Port-tippling and charismatic, Porto is a city that wins hearts with its laidback charm, medieval cobbles and cavalcade of bridges, but it’s more than just a place of pilgrimage for port wine lovers.
Portugal’s second city is wonderfully picturesque: a higgledy-piggledy pile of red roofs, azulejo-tiled restaurants and pastel painted buildings that straddle the river Douro, admiring their own image that’s mirrored in the water.
Nuzzled in the northwest of the country, Porto is closer to Spanish Galicia than it is Lisbon, gifting the city an appealing pan-Iberian atmosphere that complements its historic and artistic charms.
For a relatively small city, it’s easy to fill a weekend. World-class museums intersperse with port wine cellars; lavish baroque churches loom over incredible seafood restaurants.
The old city centre, found in the Ribeira district, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Part of its charm is that it hasn’t been shined and spruced for tourists, it remains crumbling and untouched.