Must-see attractions in Porto

  • Decorated interior of church museum of Saint Francis (Igreja de Sao Francisco) in Porto, Portugal.
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    Igreja de São Francisco

    Ribeira

    Igreja de São Francisco looks from the outside to be an austerely Gothic church, but inside it hides one of Portugal’s most dazzling displays of baroque…

  • PORTO, PORTUGAL - AUGUST 22, 2013: Art deco villa in Serralves Gardens in the city of Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 335447633; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Serralves

    Foz do Douro

    This fabulous cultural institution combines a museum, a mansion and extensive gardens. Cutting-edge exhibitions, along with a fine permanent collection…

  • Se Cathedral in Porto, Portugal

    Ribeira

    From Praça da Ribeira rises a tangle of medieval alleys and stairways that eventually reach the hulking, hilltop fortress of the cathedral. Founded in the…

  • National Museum Soares dos Reis located in the ancient Carrancas Palace, in Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 233117197; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis

    Miragaia

    Porto's best art museum presents a stellar collection ranging from Neolithic carvings to Portugal’s take on modernism, all housed in the formidable…

  • Porto, Portugal - August 25, 2020: Nations Courtyard at Stock Exchange Palace in Porto, Portugal.
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    Palácio da Bolsa

    Ribeira

    This splendid neoclassical monument (built from 1842 to 1910) honours Porto’s past and present money merchants. Just past the entrance is the glass-domed…

  • Jardins do Palacio de Cristal, Porto, Portugal ; Shutterstock ID 233117089; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    Jardins do Palácio de Cristal

    Massarelos

    Sitting atop a bluff, this gorgeous botanical garden is one of Porto's best-loved escapes, with lawns interwoven with sun-dappled paths and dotted with…

  • JUNE 7, 2015: exterior of the House of Music concert hall (Portuguese: Casa da Musica) in Porto, designed by Rem Koolhaas.
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    Casa da Música

    Boavista

    At once minimalist, iconic and daringly imaginative, the Casa da Música is the beating heart of Porto's cultural scene and the home of the Porto National…

  • Detail of Sao Bento Train station in Oporto. The first train arrived here in 1896, but the building (designed with a French Renaissance touch) opened in 1903.; Shutterstock ID 7016608; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

    São Bento Train Station

    Aliados & Bolhão

    One of the world's most beautiful train stations, beaux arts São Bento wings you back to a more graceful age of rail travel. Completed in 1903, it seems…

  • Dom Luis I bridge, Porto, Portugal.

    Ponte de Dom Luís I

    Ribeira

    Completed in 1886 by a student of Gustave Eiffel, the bridge’s top deck is now reserved for pedestrians, as well as one of the city’s metro lines; the…

  • APRIL 19, 2017: Customers browse books inside the famous bookshop, Lello e Irmao (1906).
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    Livraria Lello

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Ostensibly a bookshop, but even if you’re not after books, don’t miss this exquisite 1906 neo-Gothic confection, with its lavishly carved plaster…

  • Capela das Almas door

    Capela das Almas

    Aliados & Bolhão

    On Rua de Santa Catarina stands the strikingly ornate, azulejo-clad Capela das Almas. Magnificent blue-and-white panels here depict scenes from the lives…

  • Serra do Pilar Monastery in Porto - Portugal; Shutterstock ID 268043069; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Gillmore; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online-Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/ Online Design /LaurenGillmore/POI

    Jardim do Morro

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    The cable car swings up to this hilltop park, which can also be reached by crossing the upper level of Ponte de Dom Luís I. Shaded by palms, these gardens…

  • Igreja do Carmo exterior

    Igreja do Carmo

    Miragaia

    Dating to the late 18th century, this captivating azulejo-covered church is one of Porto’s best examples of rococo architecture. The tiled panel on the…

  • Trader at meat goods stall at Bolhao Market.

    Mercado do Bolhão

    Aliados & Bolhão

    The 19th-century, wrought-iron Mercado do Bolhão closed its doors in spring 2018 for a major restoration project. No fixed date had been given for its…

  • Cais da Ribeira

    Ribeira

    This riverfront promenade is postcard Porto, taking in the whole spectacular sweep of the city, from Ribeira's pastel houses stacked like Lego bricks to…

  • Church Igreja da Misericórdia in Porto; Shutterstock ID 1074045272; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Keith; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Destination page image update

    Museu da Misericórdia do Porto

    Ribeira

    The Museu da Misericórdia do Porto harmoniously unites cutting-edge architecture, a prized collection of 15th- to 17th-century sacred art and portraiture,…

  • 500px Photo ID: 124011707 -

    Parque da Cidade

    Foz do Douro

    The hum of traffic on the Avenida da Boavista soon fades as you enter the serene, green Parque da Cidade, Portugal's largest urban park. Laced with 10km…

