Must-see attractions in The Douro & Trás-os-Montes

  • Decorated interior of church museum of Saint Francis (Igreja de Sao Francisco) in Porto, Portugal.
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    Igreja de São Francisco

    Ribeira

    Igreja de São Francisco looks from the outside to be an austerely Gothic church, but inside it hides one of Portugal’s most dazzling displays of baroque…

  • PORTO, PORTUGAL - AUGUST 22, 2013: Art deco villa in Serralves Gardens in the city of Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 335447633; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Serralves

    Foz do Douro

    This fabulous cultural institution combines a museum, a mansion and extensive gardens. Cutting-edge exhibitions, along with a fine permanent collection…

  • Se Cathedral in Porto, Portugal

    Ribeira

    From Praça da Ribeira rises a tangle of medieval alleys and stairways that eventually reach the hulking, hilltop fortress of the cathedral. Founded in the…

  • National Museum Soares dos Reis located in the ancient Carrancas Palace, in Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 233117197; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis

    Miragaia

    Porto's best art museum presents a stellar collection ranging from Neolithic carvings to Portugal’s take on modernism, all housed in the formidable…

  • Porto, Portugal - August 25, 2020: Nations Courtyard at Stock Exchange Palace in Porto, Portugal.
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    Palácio da Bolsa

    Ribeira

    This splendid neoclassical monument (built from 1842 to 1910) honours Porto’s past and present money merchants. Just past the entrance is the glass-domed…

  • Detail of Sao Bento Train station in Oporto. The first train arrived here in 1896, but the building (designed with a French Renaissance touch) opened in 1903.; Shutterstock ID 7016608; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    São Bento Train Station

    Aliados & Bolhão

    One of the world's most beautiful train stations, beaux arts São Bento wings you back to a more graceful age of rail travel. Completed in 1903, it seems…

  • Dom Luis I bridge, Porto, Portugal.

    Ponte de Dom Luís I

    Ribeira

    Completed in 1886 by a student of Gustave Eiffel, the bridge’s top deck is now reserved for pedestrians, as well as one of the city’s metro lines; the…

  • APRIL 19, 2017: Customers browse books inside the famous bookshop, Lello e Irmao (1906).
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    Livraria Lello

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Ostensibly a bookshop, but even if you’re not after books, don’t miss this exquisite 1906 neo-Gothic confection, with its lavishly carved plaster…

  • Capela das Almas door

    Capela das Almas

    Aliados & Bolhão

    On Rua de Santa Catarina stands the strikingly ornate, azulejo-clad Capela das Almas. Magnificent blue-and-white panels here depict scenes from the lives…

  • Serra do Pilar Monastery in Porto - Portugal; Shutterstock ID 268043069; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Gillmore; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online-Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/ Online Design /LaurenGillmore/POI

    Jardim do Morro

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    The cable car swings up to this hilltop park, which can also be reached by crossing the upper level of Ponte de Dom Luís I. Shaded by palms, these gardens…

  • Igreja do Carmo exterior

    Igreja do Carmo

    Miragaia

    Dating to the late 18th century, this captivating azulejo-covered church is one of Porto’s best examples of rococo architecture. The tiled panel on the…

  • São Salvador do Mundo

    The Douro

    A series of small chapels dotting the hillside, São Salvador do Mundo makes for a stunning diversion between Pinhão and Foz Côa. Follow the signs to these…

  • Miradouro São Leonardo de Galafura

    Peso da Régua

    For jaw-dropping views of the Douro Valley, head for this magnificent viewpoint between Régua and Pinhão. The N313-2 relentlessly switchbacks its way into…

  • Trader at meat goods stall at Bolhao Market.

    Mercado do Bolhão

    Aliados & Bolhão

    The 19th-century, wrought-iron Mercado do Bolhão closed its doors in spring 2018 for a major restoration project. No fixed date had been given for its…

  • Cais da Ribeira

    Ribeira

    This riverfront promenade is postcard Porto, taking in the whole spectacular sweep of the city, from Ribeira's pastel houses stacked like Lego bricks to…

  • A group visit one of the Paleolithic rock art in the Archeological Park in the Coa Valley, or Parque Arqueologico Vale do Coa, near Vila Nova de Foz Coa. The largest site of such art work found to date the site has been heritage listed.

    Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa

    The Douro

    Most visitors to Vila Nova de Foz Côa come for one reason: to see its world-famous gallery of rock art. Although the park is currently an active research…

  • Church Igreja da Misericórdia in Porto; Shutterstock ID 1074045272; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Keith; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Destination page image update

    Museu da Misericórdia do Porto

    Ribeira

    The Museu da Misericórdia do Porto harmoniously unites cutting-edge architecture, a prized collection of 15th- to 17th-century sacred art and portraiture,…

  • 500px Photo ID: 124011707 -

    Parque da Cidade

    Foz do Douro

    The hum of traffic on the Avenida da Boavista soon fades as you enter the serene, green Parque da Cidade, Portugal's largest urban park. Laced with 10km…

  • Casa do Infante exterior river

    Casa do Infante

    Ribeira

    In this handsomely renovated medieval town house, according to legend, Henry the Navigator was born in 1394. The building later served as Porto’s first…

  • Avenida dos Aliados

    Avenida dos Aliados

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Lined with bulging, beaux arts facades and capped by the stately câmara municipal (municipal council), this avenida recalls grand Parisian imitators such…

  • Igreja das Carmelitas interior

    Igreja das Carmelitas

    Miragaia

    Blink and you might miss that this is a church in its own right, snuggled as close as it is to the Igreja do Carmo. The twin churches are separated only…

  • Porto's Ribeira Houses

    Praça da Ribeira

    Ribeira

    Down by the Rio Douro, narrow streets open out onto a plaza framed by austerely grand, tiled town houses overlooking a picturesque stretch of the river…

  • Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios

    The Douro

    One of the country’s most important pilgrimage sites, this twin-towered, 18th-century church has a trim blue-and-white stucco interior with a sky-blue…

  • Espaço Porto Cruz

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    This swanky port-wine emporium inside a restored 18th-century riverside building celebrates all things port. In addition to a shop where tastings are held…

  • Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique

    Ribeira

    Presided over by the late-19th-century market hall Mercado Ferreira Borges and neoclassical Palácio da Bolsa, these gardens are named after the…

  • Museu de Lamego

    The Douro

    Occupying a grand 18th-century episcopal palace, the Museu de Lamego is one of Portugal’s finest regional museums. The collection features five entrancing…

  • Torre dos Clérigos

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Sticking out on Porto's skyline like a sore thumb – albeit a beautiful baroque one – this 76m-high tower was designed by Italian-born baroque master…

  • Rua de São Bento da Vitória

    Miragaia

    With its cobblestones polished smooth by centuries of shoe leather, and pretty tiled houses with little wrought-iron balconies and window boxes brimming…

  • Miradouro da Vitória

    Miragaia

    Porto is reduced to postcard format at this viewpoint, perched high and mighty above a mosaic of terracotta rooftops that tumble down to the Douro. It's a…

  • Centro Português de Fotografia interior 2

    Centro Português de Fotografia

    Miragaia

    This stately yet muscular building (1767) once served as a prison and now houses a photography museum. You actually walk through the thick iron gates and…

  • Cemitério do Prado do Repouso

    Cemitério do Prado Repouso

    Porto

    This was Porto’s first public cemetery when it was inaugurated in 1839. It is considered an important landmark for its neo-Gothic architecture and…

  • Igreja da Lapa exterior

    Igreja da Lapa

    Porto

    The Igreja da Lapa Catholic church holds particular significance in Porto as the place where Portugal’s former king and first emperor of Brazil’s heart is…

  • Praça da Batalha

    Praça da Batalha

    Aliados & Bolhão

    At the southern end of Rua de Santa Catarina is the lovely, eclectic Praça da Batalha, framed by Nasoni’s gracefully baroque Igreja de Santo Ildefonso…

  • Rua de Santa Catarina 3

    Rua de Santa Catarina

    Aliados & Bolhão

    This street is absurdly stylish and romantic, with trim boutiques, striped stone footpaths and animated crowds. It's home to Porto's most ornate tearoom,…

  • View of Douro river at Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 111626765; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Gillmore; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online-Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/ Online Design /LaurenGillmore/POI

    Teleférico de Gaia

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    Don't miss a ride on this aerial gondola that provides fine views over the Douro and Porto on its short, five-minute jaunt. It runs between the southern…

  • Capela de São Pedro de Balsemão

    The Douro

    This mysterious little chapel was probably built by Visigoths as early as the 6th century. With Corinthian columns, round arches and intriguing symbols…

  • Mosteiro de São Gonçalo

    The Douro

    Founded in 1543 by João III, the Mosteiro de São Gonçalo and Igreja de São Gonçalo weren’t completed until 1620. Above the church’s photogenic, Italian…

  • Mosteiro de São João de Tarouca

    The Douro

    The stunning, massive yet skeletal remains of Portugal’s first Cistercian monastery, founded in 1124, stand eerily in the wooded Barosa valley below the…

  • Mosteiro de Salzedas

    The Douro

    With picturesque pink stone arches, the Cistercian Mosteiro de Salzedas is located 3km up the Barosa valley from Ucanha in Salzedas. This was one of the…

  • The Douro

    Older than Portugal itself, Lamego’s striking sé has been declared a national monument. There is little left of the 12th-century original except the base…