I’m returning to Porto in 2026 to walk a section of the Portuguese Camino with friends.
I’m encouraging my friends to add on days to visit Porto before we start walking, so I’ve put this collection of photos together to serve as a list of recommendations for visiting this delightful city.
It’s been four years since my first trip to Porto, marking the beginning of my love affair with Portugal. I returned after walking the Portuguese Camino to Portugal to visit Lisbon and to walk the Rota Vicentina. I returned again to do more of the coastal fishing trail and then I went back to Porto with my sister after another Camino. Last year I begged my whole family to meet me in Lisbon to celebrate New Year’s and a big wedding anniversary.
I’m scheming to go back to Portugal at least once, but maybe a twice in 2026, so as I plan, I am also returning to the beginning.
My first steps into Portugal were in June of 2022. I was just passing through Porto, it was the beginning of my next Camino.
But Porto was swoon-worthy before I ever even spotted the colorful buildings piled up like building blocks along the river.
I fell in love with Porto at the airport, because I am a sucker for a town with an easy, efficient and affordable transit system.
It might sound silly, but when a city provides an option to hop on a metro line for around 2 euros right outside of the airport, the town has already gone a long way towards winning over my vagabond heart. This is why I’ll go way out of my way to never fly into Milan, but will fly into Pisa or Florence instead, even if it costs more. Cities that offer easy transport links from their airports will always top my travel list. (Take note, Bristol! Do better.)
Everyone has their preferred way of getting to know a city. Some folks might chat to their host or a local driver. My sister tends to discover a place through food. I have another friend who always does a walking tour on the first day she’s in town as a way to get to know a place.
But I love to just walk around aimlessly. I drop off my stuff where I’m staying and then I walk outside without an agenda and start wandering. I suppose you could say I am lost since I have no idea where I am. But I’m not lost, I’m just finding my way.
In Porto, eventually I ran into the Douro River. And since the southernmost part of town is bordered by the river, I began to learn where places were in relation to the water.
In Porto, you can walk west along the river front all the way out to the sea, or you can walk east and climb the small cobbled roads and stairs that overlook the river and city.
You can also climb up the bridge and walk across the river to the neighboring town of Vila Nova de Gaia, where all old the Port Houses are. You can wander up and down both sides of the river for a long time, until your legs are so tired, you have to stop and try what will be come your new favorite drink, A Porto Tonico. Which is port and tonic instead of gin and tonic.
The first things I noticed in Portugal were the cobbled streets and the building tiles. It feels like being in an open air museum, an outdoor gallery full of detail and color.
Tiles seem so much brighter than paint, and they sparkle in the sunshine. And in the rain.
Every time I turned a corner, there was another bright color.
And sometimes I would stop and look at the tiles up close, wondering at their texture and detailed designs.
Who made all these?
I must be in a city filled with artists.
On that first visit to Porto, I really only had a day to wander around. In all honestly, I had only come to Porto to walk away from it.
I was meeting four friends to walk north to Santiago from Porto, to discover a new trail.
We met up for dinner the night before leaving on our walk.
Then the next morning we made our way to the cathedral to officially begin our Camino.
We got our pilgrims’ passports from the cathedral, getting our first stamp and then finding the first Camino marker outside the church.
And then we were off. Instead of taking the traditional Camino out of Porto, we walked along the Douro River out to the sea.
We planned to walk for a couple of days along the coastline before making our way inland to the historical route. Because it was a warm June, we figured we would enjoy having the sea breeze at our backs for the start of our journey.
But it was good for us that we’d only planned for a couple of days along the sea, because our progress was so slow due to the siren call of lounge chairs and beach bars along the way.
Shall we stop for another drink? Another moment in the sun?
Yes, of course we should!
We loved our two sea days at the beginning of our Camino and I remembered them so fondly that I knew I wanted to do the river walk out to the sea again if I ever returned to Porto!
Exactly two years later I returned to Porto.
Only this time instead of coming to walk away, I arrived by bus with my sister after walking the Camino through Spain with our kids.
We sent them all home after a wild time of treating blisters, sleeping on top of each other and finally reaching the cathedral square in Santiago.
We hoped we had helped them make memories that they would later appreciate, and now we were ready for a few days on our own.
Unfortunately, our welcome into Porto began with a climb up about 300 stairs to a room I’d booked for its tiny glimpse of the river.
Our room with a view was very small, and a bit sweltering in the June heat, but thankfully, we hadn’t planned to spend too much time in it.
