How to Spend a Weekend in Porto, Portugal

Porto, I love you! Editing my photos just now made me remember how stunning this city is. It was hard to find a bad view. At the end of April I booked flights to Porto for Alex’s birthday for 3 nights. Portugal is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for a while, mainly because I am obsessed with patterned tiles (!), and it did not disappoint. 

It was a really great place to wander around and soak up the views and atmosphere. It wasn’t an overly touristy city as well, which I loved. Even the restaurants along the harbour were packed full of locals and had really low prices.

Things to Do in Porto

My Dad’s colleague is from Portugal and very kindly sent over a long list of ideas which was great. Keeping the trip a secret from Alex was surprisingly hard so I didn’t manage to do much research.

Boat Trip

We got a boat from the harbour up and down the river which was a beautiful ride. It was a bit overpriced but still worth it for the different perspective.

Serralves Museum

This was a millennial blush lover’s dream haha! We actually ended up walking here which took ageeees but it was fun to see the outer suburbs of Porto. We got the bus back which was much quicker! We saw the Joan Miró exhibition which was really gorgeous, then wandered around the gardens for a bit.

Bolhão Market

We got up early on Saturday and walked to this covered market which sold everything from fresh fruit and veg to textiles and ceramics.

Port Tasting

You can do an organised port tour/tasting but we ended up walking across the bridge to the port houses and popping into a cute little bar. The lovely waitress poured us both a port of each colour (white, rosé and red) and brought us delicious cheeses and olives, all for 12 euros! We loved the white as it was a little less rich/sweet than the darker port. I’d definitely recommend doing the same if you don’t want to spend a few hours doing a tour.

Where to Eat in Porto

Tapabento

I booked this for Alex’s birthday meal and it was sooo amazing. The staff were really lovely and we ordered loads of dishes to share. The food was divine and really beautifully presented as well. I still dream about the peanut foam we had for pudding. On a side note – they were really great with me being coeliac too, and there were loads of things I could tuck into.

Café Majestic

This was definitely a bit of a tourist hot spot and the most expensive coffee but it was a really grand and historic café to sit in and admire.

Galerias de Paris

Definitely the area to go to if you are after bars and nightlife in Porto. We walked around here after our meal and had some really good and cheap caipirinas at a little bar.

Other than these few places we grabbed really delicious fish and wine at the little restaurants in the back streets by the harbour.

^ This house was empty and I want to move in right now please. So dreamy. ^

I hope this helps if you’re thinking of a taking trip over to Portugal! Now that I’ve had a taste of the beautiful country (and food) I’m really eager to go back and explore more.