Any recommendations for a mini break in Porto?

[DamnitCarol]

DH and I are off on a long overdue kid free 3 nights in Porto in May and I am unreasonably excited!

We are staying in a relatively central boutique hotel and would love some recommendations for restaurants/bars and things to do that we can’t easily do with kids tagging along. Have Zenith and Muu on our radar already.

Is it worth getting a daily/3day card for the metro? Or is everything very walkable?

Which Port cellar does the best tour or are they all much of the same? Any insider knowledge or tips of romantic things to do welcome!

You have to book lots of the port tours in advance - we did Taylors which does accept walk ins.
I think it’s quite walkable though the trams are fun. You can get a vintage tram round to the coast which was fun too, there was a lovely park and mini golf etc (we went with kids!). There were lots of nice restaurants around the base station of the cable car. I think if I was there again I’d like to do one of the boat trips inland a bit.
Basically lots of wandering!
Top tip: don’t bother with the librarian lello. Massively crowded, you pay to go in and in theory you can use the ticket as a credit against a purchase but everything is crazy expensive (think £30 for a tiny book and you can only use one credit per book).

Livraria not librarian!

This was a lovely restaurant: https://www.restaurantedonamaria.com/

Thank you @Wincher thats really helpful! I like the look of that restaurant, the view is fabulous!

Will definitely do some sort of boat tour on the river. And hadn’t planned on seeing the bookshop anyway as I had heard it was super busy and long queues!

The old tram to the coast looks fun, I will add that to the list!

Just a hopeful bump for the day crowd 😊

Ooh I had a lovely city break to Porto recently! Wandered everywhere, a walking tour is great to get a feel for the area and a bit of history. We did a random small port house which was lovely (but we weren’t particularly port experts, so nothing to compare). There were several gorgeous eating halls where there were lots of small setups in one big hall, you get what you want and eat together - I’ve noticed this cropping up in lots of European cities lately, love it! I DID like the bookshop, I went at the end of the day and by the end of our slot it had quietened down a bit. I thought it was beautiful. Had 2 decent evening meals, good value and nice food, but not ‘special’ if you’re looking more for that: Elebe Baixa was my preferred.

There is an episode of Rick Stein’s weekend away series set in Oporto, he went to some fab looking places…

We went about 6 years ago, & had difficulty finding restaurants that were available. I suggest booking in advance.
I wasn't very impressed with the old tram ! It's a bone-shaker, jam-packed, & I do not like someone's crutch so near to my face. We got the bus back.
Do try a Francesinha for lunch - unbelievable .

I can recommend drinks on the rooftop at the Rebello hotel ❤️

And then you can walk fifteen minutes or so down the river on the wooden footpath to ContramaréAfurada. It’s a beautiful seafood restaurant that over looks the river in a quaint fishing village!

Have a great time - eat a pastel de nata for me!

Sounds like there’s lots of fab rooftop bars to choose from, will enjoy making our way round them all 🤣

I really can’t wait! It all looks so beautiful.