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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Porto or Istanbul?

64 replies

AshGreen · 29/07/2023 18:26

My partner and I are looking for a week holiday in late September. We can't decide between Porto and Istanbul, if you have been to both of them which would you recommend and why? Thank you.

OP posts:
ReviewingTheSituation · 02/08/2023 15:05

For when you do go to Porto- a week is a great amount of time to combine it with a trip inland. We took the train to Pinhuao and stayed on a Quinta for a couple of nights. The train follows the Douro river (right next to the river bank) and you go through all the vineyards and the hills. It's stunningly beautiful. And the small towns in that area are lovely. Between Porto city, the beach area and the Douro, there is plenty to do for a week.
I'd say Porto (and surrounds) would give you a nice chilled, relaxed kind of break, vs Istanbul a full-on, big sights, 'busy' kind of break. 2 very different trips. I'd say the opposite of a poster above and do Porto for a week and Istanbul for a long weekend!

Augustus40 · 02/08/2023 15:47

AshGreen · 01/08/2023 20:42

Cake made from chicken 😮won't miss it! Thank you.

Show quote history

You won't be able to tell either from appearance or by taste that there is chicken in it!

dingit · 02/08/2023 15:53

Anyone recommend an itinerary for one day in Istanbul?

PizzaPastaWine · 02/08/2023 16:09

ReviewingTheSituation · 02/08/2023 15:05

For when you do go to Porto- a week is a great amount of time to combine it with a trip inland. We took the train to Pinhuao and stayed on a Quinta for a couple of nights. The train follows the Douro river (right next to the river bank) and you go through all the vineyards and the hills. It's stunningly beautiful. And the small towns in that area are lovely. Between Porto city, the beach area and the Douro, there is plenty to do for a week.
I'd say Porto (and surrounds) would give you a nice chilled, relaxed kind of break, vs Istanbul a full-on, big sights, 'busy' kind of break. 2 very different trips. I'd say the opposite of a poster above and do Porto for a week and Istanbul for a long weekend!

This is almost our itinerary for September. 3 nights in central Porto then the train to the Douro valley staying on a vineyard in Peso da Regua for 3 nights.

Do you have any recommendations @ReviewingTheSituation

Istanbul is in my list too but combined with Cappadocia.

ScribblingPixie · 02/08/2023 16:12

What do you most want to do, @Dingit?

dingit · 02/08/2023 16:28

ScribblingPixie · 02/08/2023 16:12

What do you most want to do, @Dingit?

I guess see most of the main sights. We are actually there overnight on a cruise, so a day and a half in total. I have a guide book but it still seems overwhelming!

WowIlikereallyhateyou · 02/08/2023 16:31

Istanbul without a doubt, pleased you went with it.

ReviewingTheSituation · 02/08/2023 16:32

@PizzaPastaWine Firstly, I'm very jealous! Here are my tips based on my trip last year...

1 - work out where you want to eat in Porto before you go, and book! Lots of restaurants are very tiny, and they get booked up. So then you end up in the big touristy ones.

2 - visit a port house - we did Taylors, and it was great

3 - try a Porto Tonico. On your first day (so that you have plenty of time for more once you've realised how nice they are)

4 - get the tram to the sea, walk along the sea front, stopping at all the lovely beach bars for a drink/tapas

5 - do some kind of walking tour (a self guided one - doesn't need to be a group one). There are loads of interesting buildings/facts/things to see

6 - Make sure you know which station your train goes from. We just assumed it left from the main station in the city centre, but it didn't - it went from the one on the eastern side of town (a taxi ride away).

7 - Take a trip on the river once you get to your quinta. We stayed further inland than you, and went even further inland again from there. It was really interesting hearing all about the farming/agriculture etc from the boat commentary

8 - even if you do a port tasting in Porto, do another one where you stay inland. It was quite different hearing about it all from the farmer's perspective, and ours had plenty of wine to taste as well as port

9 - eat loads of Pastel de Nata

10 - Marvel at how (relatively) cheap it is to drink vs everywhere else I've been recently in Europe. Made a very pleasant change!

ReviewingTheSituation · 02/08/2023 16:33

PS - if you want restaurant reccos in Porto, let me know! We were given a good list, which we couldn't get into most of (see point above), but found some lovely ones ourselves too.

DuesToTheDirt · 02/08/2023 18:18

dingit · 02/08/2023 15:53

Anyone recommend an itinerary for one day in Istanbul?

Go to Sultanahmet - most of the main sights are in walking distance, and you can easily fill a day with a selection of these.

If you can, get to your must-see(s) early. The queue for Hagia Sophia was the biggest when we went.

