Porto is one of the most beautiful cities in Portugal, but also one of the larger ones. As such, how many days do you need to truly experience Porto? Can you explore it in a day or two? We’ll go over exactly that in today’s post.
One day in Porto
Can you explore Porto in a day?
What can you do in a day in Porto? The centre of Porto itself is not that big – you can easily fit all the best tourist attractions of Porto in the old town in one day. Though we don’t mean a thorough tour of actually visiting all of the sites but rather just walking by and seeing them. The main sights that we’re talking about are:
- Sé do Porto,
- Igreja dos Clérigos,
- Liberty Square,
- Pérola do Bolhão,
- Mercado do Bolhão,
- Parque das Virtudes,
- Palácio da Bolsa,
- Ponte Luís I,
- Miradouro da Serra do Pilar
And a visit to one of Porto’s vineyards with a walk on the banks of the Douro. Not that bad, though it is just walking by all of these attractions and not actually interacting with them much.
Two days in Porto
What can you do in Porto in two days?
Two days in Porto means a whole day where you can either see the ocean or enjoy the local nightlife. We’d recommend taking a walk (or going by public transport) to Farolim de Felgueiras and Pérgola da Foz by the ocean. You can also visit one of the many beaches near the centre of Porto. Additionally, there’s the Monastery da Serra do Pilar, the Azulejo at Porto-São Bento Railway Station and the exceptionally atmospheric Lello Bookshop.
Check out the best beaches in Portugal.
Three days in Porto
What can you see around Porto?
If you can spare one more day in Porto, we recommend either further exploring the streets and vineyards of Porto itself or drive up to the nearby Guimaraes – a city about an hour away and the former capital of Portugal. It’s a city full of tourist attractions and various historical monuments.
As you can see, though Porto is quite full of things to do and see, you can get through it relatively quickly. It’s certainly no Lisbon in this regard and you can probably be satisfied with two to three days in Porto. Though you can get away with a day trip, we’d say this still means you have to constantly be fretting about whether you’re not going too slow. Maybe that doesn’t bother you that much though, it’s an option if you’re really short on time.
If you have more time, however, you can always extend the lists above with visits to the various nearby towns and villages or find spots for hiking nearby. You can certainly fill up more, it’s just a matter of whether you really want to.
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