Group Travel Tour Operator for holidays to Porto, Portugal
Porto and The Douro Valley by Air
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Douro Valley ©AT Porto and the North
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Douro Valley, Portugal ©RCL RuiCunha
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Porto, Ribeira ©João Paulo
Discover Portugal’s famous Douro Valley & explore the delightful and historic city of Porto
Discover Northern Portugal’s historic regional capital, Porto, sitting astride the sumptuous Douro River, experience the higgledy-piggledy streets, charismatic town of Porto. The enchanting Douro Valley offers picturesque landscapes and a mix of delightful towns and villages. An UNESCO site since 2001, the region is a captivating wilderness and one of the oldest demarcated wine regions in the world. Here, is a delightful tour encapsulating the best of Porto and the Douro Valley in a 5 day tour.
Read moreExplore the Picturesque Porto
The beautiful city of Porto in Northern Portugal is home to a charming old town and winding cobbled streets. See Porto’s majestic bridges and and traditional old boats which will be your mode of transport to the opposite bank. This is where you will discover Vila Nova de Gaia. Home to the city’s most famous product, Port wine. The perfect setting for a tour and tasting experience. Public art is everywhere in Porto, from the azulejos (hand-painted tiles) of metro, offering a New York style to Portugal, to the street art dotted across the crumbling medieval walls. The fascinating and vibrant city has rapidly becoming one of Western Europe’s most respected tourist destinations because of it’s varied and diverse appeal has seen a wide range of visitors come from all over the world.
Sumptuous Douro Valley
The Douro is a majestic wilderness, an UNESCO World Heritage site since 2001, it is one of the oldest demarcated wine regions in the world. The river carved the deep valleys out of the land and then human intervention transformed the valley into soil and walls and planted the vines, green in summer, flame-coloured in autumn. With knowledge handed down from generation to generation, the inclined terraces expose the vines to the rays of the sun which give the grapes the warmth that the wine craves. It was from the fruits of the land and Man’s labour that this unique wine and landscape were made. The Douro river that flows through this valley towards Porto from the Miranda do Douro which makes the border between Portugal and Spain.
Discover this incredible landscape and see the beautiful city of Porto and traverse the Douro Valley. Why not combine this tour with more of Portugal’s incredible cities on our Northern Portugal tour.
Dates
Dates throughout 2024
Suggested itinerary by air
Day 1
Arrive in Porto
Travel to Portugal and transfer to your hotel in the Porto area.
Day 2
Porto walking tour, Vila Nova de Gaia and wine tasting
This morning we take a guided walking tour of Porto’s old town and discover the beautiful ‘azueljos’, the colourful ceramic tiles that adorn many of the buildings. We enjoy some fabulous views across the city from the vantage point of the imposing hill-top cathedral. From the riverside we see Porto’s majestic bridges and the traditional old boats that used to carry the wine barrels. In the afternoon we cross to the opposite of the river to visit Vila Nova de Gaia, home to the famous Port houses. Along the hill side and riverbank are the familiar names of Taylors, Sandemans and Croft. We visit a cellar for a tour and a tasting.
Day 3
Douro Valley Tour
Today we enjoy a scenic tour visiting many of the attractive towns and villages along the Douro Valley. Pinhão, a small town in the heart of Port wine country has a railway station covered in blue ceramic tiles made in 1937 depicting rural scenes. There’s an opportunity to visit one of the many quintas, the historic vineyards or enjoy a peaceful, scenic cruise on the river in one of the traditional flat-bottomed ‘rabelo’ boat that used to carry the port to the port.
Day 4
Douro River cruise
For our final day in Porto there’s an opportunity to enjoy a half-day river cruise, followed by free time in Porto to relax by the riverside and buy those last-minute souvenirs.
Day 5
Return to the UK
It’s time to leave Portugal and return to the UK.
We have a selection of excellent 3 and 4 star hotels available.
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| 5 days / 4 nights |
Half Twin | Single Supplement |
| 2024 dates | Price on request | Price on request |
