I like to start the first day by getting to know the town or place I’m visiting. With that in mind, I suggest you follow the next list of places in order to get the feel of Porto.

Between landmarks and food venues, this is what I recommend:

1. Starting at Via Catarina Street

   One of the most excentric streets in Porto for a shopping spree and for beautiful coffee shops like “Majestic Café” and churches like “Capela das Almas”, you will find there’s a lot to do at this pedestrian only shopping street.

   FOTO DO CAFÉ E DA CAPELA

2. Mercado do Bolhão

   Adjacent to Via Catarina, you will find the oldest operating city market in Porto, the “bubble” market, from 1914. Now restored, it used to supply the entire city.

3. Pérola do Bolhão

   Close by Mercado do Bolhão, there is a special little shop from 1917 that started comercializing tea, coffe and spicies. Now they sell a little of everything, but what attract us is the architecture style of “Art Nouveau”.

4. Regaleira

   Depending on the time you’ve started your visit, if it’s already lunch time, I recommend visiting the Regaleira restaurant, home to the most iconic dish of the city of Porto, the “francesinha”. Created in 1952, based on a croque monsieur, the Portuguese chef added the best meat at the time, which was pork, and created the best sandwich ever in Portugal. It’s a little spicy and very tasty, it’s definitely a most.

5. S.Bento train station with 20.000 tiles

   After a beautiful lunch, just a couple of meters down the Regaleira restaurant, you will find one of the most interesting train stations in Portugal. Once an old convent, this train station took 16 years to build, from 1900-1916. The tiles came after, painted by one single painter, Jorge Colaço. Each frame of tiles tells important episodes from the Portuguese history, like the conquering of Ceuta, by Infante D.Henrique, for example.

6. Torre dos Clérigos

   Looking from way high, is the Clerigo’s tower. With 76m high and more than 200 steps, this tower is seen from everywhere in Porto and Gaia and can be climbed to the very top for a gorgeous 360º view over the city. The stairs are very thin and its very narrow, so it can be difficult when people are trying to go up and down at the same time. For all the people that are afraid of heights, don’t be discouraged, I also have that fear but up there I feel very safe.

7. Leitaria Quinta do Paço

8. Igreja do Carmo

9. Jardim da Cordoaria

10. Livraria Lello

11. Praça de Lisboa

12. Judiaria do Porto

13. Miradouro da Vitória

14. Ribeira