both to a quinta that produces exemplary ports and one that also produces fine reds (and whites), one that stops either for a traditional lunch at a quinta or a gourmet experience at D.O.C. or Toca da Raposa (whichever you prefer), one that includes an hour boat ride on the Douro and also a trip to a viewpoint far up in the hills that allows you to see the full expanse of the valley. This is usually an 8-9 hour day, if done well.

I'd also choose a company that specializes in the Douro (or at least the Porto-Douro area), that's based there and if a small group tour, one that limits participants to a max. of 8.

If you had time...another nice day excursion from Porto (independently in your car) could be to the southern Minho, vinho verde land: to lovely Guimarães, to the religious capital of Braga with its BomJesus do Monte monumental staircase outside of town (no climbing necessary as there's a funicular), to the 2nd c. BC Citânia de Briteiros or a visit to a vinho verde/alvarinho estate, such as Quinta da Aveleda in Penafiel.
https://www.aveleda.com/en/wine-tourism/winery

Here's a bit about the area from a blog that I read:
https://juliedawnfox.com/guimaraes/
https://juliedawnfox.com/things-to-do-in-braga-portugal/
https://juliedawnfox.com/things-to-do-in-braga-portugal/

Bookmarking. Love all these ideas. We have been to Porto once and can't wait to go back. The Douro Valley is one of my favorite places in the world. We had a car and drove so I can't help with any information on boat trips. I would vote for taking a small tour and visiting some wineries and having lunch!

We will actually be spending 2 nights in Guimarães because we have a friend who moved there last year.* So thanks for ideas around there Braga is on our list as well.

Once I get a few more bookings done that are mandatory to figure out I will post our tentative itinerary and ask for all of your guy's input to decide if we should lengthen shorten or rearrange a bit. Our driving trip won't be the one that is most intuitively obvious in terms of route because since we were very constrained on dates for the O Artista property in Lisbon we are kind of heading straight to Lisbon first, then back out to Seville then down to Algarve area and then finally the north.* But we really like what we have read about the O Artista property so we decided the additional peregrinations seem worth it. But I will definitely be interested in other opinions.

jpie,
It's great that you'll be staying for 2 nights in Guimarães. *It's such a lovely town, so that we too have planned a 2-night stay again so that we can attend the Thursday outdoor market in Barcelos. *We've been already to the twice monthly Monday market *in Ponte de Lima. *So much fun. *And the Minho is so pretty.
Looks like your trip is shaping up nicely!
*

We were in Guimarães in 2012, in the year the city was the Cultural Capital of Europe. Very lovely town indeed.I liked Braga, too.

Great to hear-my friend really loves it as well