PORTO OVERVIEW AND TRAVELING TIPS
I have been living in Porto more than half a year for my studies and would like to share my experience and traveling tips with you. If your criterions for ideal vacation include sunny beaches, warm evenings, breathtaking views and welcoming people around, Portugal is for you! Personally, I prefer arriving to Portugal through Porto airport, especially because Ryanair flies there, sometimes tickets could be really cheap. Porto airport is much smaller than Lisbon, less crowded, therefore arriving procedures (like passport control) go fast and smoothly - thats what the tired traveller needs. On your way from the airport corridor to the main hall there are usually promoters from El Corte Inglés giving out free maps. Maps include a city centre map and a metro map as well. Almost anywhere in Porto can be easily reached by Metro. Taxi are pretty cheap and good way to travel during night time. Taxi from the airport to city centre would cost around 20 euros, while taxi within city centre would cost around 6 euros.
METRO IN PORTO
Metro is cheap and convenient way to get around Porto. For example, trip from the airport to the city centre will cost you 1.8 euros and lasts around 30 min (if doesn’t count train waiting time). Be aware, that during holidays and on Sundays especially after 9 there might be quite long (20-30 min) pauses between metro trains, but the good thing is that there is a sign which tells how long is the waiting time until next train and it is quite accurate. So for example, if you arrived to Porto in winter, you bought your metro ticket (you can do it in the tourist office if you don’t have small change inside the airport or there are several machines near metro but you need change, usually 20 euros are not accepted) and you wait for the metro train but there is a sign that it is going to come in 30 min; it is raining and windy - so there is no need to wait outside, check the time and go back to the warm airport and return to the station 5 min prior train departure.
I find that metro in Portugal are very easy to orient in, because it is very well structured. For example, in you need to reach Bolhão station (it is city centre and a lot of hotels are situated there). Both Airport and Bolhão stations have violet line, so you can take straight train from the airport to reach Bolhão without changing lines. Some travelers are confused with zones part. As you can see from attached metro map, the city is divided on zones and depending how many zones you are going to pass the price of the ticket changes.
Two zones cost 1.2 euros, three 1.45 euros and four 1.8 euros. Daily passes are also available. The ticket card itself cost additional 50 cents, so do not throw it away as you can recharge it as many times as you need as well as get it refunded at the end of your traveling on the conditions that you save your receipt of purchase. I actually had several cards purchased as I was frequently forgetting them at home but afterwards I refunded most of them. City centre is one big zone - zone C1 and while travel within it you need to pay 1.2 euros. On each ticket machine there is a table with all the station indication number of traveling zones you will pass, so you can choose the right ticket. Say, your hotel is near metro ‘Casa da Música’ and you would like to go to the train station ‘São Bento’. You check on a table in says z2, so you will need to buy z2 ticket for 1.2 euros. From ‘Casa da Música’ you will catch the train until ‘Trinidade’ (The one to Estádio do Dragão side) than you will transfer to orange line (The Santo Ovídio side) and second stop will be train station ‘São Bento’. To better orientate around, it is better to look for the last station on the line - this way you will know which direction the train goes, it will be written on the train as well as on the board with train waiting time.
Tip: first look when is the next train and if it only arrives, for example, in 20 min, don’t validate your ticket right away, wait for 2 min prior the arrival and than press it to validating machine. Don’t forget to validate both your metro and train tickets in Portugal, because there is no control when you get to the regional train or metro, so it is fairly easy to forget to do this, so keep in mind that unvalidated ticket is not valid and you would need to pay a fee in that case.
CITY CENTER
The best way to reach Douro river bank is walking down from metro São Bento, there are some nice souvenir shops down the river and nice bars to spend the evening watching incredible view while tasting good wines.
Shopping area is around Bolhão metro, it is usually quite crowded around there. There are several shopping centers, such as Norteshopping (close to metro Sete Bicas) and El Corte Inglés (metro João de Deus). Food and drinks can be purchased in local supermarkets chains: Pingo Doce, Lidl and Continente which all have good promotions.
Trinidade metro is very central and place to transfer to different metro lines. Violet line from Trinidade goes directly to the airport, journey lasts around 30 minutes, but considering the waiting time it is better to have ah hour or (1h 15 min) for the road from your hotel (if it is in city centre) to the airport.
Most restaurants are closed from 15 to 19-30, as well as most of the places are closed on Sundays so check there opening hours to avoid the disappointment. If you are struggling to fond open restaurant on Sunday, best place to search is near the river bank.
If you would like to experience to live as locals instead of booking a hotel, try airbnb and book a nice house by the river side.
Best seafood restaurants could be found in Matosinhos (blue line, stop Matosinhos Sul). I would particularly recommend place called ‘A Chalandra’. The dinner for two with wine is around 60 euros, the seafood is really fresh and very good cooked. The owner always welcomes you himself like you are a dear guest in his house, make you feel really comfortable, advise the best and most fresh fish and seafood he has. You can see the fish and seafood prior it is cooked and point to the one you prefer to be prepared for you.
BEACHES
Water in ocean near Porto is usually cold, because it is north part of Portugal, but locals still manage to swim there, so it really depends on what temperatures your body can tolerate. You can get to several beaches near Porto. One is in Matosinhos, very close to Matosinhos Sul metro station, it is nice clean beach though it can be quite windy there. There is also nice beach area in Foz, but it couldn’t be reached by metro, but there are frequent buses going there. From Sao Bento you can take the 30 min train to Espinho, it is really nice town with relaxed atmosphere and beautiful sandy beach, there is also a swimming pool near the beach with much warmer water than in the ocean.
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