Porto Travel Forum

HOw big is Porto centre?Is everything in walking-distance?Where should we book a hotel,if we like it to be not too far(maybe around 2km) from area,where is sigsts and museums(I donīt actually know how much there is those,I will start to search now),but also close to area,where is lots of places to eat at night(I mean around 21 oīclock or little later).We also might consider a flat,but hotels seemed to be cheap!
Another question:someone told us to taste white portwine-is there a company specialised in it,and if so,is it possible to visit?
And third question:(I might find this with google,but here is so friendly helpful people,that I thought to ask this also..):Where will I find train timetables(if possible,in English)we will go to Lissabon.

Hi Turska

I will try to help with this:

1.Timetables: http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=87cbd5abe2a74010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD&lang=en
The fastes train puts in Lisbon in 2 hours I guess.

2.Wine tasting : http://www.portotours.com/indexen.php?op=catalog&method=list&idCategory=18
Don't miss it, it's a very beautiful area and a very interesting activity.

3. Porto is a very big city!You should try to book something in the city centre - near Batalha, for instance. If you don't find anything the metro line (http://www.linhandante.com/) connects all the city (you can catch from the airport to the city centre).
Do avoid to sleep in some beautiful but dodgy areas like Ribeira or Boavista.

Don't miss the port of Gaia, at night time is lovely with a great view over the river Douro. You can eat for a fare price there also.

Enjoy your times in Pt, hopefully you'll have some sun.

Thanks!Good tips allready :) Thereīs very little info of Porto in Finnish,but because of Vt we decided not to go straight to Lisbon.(I wrote it last time"Finnish"as Lissabon,sorry..).Luckily there is internet.I found one very little book of Porto in English,costs 7,99e.I didnīt buy it yet,even if I will buy a Lisbon book.Even if I understand a lot in English,itīs nice to have a book in Finnish,because itīs quicker to read.
We will be at Portugal 26th June to 14th July,and must start planning how long we will stay at Porto,because cheapest flats are rented first.We definetly want to have a flat in Lisbon-itīs "our way"to travel.I first checked hotels from Porto for 6 nights.They were so cheap,that I must now check the areas of them.
We like to stay at centre,so we can pop in to hotel during the day,if we want to.We allways need to use city-transport back home,so rather not at holliday.

:)
It's good to read a bit about the place we are visiting, but maybe you can get many info in the internet - in english though :)
Yeah, I understand what u say abt reading in your own language...for me that's more and more impossible to get!

Oh it's a pitty you are not going on the 23rd to the 24th June, there is the city's traditional party http://www.worldeventsguide.com/event/4421/Porto-Portugal/S-o-Jo-o-Festival-St-John-Festival.html
It's really crazy. Everyone is out on the streets eating, drinking and dancing all night long. A big huge gathering :)

Maybe itīs the reason,why flights were cheaper starting 26th..It sound fun to see,but flights are booked allready..And it might have been hard to get holliday then.Most Finns start their holliday at that week(we have national holliday at 19th,and many start a holliday straight from it).So my husband needed to talk with 3 other man at work so there woul all the time be at least two of them.
I collect guide-books,I have tens of them-maybe half in Finnish,half in English.Itīs easier to find a book in Finnish about places where we have straight flights.(We change in London)

hello, how r u?

About Porto the official website of tourism is http://www.portoturismo.pt/. You have plenty of information there. About a good place to stay I like Aliados and Ribeira area. As I told you before I normally book hotels through booking.com. About apartments I heard some people talking about homelidays.com. About Porto wine I went to Croft wine cellar. You just have to cross the bridge to Gaia, turn right and then, about 500 meters away, turn left when you see the indications. The tour was nice, it was free and included two wine tastings. There are many companies in Gaia with trips. In my case I just appeared and joined a tour and Croft, for what they say is always open.

Have a nice trip!

Hello!
Doing better now,thanks!
Thanks for your tips also.I book allways hotels from booking.com or venere.com (I allways check witch has better deals),both have been great choises.Many Finns use ebookers,but I think itīs more expensive and they often want you to pay one night before you go.I rather pay when Iīm there.
We donīt usually take part on tours,if possible-I mean like going to bus what takes you to somewhere and so on-of course at these companys you mostly need to take tour,when you first arrive by your own.At some places you need to book advance-how about these port-places?Or maybe itīs told in one of those links.

