Porto is truly one of the highlights of any holiday in Portugal. In this blog, you will find everything you need to know about spending three days in Porto. We tell you about our favorite spots for azulejos (the famous blue tiles), the beautiful views, and, of course, street art. You will also find our tips for taking the best photos during your three days in Porto, where to stay, and transportation in the city. No sponsored content, just based on our own experience.
Why go to Porto?
Portugal without Porto wouldn’t be Portugal. That is why we are kicking off our three-week road trip in Portugal with three days in Porto. Contrary to our usual practice, we only booked a ticket a few days in advance, and suddenly we are in Portugal. You can easily tick off Porto’s most beautiful spots in one or two days. But this city on the Douro River only gets better if you stay a little longer.
In any case, it is not just a city for the highlights, but also, and perhaps primarily, for simply being there. Outside of the weekend, it is relatively quiet. Although on the weekend it is actually very lively with all the people from the suburbs heading to the river and the city.
Want to read more about Portugal ? During our three weeks in Portugal, we also visited the Algarve, Óbidos, and Sintra.
Where to sleep during three days in Porto?
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a place to stay in Porto. To start with: Porto is a hilly city. The Douro River runs right through the center, which means you have the high city on the hill and the low city along the river. Our home for these three days is a studio apartment at Pinho Apartments. It is situated on top of the hill at the edge of the city center near Praça de Guilherme Gomes Fernandes, on the western edge of the Baixa neighborhood.
This neighborhood has pros and cons. There are many small restaurants, cafes, and charming squares here. A large supermarket is a ten-minute walk away. We have an apartment because we enjoy cooking ourselves. We even have our ‘own’ padaria (pastry shop) beneath our apartment, where we get fresh rolls and pastries every morning.
Our apartment is within crawling distance of several churches, with and without blue tiles (azulejos), streets where trams climb a steep street, the Sao Bento station, and the Livraria Lello. But we do have to walk back up the hill every time we have been to the river. Fortunately, there are buses.
- Budget – The Central House Porto Ribeira – Hostel with affordable dorms in a perfect location.
- Mid-range – Pinho Apartments – Super nice studios in a good location and above a bakery. This is where we stayed!
- Luxe – Arco Apartments – You couldn’t be more central, and with a view of Porto’s iconic bridge. Beautiful apartments on the historic steps of Porto.
Where did we go during our three days in Porto?
Our life in Porto revolves around pastels da nata for these three days. No, just kidding. Or maybe not? These delicious, sweet puff pastry pudding rolls are world-famous in Portugal. Get them early in the morning; they are steaming hot then, and you have to be careful not to squeeze them too hard.
Porto is not a city of world-famous museums or architecture. You come here to participate in life, wandering through the city. You walk around Porto to, around, above, and along the Douro River. Porto is a perfect city for ‘free’. You certainly don’t have to pay entrance fees to have a good time here. Furthermore, you can go to the spot where the river flows into the sea, some great parks to hang out in the shade of trees, and many more neighborhoods to explore.
Our favorite spots in Porto
1. The best spots for azulejos
Without researching extensively, we very easily found these three spots to admire Porto’s famous blue tiles. Each blue and white painting has its own story to tell. So really look a little beyond just the colors!
* Igreja do Carmo
Literally around the corner from the small square where our apartment is located stands the Igreja do Carmo. With a ‘charming’ pedestrian traffic light in front of the side facade, this meters-high wall with blue tiles is an almost ordinary part of daily life. It is actually nicest to walk past it ‘by chance’ all the time, although it is of course also a beautiful sight.
* Igreja do Santo Idelfonso
When one of us wakes up early one day, it turns out the sun is just rising. In the blue morning light, camera in hand, J. wanders through the neighborhood for a bit. At the end of a steep uphill street stands a church. Blue tiles! The gate at the church is still closed, but the blue facade towers over the street. The sun is peeking over the edge, but despite the backlight, it is beautiful!
* Sao Bento train station
The hall of this train station features on every Porto list. While churches naturally depict biblical scenes, here in the station, stories of kings and battles from Northern Portuguese history are painted on 550 m² (!) of azulejos. But also take note of the smaller tile work featuring various train themes. Linger around for a while and amuse yourself with all the Instagram antics. Observe the comings and goings of train travelers and tourists. You are also out of the scorching sun here for a moment, which is a good idea in the Portuguese summer anyway.
2. The best viewpoints on the Douro River
All the streets of Porto eventually lead to the Douro River. And it is also a pleasure to constantly find new viewpoints. On the north side of the river, there are few good viewpoints, except from the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal. Nearby, you can also get a beautiful view of the river from the Palácio bus/tram stop. We saw this from the bus on the way back up after our feet had said ‘enough’. There is also a small bar here with a view.
On the north bank of the river, there are several small streets that slope down towards the river. These streets offer beautiful glimpses of the river or Porto’s large bridge every time again.
These are our four most beautiful viewpoints, all in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the south side. In three days in Porto, you have plenty of time to visit these, and more.
