A symbol of the town’s heroic defence against the French (marked by a plaque at the southeastern end), the granite Ponte de São Gonçalo is Amarante’s visual centrepiece. The original bridge, allegedly built at Gonçalo’s urging in the 13th century, collapsed in a flood in 1763; this one was completed in 1790.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
29.38 MILES
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…
29.12 MILES
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…
Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis
29.53 MILES
Porto's best art museum presents a stellar collection ranging from Neolithic carvings to Portugal’s take on modernism, all housed in the formidable…
29.37 MILES
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…
29.73 MILES
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…
29.8 MILES
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…
29.03 MILES
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…
26.55 MILES
Braga’s extraordinary cathedral, the oldest in Portugal, was begun when the archdiocese was restored in 1070 and completed in the following century. It’s…
Nearby The Douro attractions
0.04 MILES
Founded in 1543 by João III, the Mosteiro de São Gonçalo and Igreja de São Gonçalo weren’t completed until 1620. Above the church’s photogenic, Italian…
2. Museu Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso
0.06 MILES
Hidden in one of the Mosteiro de São Gonçalo’s cloisters is this delightfully eclectic collection of modernist and contemporary art, a pleasant surprise…
0.07 MILES
Rising beside São Gonçalo are several impressively steep switchbacks topped by this round, 18th-century church. The views from up top are stunning.
0.19 MILES
The nave of this baroque church is decorated with beautiful 17th-century blue-and-yellow azulejos (hand-painted tiles).
0.3 MILES
This burned-out skeleton of an old manor house situated above Rua Cândido dos Reis, near the train station, has been left in ruins – a stark and…
11.67 MILES
The 800-year-old village of Ermelo is famous for its schist cottages capped with fairy-tale slate roofs that seem to have been constructed from broken…
13.17 MILES
Just north of the town of Ermelo, on the N304 between Vila Real and Mondim de Basto, is a turn-off to the dramatic Fisgas de Ermelo waterfalls. From this…
14.88 MILES
Some 7km southeast up a twisting, cobbled road – or a short ride on an ageing cable car – is the wooded summit of Penha (617m) overlooking Guimarães, the…