Hello,

I would just like to book mark this thread as we will be in Porto for a few days in May as well.

Thank you

HORSCHECK :-)

hello dear friends (nice to see some of my friends also going Porto)
Porto is a big town as Luisa said but the major attractions are within walking distance from downtown. Exception to the mouth of the river area (Foz) that you will take a bus. Moreover.. if you have time you will take the metro to Matosinhos to have some real fresh fish from the fisherman's village (now a town)
You will find so many places to eat specially at that time of the year and I can give you some names if you need. The mostly known are the ones near Ribeira but be aware that some are tourist traps regarding the price / quality.
Regarding the Port wine you can find many places to drink the wine that you demand and you can pay a visit to the cellars but I would suggest (also) a visit to a beautiful place -Solar do Vinho do Porto- (http://www.ivp.pt/pagina.asp?codPag=168&codSeccao=5&idioma=1) BTW within these pages you will find much info about the Port wines.
This place is fantastic around sun set because the sun sets around the bridge / mouth of the river... I've made a vtmeeting there 3 years ago after a trip on the tipical Porto boats which I reccommend you to do also

About hotels... well the best price/quality is on Boavista although from there you need a bus to go downtown. I always choose hotels on near Campo Alegre area (Ipanema Hotel e.g.) which allow me to park my car and walk from there to downtown. Hotel Eurostars das Artes it's even closer to downtown and they offer very good deals some times. And from there it's only 3 min to one of the best meals in town -Restaurante Assador Típico, Rua D. Manuel, close to Soares dos Reis Museum (which you should visit ).
If you choose Hotels in Boavista you will be closer to the other museum that you should visit -Museu de Serralves- and it's gardens
To book hotels in Europe and besides the ones mentioned already I also use http://www.destinia.com/ usualy very good rates...

Meanwhile I'll give you some more tips
All the best

Thanks again.For hotels we allways choose cheapest one at area we want,if it hasnīt been rated very poor.We are cheap-travellers,and rather use the money to museums,restaurants and that short of things,than a place where we mostly only sleep.But for the prices I saw,I believe we might even take second cheapest..ha-haa..
We havenīt decided yet how we share our time between these two places.Our flight is to Porto,so we first stay there.And we fly back at morning,so weīll come back to Porto a day before leaving back home.That last night hotel we must choose close to place where airport-buses(if there is those,havenīt checked yet)go.
Our Finnish friends have warned us,that in Portugal you eat fishes without"cleaning",with all organs in..Iīm afraid that we will also leave them not eaten then...

that's my way of traveling -although I don't bother to stay in a nice hotel... but after all it's only to rest for a while... most part of the time we are out..
If you want to rent a car (giving you mobility) I can give you some more tips about nearby places to visit. Some times you can have a small car for a nice price.
About the fish... well don't think that way because the only fish that is not "clean" from the internal organs are sardines in order to prevent of becoming to dry when grilled, maybe the same applies to cuttlefish but in this case you have to ask specifically to do it that way (com tinta). Moreover, all the fish is clean and washed... no problems I can assure you.
By the way if you are familiar with Surströmming that's worse. I was introduced to Surströmming the very first day I arrived to Sweden (I lived there 3 years) and my "reception" was the rotten fish -but after all, and despite the smell I enjoyed the taste, and the swedish aquavit also helped the digestion
Nevertheless, I'm quite liberal in terms of food as I eat virtualy everything (and I can tell you that I took some very weird things when I was living in Malaysia and travelling in the countries around).
But don't be afraid of the portuguese fish... if it make you apprehensive skip the small fish and ask for any kind of 1 fish dish (bellow you have a list). Trust me

A list of some typical sea products from Portugal
dried salted cod = bacalhau -the most common
sea bass = robalo
gilthead bream = dourada
scabbardfish = espada
sole = linguado
sea breams = besugo
mackerel = carapau
grouper = cherne, garoupa
snapper, or porgy = pargo
hake = pescada
monkfish = tamboril
trout = truta

cuttlefish =choco
squid = lulas

prawn = camarão, gamba
mussel = mexilhão
oyster = ostra
crab = sapateira, caranguejo
scallop = vieira