* Miradoura Ponte de Dom Luis I Porto
The Ponte de Dom de Luis I Porto is the Eiffel Tower-like bridge located in the heart of Porto (on the north side of the river) and Vila Nova da Gaia (on the south side of the river). The bridge is a picture in itself, and the view from the top is stunning! Note that the bridge has two levels. On the ‘ground level,’ buses run, and you can walk from the ‘right bank’ (north) to the ‘left bank’ (south) of the Douro River. The metro-tram runs on the upper level. The tram bridge above also serves as a pedestrian bridge. You can walk across the river from Sao Bento station in 10 minutes.
Looking in both directions, you can see the river winding through the hills from above the bridge and photograph the stacked houses of Porto. Just be careful when a tram passes by at a snail’s pace and pedestrians push past you while you are taking a picture! Walking up or down to the river is a tough climb. So think carefully about when you decide to admire the river up close… Getting back up will cost you a few drops of sweat or a ticket for the bus or funicular (the public ‘lift’), and those don’t run every five minutes.
* Miradouro da Serra do Pilar
On the south side of the bridge, a former monastery with a white, round church – Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar – towers over the city. A 200-meter-long ramp takes you to the top of a plateau where you overlook the Ponte de Dom de Luis I Porto and the city on the other side.
* Jardim do Morro
For a perfect view of the Porto skyline, walk back from Miradouro da Serra do Pilar to the beginning of the bridge. Here, a small park sits on a hill. We sit on a bench for a moment while groups and families relax with a view of the city, most keeping a respectful 1.5 meters distance due to Covid-19. A lovely spot for a city picnic. We have somewhat mixed feelings about the concrete monstrosity built here as the start/end point of the cable car going down, with an (overly) luxurious café on top. Uh, what? Yes, right in the city center, they have a cable car here! Fortunately, plenty of the view remains, especially if you keep walking.
* Avenida de Diogo Leite (promenade langs de rivier)
Yet, perhaps the most beautiful spot is simply back down by the river. Directly opposite the busy promenade on the north side of the river, the boulevard on the south side offers a view of the entire Porto skyline. From here, you see the quintessential image of Porto with its colorful buildings and turrets, and the bridge towering high above the terraces. There are plenty of cafes and restaurants here to grab a bite to eat during or after sunset.
3. The best spots for street art
During three days in Porto, a bit of street art is a must. The definitive street art spot in Porto is Arturo Bordalo’s Half-Half Rabbit (‘Bordalo II’) in Vila Nova da Gaia (so this isn’t actually Porto!). There are now nearly 200 ‘big trash animals’ worldwide that make you look at art differently. This is clearly more than just a cute rabbit. Take a close look at the details! You can find this artwork on an otherwise unremarkable street corner in a small street just behind the quay, 500 meters from the bridge, near the cable car’s lower station.
We happened to pass by a meters-high portrait ‘Mira’ by Daniel Eima (at the Miragaia bus stop). And on our last day in Porto, we discovered that there is another very cheerful example just around the corner from our apartment: a large modern tile piece by artist Joana Vasconcelos. There is plenty of other cheerful graffiti to be found in Porto, so just take a look around the corner as you stroll through Porto’s streets.
4. That one church we visited…
We just had to pop into at least one church during our three days in Porto. We see pictures beforehand of a church with an extravagant golden interior. So we buy a ticket at the entrance to the Church of São Francisco, thinking we are walking in to take some nice photos. We end up disappointed not being allowed to take photos inside the golden church itself at all. Still, apart form all the gold, there are some catacombs and lavishly decorated rooms with luxury paintings and objects ‘on display’ to enjoy.
Also to see in Porto: Drinking port and seeing Livraria Lello
Lots of things in Porto we didn’t do that you are actually ‘supposed’ to do. Of course, you are supposed to drink port in Porto, but well, we aren’t wine fans. And Porto is just fun even without a port tasting.
And of course, there is Livraria Lello, the now Insta-famous bookstore. But we find a hundred-meter line at that bookstore every day when we walk past. So we skip the inside for now, even though we love books immensely!
According to many blogs, you also ‘must’ go into the Palacio da Bolsa, but the small park in front of it is also very nice to hang out for a while. The striking red Mercado Ferreira Borges building is also located there, housing a nightclub and concert hall. Its has been open again for a while, after the club was closed due to Covid-19.
How to get around during your three days in Porto?
The center of Porto isn’t actually that big, but due to all the hills, you can easily take 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day, or more. So if that bothers you, it is certainly handy to take the metro and the bus occasionally. Buying a Porto.CARD (Tourist Card) or a 24-hour public transport pass is also a good excuse to visit the Sao Bento station. Here, in the station hall, you will find murals meters high composed of Porto’s famous blue tiles, the azulejos. An Uber taxi is also very affordable.
If you are staying on top of Porto’s hill and want to get to the other side of the river, check which bus or metro goes near you. Otherwise, you will be walking up and down constantly. You can probably get up or down just fine with the funicular (a lift-like thing) on the north side, but when we were there, we found the queue really way too long. Another option is the more expensive cable car on the south side of the river.
