Porto in 3 days

Torre dos Clérigos (Rua de São Filipe de Nery — the 75m Baroque bell tower of the Igreja dos Clérigos, built 1754–1763 by the Italian-Portuguese architect Nicolau Nasoni (the same architect who designed the Palácio de Mateus (of the famous Mateus wine label) and the Palácio Episcopal of Porto): the tower has 225 steps in a spiral staircase to the observation gallery at the top, giving the finest 360° panorama of Porto (the granite city descending to the Douro, the Dom Luís I bridge, the Atlantic coast to the west and the Douro Valley to the east). The church interior (the oval nave — the most sophisticated Baroque church design in northern Portugal).

Mercado do Bolhão (Rua Formosa — the 1914 iron-and-glass market hall (the classical Portuguese market building: the two-story iron balcony structure around a central open courtyard) restored in 2022 and returned to its original function: the freshest fish from the Atlantic coast (the lota (fish auction) happens at 5am at the Matosinhos fishing harbor 10km away, and the best of the catch is at Bolhão by 8am), the queijo da Serra da Estrela (the soft runny sheep's cheese from the Serra da Estrela mountains, the most prized Portuguese cheese), the smoked sausages (alheira — the bread-and-meat sausage originally invented by Portuguese Jews to survive the Inquisition by appearing to eat pork, and chouriço), and the Douro valley almonds and honey.

The Seis Pontes cruise (the "Six Bridges" boat tour — the 50-minute cruise from the Ribeira quay west under each of the six bridges crossing the Douro in the city: the Ponte Dom Luís I (1886, the double-deck iron arch that defines Porto's silhouette), the Ponte Infante Dom Henrique (2003, the concrete arch with the widest span in the world at the time of its construction, now used by cars), the Ponte Maria Pia (Gustave Eiffel, 1877 — the single-arch iron rail bridge that was the longest iron bridge in the world when built, now disused), the Ponte de Arrábida (1963, the slender concrete arch with the largest concrete arch span in the world at the time)). The view of the Ribeira and the Gaia wine lodges from the water is the definitive Porto experience.

The francesinha (the Porto sandwich — the most extreme and distinctive sandwich in Portugal: bread + ham (presunto) + fresh pork sausage (linguiça) + beef steak (bife), covered with sliced cheese (queijo flamengo) and briefly grilled until the cheese melts over the top, then drowned in the molho (the sauce: a thick, spiced reduction of tomatoes, beer (the cerveja preto — dark lager), brandy, Port wine, bay leaf and piri piri — each restaurant guards its molho recipe). Served with a fried egg on top and French fries in the sauce. Café Santiago (Rua Passos Manuel 226 — the most famous francesinha restaurant in Porto, opened 1959) is the benchmark.

Igreja do Carmo (Rua do Carmo — the 18th-century Carmelite church with the entire south exterior wall (the most visible face) covered in azulejo tiles: the 1912 tile panel by Silvestre Silvestri depicting the founding of the Carmelite Order on Mount Carmel (a single vast blue-and-white tile picture, 25m × 9m, covering the entire side of the building — the most dramatic azulejo facade in Porto, and the largest single tile panel on a church exterior in Portugal). Beside it: the Igreja dos Carmelitas (the earlier 17th-century church, connected to the Carmo by the narrowest house in Porto (the Casinha — 1.2m wide, built to separate the two churches to prevent the Carmelite nuns from interacting with the friars)).

Foz do Douro (the mouth of the Douro — the neighborhood 5km west of the city center (Tram 1, the historic electric tram that runs along the river from Infante to Passeio Alegre at Foz): the Forte de São João da Foz (the 16th-century coastal fort at the exact point where the Douro meets the Atlantic), the promenade along the Marginal (the coastal road between Foz and Matosinhos — the finest seaside walk in northern Portugal, with the granite headlands and the crashing Atlantic waves of the Portuguese coast). The Jardim do Passeio Alegre (the Victorian garden at the Douro mouth, with the oldest tram in Porto passing through it).

Matosinhos (the fishing harbor 10km north of Porto — the neighborhood with the finest seafood restaurants in the Porto region (some of the finest in Portugal): the fresh Atlantic catch (the bar (the European sea bass), the robalo grelhado (grilled sea bass), the lagosta (lobster), the percebes (goose barnacles — the most prized shellfish in Portugal: the barnacles pried from the most dangerous wave-lashed Atlantic rocks by divers, briefly boiled in seawater and eaten by hand with beer) and the polvo (grilled octopus — marinated in olive oil and paprika and grilled on charcoal). Tram from Foz to Matosinhos or Uber (€8).

Caldo verde (the "green soup" — the national soup of Portugal, specifically of the Minho region north of Porto: very thinly shredded kale (couve galega, the dark Galician cabbage) in a purée of potato and onion (the potato thickens the soup into a velvety base), with a ring of chouriço (the smoked paprika pork sausage) placed in the center — the red oil from the chouriço bleeds into the green soup creating the most characteristic visual presentation in Portuguese cuisine. Served with broa (the cornbread of northern Portugal, denser and more acidic than wheat bread). Adega São Nicolau (Rua de São Nicolau 1) in the Ribeira for the most traditional Porto setting.