The perfect weekend away in Porto - where to stay, visit and eat
Stunning heritage architecture, a flourishing arts and dining scene and plenty of quirky hotels – Porto may be Portugal’s second city, but its attractions are first rate.
Samantha Laurie has some tips on where to stay, eat and visit
Our verdict
Luis Ferraz
Where to stay
Address: M.Ou.Co B&B from €85 per night
There can’t be many hotels where you can enjoy the punchy tunes of sweary post-punk duo Sleaford Mods over breakfast. But M.Ou.Co Hotel, or to give it its full name M.Ou.Co – Stay, Play Listen, has a confidently different kind of vibe. And it's all about the music.
Set up two years ago as a unique hospitality experience for music lovers, every room in this super-chic hotel is equipped with a record player and sound bar.
Guests can choose LPs for their rooms from a 600-strong vinyl library or you can borrow an electric guitar from reception to create your own holiday soundtrack.
At the heart of the Stay, Play, Listen concept is a 300-seater concert hall which is fast becoming one of Porto’s leading live venues.
Luis Ferraz
Its weekly concerts attract a diverse array of local and international musicians, often selling out in the summer months. The week we visit, the performer is Angolan-Portuguese singer Pongo whose presence turns the normally quiet and chilled bar and restaurant into a busy bustling hub of gig-goers.
Which is exactly what was intended – a hotel coming alive with creative energy, mixing up regular visitors like us with bands on the move and music professionals availing themselves of the rehearsal rooms, instrument library and recording studio. There’s even a musical therapy room for overwrought muscles and souls.
There's even a musical therapy room for overwrought muscles and souls
For the passing city breaker, it makes for a chilled, relaxing and blissfully youthful feel. (Surprisingly quiet, too, we discover on gig night).
We’re here for a flying three-day trip of the kind that would usually leave little time for lounging around in a hotel, but we find ourselves drawn back again and again to M.Ou.Co’s concrete-meets-vintage nooks and crannies to chill out and listen to music (all around the hotel and pool there are sound hotspots) and to explore its excellent restaurant menu – a delicious monkfish and shrimp rice with coriander (€20) and stewed ossobuco with parmesan cream (€18) set a high bar on the first night.
A key part of its attraction is location.
Bonfim is a cool, up-and-coming area with plenty of hot new bars and speciality coffee shops. M.Ou.Co is a 30-minute walk from the main sites of downtown, with lots to see on the way – handsome townhouses adorned with beautiful tiles, the elegant Cemiterio de Agramonte with above-ground crypts and family mausoleums.
If Porto’s hills (and there are many) defeat you, the metro runs to Heroismo, a couple of minutes' walk to the hotel. With just one easy change, you can catch the metro from the airport here.
What to do
Grab a morning coffee and people watch on Cais de Ribeira
The city’s UNESCO designated medieval waterfront with its street performers, barbecue grills and café arcades is a wonderfully atmospheric place to begin. Climb to the top of the iconic double-decker Ponte de Dom Luis I bridge for spectacular photo opportunities.
TOP TIP: Most of the restaurants on the quayside are expensive tourist spots, but continue further along the quayside and you’ll come to a row of excellent newcomers such as Bacalhau and Vinhas D’Alho. In the early evenings their narrow lantern-lit riverside terraces are a superb place to stop for a sundowner.
Daniel Rodrigues
PORTO, PORTUGAL - NOVEMBER, 2017: Banco de imagem do Porto e norte do país. Associacao Turismo do Porto. Porto. Fotografias Daniel Rodrigues
Join a free walking tour
I love a walking tour – and so it seems does everyone else. As groups get bigger (over 20 people is common) so too does the professionalism of the guides. We joined Joao of @Revolutours for an illuminating whizz through Porto’s complex and colourful history via the 13th cathedral fortress that overlooks the city, the old town streets that tumble down to the River Doura and the prodigious legacy of Nicolau Nasoni, the 18th century architect/painter who had a hand in pretty much all of the city’s most defining builds.
Photography in the old prison
The imposing Cadeia da Relacao, the grand neo-classical building used as the city’s prison until 1974, is now the fantastically atmospheric home to the Portuguese Centre for Photography.