  • Casa do Infante exterior river

    Casa do Infante

    Ribeira

    In this handsomely renovated medieval town house, according to legend, Henry the Navigator was born in 1394. The building later served as Porto’s first…

  • Avenida dos Aliados

    Avenida dos Aliados

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Lined with bulging, beaux arts facades and capped by the stately câmara municipal (municipal council), this avenida recalls grand Parisian imitators such…

  • Igreja das Carmelitas interior

    Igreja das Carmelitas

    Miragaia

    Blink and you might miss that this is a church in its own right, snuggled as close as it is to the Igreja do Carmo. The twin churches are separated only…

  • Porto's Ribeira Houses

    Praça da Ribeira

    Ribeira

    Down by the Rio Douro, narrow streets open out onto a plaza framed by austerely grand, tiled town houses overlooking a picturesque stretch of the river…

  • Espaço Porto Cruz

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    This swanky port-wine emporium inside a restored 18th-century riverside building celebrates all things port. In addition to a shop where tastings are held…

  • Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique

    Ribeira

    Presided over by the late-19th-century market hall Mercado Ferreira Borges and neoclassical Palácio da Bolsa, these gardens are named after the…

  • Torre dos Clérigos

    Aliados & Bolhão

    Sticking out on Porto's skyline like a sore thumb – albeit a beautiful baroque one – this 76m-high tower was designed by Italian-born baroque master…

  • Rua de São Bento da Vitória

    Miragaia

    With its cobblestones polished smooth by centuries of shoe leather, and pretty tiled houses with little wrought-iron balconies and window boxes brimming…

  • Miradouro da Vitória

    Miragaia

    Porto is reduced to postcard format at this viewpoint, perched high and mighty above a mosaic of terracotta rooftops that tumble down to the Douro. It's a…

  • Centro Português de Fotografia interior 2

    Centro Português de Fotografia

    Miragaia

    This stately yet muscular building (1767) once served as a prison and now houses a photography museum. You actually walk through the thick iron gates and…

  • Cemitério do Prado do Repouso

    Cemitério do Prado Repouso

    Porto

    This was Porto’s first public cemetery when it was inaugurated in 1839. It is considered an important landmark for its neo-Gothic architecture and…

  • Igreja da Lapa exterior

    Igreja da Lapa

    Porto

    The Igreja da Lapa Catholic church holds particular significance in Porto as the place where Portugal’s former king and first emperor of Brazil’s heart is…

  • Praça da Batalha

    Praça da Batalha

    Aliados & Bolhão

    At the southern end of Rua de Santa Catarina is the lovely, eclectic Praça da Batalha, framed by Nasoni’s gracefully baroque Igreja de Santo Ildefonso…

  • Rua de Santa Catarina 3

    Rua de Santa Catarina

    Aliados & Bolhão

    This street is absurdly stylish and romantic, with trim boutiques, striped stone footpaths and animated crowds. It's home to Porto's most ornate tearoom,…

  • View of Douro river at Porto, Portugal; Shutterstock ID 111626765; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Gillmore; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online-Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/ Online Design /LaurenGillmore/POI

    Teleférico de Gaia

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    Don't miss a ride on this aerial gondola that provides fine views over the Douro and Porto on its short, five-minute jaunt. It runs between the southern…

  • Lavadouro Público

    Porto

    Washing machines are installed in every house, but local donas (ladies) still swear by the daily ritual of stone washtubs and good old-fashioned elbow…

  • Mosteiro de São Bento da Vitória

    Miragaia

    Note the sign in front of this former monastery apologising for the expulsion of the Jews in 1496 under the Portuguese Inquisition and the iron fist of…

  • Museu Romântico

    Massarelos

    Nestled on the southern slopes of Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, beneath cathedral oaks and sycamores, is the small but stately home where the exiled king…

  • Igreja Nossa Senhora da Vitória

    Miragaia

    In Porto's medieval Vitória quarter, this church stands on land that once belonged to the Jewish community. Completed in 1539, it was given a baroque…

  • Cemitério de Agramonte

    Boavista

    Opened in 1855 to bury the victims of a cholera epidemic, the Agramonte Cemetery is today one of Porto's most beautiful. The city's wealthiest residents…

  • Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar

    Vila Nova de Gaia

    Watching over Gaia is this 17th-century hilltop monastery, with its striking circular cloister, church with gilded altar, and stellar river views from its…

  • Ponte da Arrábida

    Massarelos

    Arcing 270m in a single swoop over the Douro River and linking Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia, this mighty bridge is visible from afar. Designed by prominent…

  • Igreja do Corpo Santo de Massarelos

    Massarelos

    Rising above the riverfront with a facade adorned in blue-and-white azulejos (hand-painted tiles), this church was built in 1776 on the site of a chapel…

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