City Highlights
Porto, Portugal
Porto, or Oporto, is the second largest city in Portugal and located on the Douro river estuary which is famous for its Port wine, widely exported across the world.
Here's some of the highlights we found on our most recent visit to this wonderful city.
NH Collection Porto Batalha
Praça da Batalha 60, 4000-171 Porto
The NH Collection Porto Batalha is ideally located in the old town of Porto, just a few minutes away from the São Bento Train Station. Being a four star First Class hotel, it retains many of the amenities travellers will look for in a higher specification hotel, such as an on-site swimming pool, spa, bar and restaurant, whilst being available at more moderate prices.
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Wine Tasting
Port wine is famous across the world and there are many vineyard tours offered in the region, enabling you to visit and sample some of the best Port wine in the world.
Here are two of our favourites:
Quinta dos Castelares
Inland of Portugal in the village of Vilarinho de São Romão lies Quinta dos Castalares, a very traditional vineyard situated just off the main road specialising in organic wines. Interestingly, they also manage to find time to manufacture their own honey under the brand Mel Santa Maria, with various types on offer - Heather, Chestnut and Rosemary.
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Quinta da Roêda | Croft Port
With it's magnificent estate and facilities, visiting the Croft vineyard is truly a memorable experience. The guided tours through the vineyard explain the wine making process, as well as the damaging effects of climate change and how the business is continuously adapting. We were fortunate to have the manager of the vineyard lead our tour on the day which made for an incredibly insightful experience.
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Food and Drink
Cúmplice Steakhouse and Bar
Cúmplice Steakhouse and Bar is undoubtedly one of the best steakhouses in Porto, and at the time of writing is ranked #3 restaurant on TripAdvisor. From the moment you walk through the door you are greeted by friendly staff, who are very attentive and happy to help. On our visit the front of house spoke perfect English as well as several other languages (we counted at least four).
Steak is very much on the menu here, being a steakhouse, and the meats themselves are of very high quality and cooked to an extremely high standard. We can recommend the Filet, but all of the available cuts will undoubtedly be exceptional.
Be sure to book in advance due to high demand.
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Nogueira's Porto
Having unsuccessfully attempted to visit Muu Steakhouse (another top TripAdvisor rated steakhouse - coincidentially the owner also owns Cúmplice Steakhouse) we were recommended Noguiera's, and it made for a perfect recommendation.
Service is extremely professional and provided to a very high standard. The food is equally as good, we can recommend the Portugese and New York steaks which were cooked to perfection.
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Brasão Coliseu
Brasão Coliseu is just a few doors down from Cúmplice Steakhouse, but is a noteworthy mention for offering their version of the Francesinha, a Portugese Sandwich originally from Porto, typically made with bread, cured ham, sausage, steak, and covered with melted cheese and a spiced tomato and beer sauce - A Must Have.
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Castro - Atelier de Pastéis de Nata
The Pastel de Nata, or Portugese Tart, is a must try in Portugal.
Castro, a very unassuming corner bakery nestled within the centre of Porto, is one of many Ateliers in the city specialising in the Pastel de nata, but the quality of the product is undoubtable.
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7g Roaster Apartments & Restaurant
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Esquires Coffee Porto
Elsewhere
Ponte Luis I Bridge