We started our visit in Porto with brunch, something we did every day actually. We found a lot of breakfast and coffee spots we loved in Porto: Esquires, Do Norté Cafe and Honest Greens were our favorites.
On our first morning, we found that we were both more tired than we realized but pushed through our itinerary of climbing to the top of the Clérigos Tower for the 360 degree views of Porto.
I love to get an aerial view of a city. It sort of helps me get my bearings a little better.
I realized from the tower that on my last visit to Porto, I had barely scratched the surface. There was so much more to see.
The 18th century church and tower is now a museum and historical site. The gorgeous chapel hosts events and concerts and was for sure worth visiting. But besides the view from the tower, my favorite find at Clérigos was a pieta I came across in the museum.
I’ve been collecting pietas since seeing my first one in Italy over 20 years ago. There is something about this moment that Mary holds the sacrificed Christ in her arms that always speaks to me. I have tried to understand what it is about these paintings and sculptures that cracks something open in my heart every time. I think it has to do with the relationship between a mother and her son. But more than that, it’s the way a mother has the ability to hold all her children’s suffering in her heart, often without being broken or even hardened by it. Mary’s deep grief is all of ours. It’s the grief for her son having to die and it’s the grief for a world in which a son has to die.
It’s so random. I don’t even know who the artist is, but I can be walking through any art collection and a pieta will always draw my attention, standing out from every other piece.
After some more city wandering, including visiting the newly renovated Porto Market, we decided (not unusually) that we needed some green space, so we headed to the Parque e Jardim da Fundação Serralves.
This space also has a museum and restaurant, but we mainly hung out in the bright sunshine and under the shady trees outside.
We actually fell asleep on some benches in one of the treetop boardwalks.
Though it was further outside of the city center that we realized, we enjoyed our time Serralves Parque. Afterwards, Anna headed back to the hotel for a nap and I walked a little more.
We met back up for dinner across the river from Porto, and then caught the sunset as we walked home across the bridge.
The rest of our five days in Porto were spent in a similar rhythm.
Wake up and walk to find breakfast or brunch somewhere fun.
Walk to something else on our list to see.
Then wander off to find a garden or somewhere to sit in the sun.
We spent one afternoon in the gardens behind Casa São Roque after visiting the house and exhibition.
The gardens are free to visit and behind the gardens is an extensive forest park and maze. (We enjoyed the gardens more than the house and art exhibition but if you wander all the way out there, you might as well visit both.)
Another day I talked Anna into walking the Douro river along the first part of the Camino, just to see the sea again.
We spent the whole afternoon in beach chairs after wandering out to the sea.
Then Anna found a fancy restaurant with a female chef nearby that she wanted to try, InDiferente. We were slightly underdressed in our hiking boots, trail shorts and merino shirts, but the kind host hid our backpacks in the back so we looked a little less scraggly. We made up for our lack of fashion with our enthusiasm for each exquisite dish on the seafood-themed tasting menu.
Traveling with my sister always involves finding great food. In addition to being a restaurant owner and fabulous cook, she has a nose for picking out the best item on a menu or the most special pastry in the case.
Because of Anna, I will remember many delightful food spots in Porto: breakfast spots and restaurants, but also the food hall and the long market in the train station that has stalls from many famous Portuguese restaurants.
When I got home from Porto, I tired to re-create several of the salads we had at Honest Greens.
After days of walking around and feeding ourselves beautiful scenes and food, we had settled back into ourselves.
Whenever I finish a Camino or any long-distance walk, I wake up the next day and feel like I should still be walking. I miss the trail days, both how they are predictable in their rhythm and unpredictable in what you will find along the way. I think this feeling is not uncommon among walkers. The let-down after it’s over is part of the journey.
So it takes a little while to settle back into one place, to find myself ready to just be, and not need to be constantly in motion.
Though we were on the move in Porto, we were just as often being still. Reading or talking or drinking tea.
And sleeping. Lots of sleeping.
Anna had an early flight on our last day in Porto, so I sent her off to the airport, hopefully rested and ready to go back to her busy life.
I had an evening flight so after checking out, I revisited a few of our favorite Porto spots.
Instead of doing something new, I went back for one more salad and kombucha at Honest Greens.
One more wander along the Douro River.
One more hour in the Botanical Garden, watching the peacocks and children.
Then it was time for my flight and a goodbye to the Camino and to Portugal.
Until next time.
Here is my Google Maps list of Porto in case you find yourself wandering along the Douro River sometime soon. Oh and here’s my Wandering Lisboa playlist which is also a great accompaniment to a walk around Porto.
