48in hours Porto
By Time Out Porto editors
In Portugal’s second city just for a weekend? Here are our suggestions for a great stay.
FRIDAY
6pm Bonaparte Downtown Dump your bags at the hotel and head to one of Porto’s best downtown bars. There’s another just like it in Foz and this one has the same atmosphere: low lights, antique furniture and great cocktails to get your evening started in style. ÒPraça Guilherme Gomes Fernandes, 40, Porto. +351 22 096 2852. Sun-Thu 5pm-2am, Fri, Sat 5pm-3am.
8pm Puro 4050 Fancy some cheese? Puro 4050 is Porto’s first mozzarella bar. It was opened in 2016 by one of the most important chefs in town, Luís Américo. It’s so good that Time Out awarded it five oozy, stringy stars. ÒLargo de São Domingos, 84, Porto. +351 22 201 1852. www.puro4050.com. Mon 7.30pm-11pm; Tue-Sat 12.30-3pm & 7.30-11pm.
Midnight The Royal Cocktail Club Now you’re full of cheese, so you should relax with a drink – you don’t want to overdo it. We suggest Galeria de Paris’s newest bar, dedicated to imaginative cocktails created by a single ace mixologist. ÒRua da Fábrica, 105, Porto. Sun-Thu 7pm-2am; Fri, Sat 7pm-4pm.
SATURDAY
9.30am Padaria Ribeiro Baking has been a speciality here for 140 years. There’s every kind of bread, patisserie, Viennoiserie, biscuits and Portuguese delicacies. ÒPraça Guilherme Gomes Fernandes, 21/27, Porto. +351 22 200 5067. www.padariaribeiro.com. Mon-Sat 7am-8pm.
10.30am Rua de Miguel Bombarda Start your walk in the most artistic part of the city. Find your favourite new artist or gallery, street art, design stores and cool boutiques. Rua de Miguel Bombarda, Porto.
Noon Brick Clérigos Brick Clérigos, located next to the monument of the same name, is one of the city’s prettiest (and healthiest) restaurants.
Rua Campo Mártires da Pátria, 103, Clérigos, Porto. +351 22 323 4735. Tue-Thu noon-4pm & 7.30-11pm; Fri noon4pm & 7.30pm-midnight; Sat 2-4pm & 7.30pm-midnight.
1.30pm Clérigos Tower One of the main monuments in Porto, Clérigos Tower has some of the best panoramic views too. Be advised, it’s a wheezy 240 steps to the top. Rua de São Filipe Nery, Porto. +351 22 014 5489. www.torredosclerigos. pt. Daily 9am-7pm.
3.30pm Ferreira Cellars Cross the river to Gaia and check out a Port wine cellar. Caves Ferreira is one of the oldest in the city. Avenida Ramos Pinto, 70, Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto. +351 22 374 6106. eng. sograpevinhos.com/visitas/cave/6. Daily 10am-12.30pm & 2-6pm.
5.30pm Letraria Craft Beer Garden After your history lesson you can relax. This beer garden pours one of the first artisanal brands ever in the country. Cheers! Rua da Alegria, 101, Porto. +351 22 323 5186. www.cervejaletra.pt. Mon, Wed, Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri, Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 4-11pm.
9pm Casa Nanda Have dinner as if you were at your (imaginary Portuguese) grandmother’s. Casa Nanda has been dishing up the fish, rice and potatoes for 35 years. Rua da Alegria, 394, Porto. +351 22 537 0575. www.facebook.com/restaurantecasananda. Tue-Sat noon-3pm & 7-10pm; Sun noon-3pm.
11.30pm Bop Porto’s nightlife starts late. So before you get going, have a coffee or a beer at one of the coolest bars in town. Bop Café is known for its quality tuneage and has a huge shelf of records. Rua da Firmeza, 575, Bolhão, Porto. +351 22 200 1732. www. bop.pt. Mon-Fri 11-1am; Sat, Sun 10-1am.
2am Plano B Plano B is a Porto nightlife institution. The decor is Instaswank (there’s even a statue and a fountain on the ground floor). In the stage room, the music is commercial; in the cube room, it’s more electronic. Rua Cândido dos Reis, 30, Porto. planobporto.com. Wed-Sat 10pm-6am.
SUNDAY
11am Mercearia do Miguel After your wild night, get a healthy brekky. Here there’s granola, toast, fruit and the calming Douro river in the background. Rua do Passeio Alegre, 130, Porto. +351 22 011 6889. www.merceariadomiguel.com. Wed-Sun 9.30am-6.30pm.
12.30pm Serralves Hit up the museum and the surrounding gardens for some great temporary exhibitions and 18 hectares of tranquil green space. Fundação de Serralves, Rua Dom João de Castro, 210, Porto. +351 22 615 6500. www.serralves.pt/en/. Mon, Wed-Fri 10am-7pm; Sat, Sun 10am-8pm.
2pm Cafeína Cafeína has been in business for 20 years and has a terrific reputation for the quality of its food. There are famous Portuguese dishes on the menu and the space is beautiful. Rua do Padrão, 100, Porto. +351 22 610 8059. www.cafeina.pt. Sun-Thu 12.30-6pm & 7.30pm-midnight; Fri, Sat 12.30-6pm & 7.30pm-1am.
4pm Avenida do Brasil Enough lazing around! Take a restorative constitutional on Foz’s main avenue by the riverside. Avoid the kids rollerblading like maniacs and the Sunday joggers. Soak in the view, then have a paddle. Avenida do Brasil, Porto.
6pm Eléctrico Número 1 Get the hell out of Foz on the tram. Buy a ticket directly from the driver and enjoy the sit-down and the views all the way to Ribeira. www.stcp.pt/pt/viajar/.
9pm Adega São Nicolau Adega São Nicolau has classic Portuguese dishes like octopus fillets with octopus rice or galo à bordalesa (rooster Bordeaux style). Rua de São Nicolau, 1, Porto. +351 22 200 8232. Mon-Sat noon-3pm & 7-11pm.
GET THERE
British Airways (www.ba.com) flies daily to Porto via London on modern Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.