Its iron-grated cells, granite walls, chambers and courtyards have been fully restored, creating an extraordinary space to wander around and imagine life for its inmates.
On the top floor – once home to its wealthy inhabitants (accommodation depended on how much you could pay) – is a collection of antique cameras from across the ages.
Free entry; cpf.pt
Chill out at Base
Porto has lots of green spaces, but our favourite was the olive tree garden of al fresco café/bar, Base, in the centre of the city, surrounded by elegant historic buildings. With chilled music playing, beanbags and low rise tables this is the perfect place to soak up the warm afternoon sun after a visit to the beautiful Clerigos Tower and Lello bookstore.
Daniel Rodrigues
Browse the world’s most beautiful bookstore
With is curved central staircase, stained glass ceiling and gothic façade, the art deco bookshop Livraria Lello, is truly amazing place if you can stomach the long queues and entry fee (€5 refundable against a purchase).
For years, it was thought that JK Rowling – one time resident of Porto – found inspiration here for her tales of wizardry. Naturally, the bookstore – and indeed the city – leaned heavily into Potteresque tourism until one fateful day in March 2020 when JK herself tweeted about the store – “very beautiful, but I haven’t visited.”
“Devastating,” recalls Joao, our walking tour guide with a sigh. “Worse than Covid.”
Stroll around the Jardim do Palacio de Cristal
Another glorious spot to hang out in the sunshine, these pretty 19th century terraced gardens are a maze of winding pathways leading down towards the Doura (although not onto the riverside directly). Home to roaming peacocks and roosters, they offer wonderful views over the River Doura and in the summer months, there are jazz concerts in the gardens.
Shop at Mercado de Bolhao
Originally opened in 1839, the city’s most iconic fruit and veg reopened last year after extensive refurbishment. It’s a top place to shop for olives, nuts, cheese and beautifully packaged tinned fish.
Daniel Rodrigues
Where to eat
O Buraco
The queue of older Portuguese ladies waiting for the doors to open at 7pm reflects the first class reputation of this family-run restaurant, serving typical dishes at very affordable prices. It's an excellent place to try Porto’s favourite dish – codfish.
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Tia Tia
Set up 18 months ago by Lisbon chef, Tiago Feio and partner, Catia Roldao, this small, stylish spot has a clear ethos – locally sourced seasonal sharing dishes with clever and intense flavour and texture combinations. It’s meat-free, with a few local fish dishes.
Plates come as and when they're ready, with many arriving on beautiful decorative tiles. First up is beetroot tartare with pumpkin seeds and a delicious olive oil from North Eastern uplands Tras-os-Montes, served with sourdough. We try croaker, a sweet, almost nutty North Atlantic white fish accompanied by a base of celery root puree and sumac. It’s absolutely delicious.
Open daytime during the week with evening sittings only on Fridays and Saturdays, the menu is a crossover of brunch and tapas, priced from €9-€15. One of the most popular dishes, says Catia, is mushroom and eggs, served with fabulously crunchy toasted buckwheat and yoghurt.
Speciality coffee is a passion and the coffee menu here is as long as the food one. After a false start (don’t ask for decaffeinated!) the Columbian expresso flat white is one of the best I’ve ever had.
We finish up with goats cheese from Beiras and a two-year-old cured cows cheese from Acores, with pumpkin chutney. For local food, well-chosen and served with care and passion, it’s hard to beat.
www.instagram.com/tiatia.porto
Especie
This meat and fish loving nation has not had much truck with vegetarian restaurants, but Especie has changed the game with innovative, simple and delicious veggie and vegan dishes including Korean fried cauliflower and sweet potato soup and aubergine cutlets.
Instagram @especie.restaurant
Casa Guedes
A must-visit for its amazing roast pork leg sandwiches, served with intensely buttery sheep cheese. A heart attack on legs! Ask for the Rose wine, Espadal.
Seafood at Matosinhos
Surf beaches like Matosinhos can be reached easily on the metro – sit and watch the action from a beach bar or stay until evening when many long-established seafood restaurants spark up their grills. Marisqueira A Antiga and Meia-Nau both have excellent reputations and lovely interiors.