Most of all... enjoy Portugal

O.k.Maybe we will try some fish then.By the way,my nick-name"Turska" means cod-fish in Finnish!!It comes from my real name,and my horoscope(fishes) and I donīt mind my nickname being a fish.But I donīt like cod-fish..At least dried and done from it like we do in chrismas also.
I didnīt first figure out ,what fish you ment by that Swedish fish,(even if I speak Swedish,but not so well anymore-havenīt used it since scholl a lot,even if Finland is bilingual,it debends witch part you live,Swedish is spoken in the coast mostly.But when you told about the smell,I knew what you ment-I would never eat that thing!We Finns mostly make fun of that food our"dear neighbours"love..
I donīt believe that we will rent a car this time.Maybe we might visit some places by bus or similar.We like to do car-trips and town-hollidays seperetly.Next summer we plan to drive to France and Benelux-countries from Finland by own car.
But now Iīll check some links you all have been giving.

Isnīt this in good location?
Residencial Universal
Avenida dos Aliados, 38, 4000-064 Porto
Link: http://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/residencial-universal.html?aid=100200;label=Hotel-reservations-7Gw49JLhtamqV6WpNXLUvAS1257240355;sid=3f22940de433347a34fffe30f97c7ce4;checkin=2009-06-27;checkout=2009-07-03;show_room=RD4076402_201755_0

hello Turska (never meet anyone with a cod nickname :-)
yes it is quite central. You can walk to every place on that part of the town + cross the bridge to Vila Novade Gaia (and maybe see the caves) and just need to take a bus to the "Foz" mouth of the river nice to walk around a bit, and Museu de Serralves. If the weather is good a promenade along the river is nice and you can climb from the river to the Solar do vinho do Porto.
cheers

Hello again,

We will also stay in Porto for 3 or even 4 nights in the middle of May. By chance the above mentioned Residencial Universal is also on my list of possible accomodations for the trip.

Others are:
- prices are per night for a double room from booking.com -

HF Tuela Porto, Rua Arquitecto Marques Da Silva, 200, Boavista,
50 Euro without breafast

Residencial Século,Rua Santa Catarina,Nš 1256, Porto centre,
60 Euro with breakfast

Residential Universal, Avenida dos Aliados 38, Porto Centre
45 Euro with brekfast

Pensao do Norte, Fernandes Tomas 579, Poro Centre
45 Euro without breakfast

Pensao Poveira, Rua da estacao, 56, near Station Campanha
35 Euro without breakfast

As we will probably stay 3-4 night sin Porto we don not necessarily need a central location. Nevertheless we would prfer a location with good public transport connection to both the city centre as well as teh train station.


I also have the probelm that there is such a big choice of accomodations in Porto that I cant really decide on which one is well located.


So any comments on this list are very much apprciated.

HORSCHECK






-

Hi Holger
I travel often to Porto (pleasure and work) and when I pay I almost always stay at Tuela (it's also convenient as it is close to the university where I have my coleagues). I park my car on the first day and it's very easy to get centre even walking -I like to strech my legs.
It's a confort 3stars and worth the money. They belong to a chain which includes the not so central Ipanema Park (5 stars) where I got some times a double for 60 euro on summer times :-)
Breakfast are not anymore as they were 4-5 years ago but even so are good enough
enjoy Porto

Hello Antonio,

Okay, Tuela is now my first option. Only I have read that some people complain that the nearest metro is too far away. As far as I got tit, the nearest metro is about 500 metres away, which I still find okay. Any opinion on this?

Thanks,
Holger

Holger

yes the nearest metro is a bit far ... but as far as I remember you are a "walker" too.... and there are bus stops nearby with lines which serves the dowtown area. And if you walk between hotel and downtown you will find the "Cristal Palace" (now Rosa Mota dome) and gardens with great views over the river and -a plus - the Solar do Vinho do Porto which is just around the corner ;-) (see my Port wine tip on my Portugal page)
enjoy