Likely time spent (without including queueing)
Hagia Sophia - an hour or so
Topkapi - half a day
Basilica Cistern - half an hour
Blue Mosque - probably half an hour, it was shut when we went
Mosaic Museum - an hour
Museum of Islamic Arts - 1-2 hours (this was the least interesting thing we went to though)
Hippodrome (outdoors so no queue, yay!) - 1/2 hr or so looking at things

Away from Sultanahmet -
Suleimaniye Mosque - 1/2 - 1 hour
Bosphorus - not really time for a cruise if you only have one day
Archaeological Museum - can't say how long as sadly we didn't fit this in. Maybe next time!

dingit · 02/08/2023 18:46

Thank you Smile

ScribblingPixie · 02/08/2023 18:52

Sultanahmet is amazing. It's really worth reading up on its history before you look at the buildings. I only go into one or two buildings in the Old City when I visit, the rest of the time I'm just wandering and soaking up the atmosphere. It would be exhausting to try to do much, I think. The Blue Mosque and the Basilica don't take long and have unique atmospheres. I think you can walk in the grounds of Topkapi Palace without paying (though there's security gates). Not sure, though. Definitely go to a really old sweet shop for Turkish delight and somewhere great for baklava - there are 'best' lists all over the internet. I love the Egyptian/Spice bazaar - I'll walk through the Grand Bazaar for its architecture but local people shop in the Egyptian Bazaar and sit in the square by the mosque next to it, so it has a really good atmosphere. I always go up to the New City at night but if that's too much of an effort, Karakoy is a buzzy area on the waterfront and cheap fish wraps here are very fashionable. You can eat under Galata Bridge too - which is the major sunset destination.

DuesToTheDirt · 02/08/2023 19:53

Sultanahmet is amazing. It's really worth reading up on its history before you look at the buildings.

Agreed. There are some good books, but if you don't have the energy for something like Bettany Hughes' "Istanbul", then reading around Justinian and Mehmet the Conqueror will go a long way to understanding what you're looking at.

ScribblingPixie · 02/08/2023 20:21

@dingit, Basilica Cistern I mean for unique atmosphere (you can see it on Youtube in From Russia With Love).
I was also going to suggest going to the Asian side of the city by ferry for your half day, but as you're on a cruise maybe it'd be a boat trip too far.
If you're up for a late night there are some great rooftop bars in Beyoglu (in the New City) with brilliant views - you'd take a taxi there and back.

PizzaPastaWine · 02/08/2023 21:03

@ReviewingTheSituation Thank you so much for that.

I will definitely try through Porto Tonico on night one!

I would love the restaurant recommendations and thanks for the advance booking tip.

I've noted all of your suggestions...we just can't wait to have good food, culture and wander around the vineyards.

Mummypete · 03/08/2023 06:55

We have just got back from Istanbul and I would stick to the metro as much as you possibly can. Taxis are an absolute nightmare there at the moment and the traffic is awful so one night we spent 90 minutes on a bus going about 3km. If you use Uber the fare on Uber will say something like 200 lira, the driver will then accept but message you asking for a ridiculous amount. If you flag them down in the street, they’ll quote a fixed price (everywhere we went seemed to be 400-500 lira) and if you don’t want to pay it someone else will.
Honestly it made our trip so stressful as we were there with friends who were staying outside of the centre and we didn’t discover how easy (and cheap) the metro is until late on in our stay. For some reason public transport options don’t come up on Google Maps so download the city mapper app as that worked well.

If you haven’t booked a hotel yet I’d recommend trying to find one with a pool but fairly close to the metro. We stayed right in the heart of Karakoy and for me it was a bit too much. We were constantly hassled everywhere we went and I’d have loved a couple of days chilling by a pool especially if you’re there for a week.

user1497787065 · 03/08/2023 06:59

I would consider myself to be well travelled and would never return to Istanbul.

orangelotus · 03/08/2023 08:18

ReviewingTheSituation · 02/08/2023 16:33

PS - if you want restaurant reccos in Porto, let me know! We were given a good list, which we couldn't get into most of (see point above), but found some lovely ones ourselves too.

yes please can i have the list ?

dingit · 03/08/2023 08:33

user1497787065 · 03/08/2023 06:59

I would consider myself to be well travelled and would never return to Istanbul.

Why's that?

Mummypete · 03/08/2023 08:34

For Porto restaurants, if you like steak Muu is incredible. Possibly the best restaurant I’ve eaten in, the service was like nothing else. Zenith was great for brunch and I really recommend the tour and tasting at Graham’s. It’s worth the walk up the hill.

lookingforMolly · 03/08/2023 09:24

I would like to go to Istanbul but a bit nervous of going on my own

ScribblingPixie · 03/08/2023 10:56

@lookingforMolly Go outside high summer and book a guide/tours for some of the time - some on Airbnb focus on food, how people live in Turkey, photography etc as well as history. Research the public transport system so you don't get lost. Stay in a hotel that focuses on helping guests orient themselves. For what it's worth, I don't recognise the complaint about 'hassle' at all and would have no qualms about going alone - I have done, in fact.

lookingforMolly · 03/08/2023 11:09

Thanks

runnerbeanqueen · 03/08/2023 11:19

They are so different it's hard to compare. Porto is really small and Istanbul is huge (bigger than London). What kind of holiday are you after?

Original poster
AshGreen · 05/08/2023 11:03

runnerbeanqueen · 03/08/2023 11:19

They are so different it's hard to compare. Porto is really small and Istanbul is huge (bigger than London). What kind of holiday are you after?

We won't have much time planning so thought staying in Istanbul for a week would be a better choice for us but slightly concerned about the haggling part of the culture and the safety for female tourists. This is our first trip after pandemic, really don't want the stress on holiday.

OP posts: