What to see in Porto in one day. A quick visit to the city
Although it is a city with many places to see, it is possible to visit Porto in one day, although for this you will have to run a lot and not spend too much time visiting the interior of some monuments.
The best thing about Porto is that the vast majority of points of interest are very close and you can walk from one to another without spending too much time traveling. That is why if you organize yourself well you will be able to discover the most important things to see in Porto in one day.
Here you have our tour of Porto in one day so you don’t miss anything.
What to see in Porto in one day
The surroundings of the San Bento Station
The best place to start your visit to Porto in one day is the São Bento Station, either because you arrive in this city by train or because you get there by Metro from your accommodation in the city.
And the station itself is the first point to visit thanks to a spectacular hall made up of 20,000 tiles that narrate various events in the history of Portugal. Very close to this place you have numerous places to visit that you should go to, for example, the Porto Cathedral, one of the main monuments of the city.
From there, it is best to walk to the nearby Rua Santa Caterina through Batalha Square until you reach one of the most important and most charming shopping streets in Porto. In it you will be able to make purchases in the stores of the main chains and the famous Café Majestic. You can go to the Capela de las Ánimas to admire both its interior and exterior full of tiles.
Nearby is the Bolhao Market. If it is a weekday you can enjoy its frenetic activity and surprise yourself with a traditional market with a decadent air that will not leave you indifferent.
Aliados Avenue and Clérigos Tower
Aliados Avenue, with its modernist buildings, where the Porto City Hall is located, is the next destination. Do not forget to head south to the Plaza de la Libertad, a place from which you can already see the Iglesia de los Clérigos, one of the symbols of the city.
Visiting the interior of the Clérigos Church is essential even if you only have one day to visit Porto and you cannot spend many visits. But you cannot leave Porto without meeting her. Nor without climbing its tower and admiring the city from above. There is usually quite a queue, so be patient. And also with the hundreds of steps to reach the top.
After coming down from the tower, what you should do is go to another very special place, the Lello e Irmao Bookstore, where you can’t help but remember the Harry Potter movies thanks to its structure and the stairs inside. And it is that its author De Ella JKRowling spent a season in Porto and it is said that she went to this bookstore to get inspired and register. By the way, due to the large influx, they charge a small entrance fee that they discount if you buy a book.
The Stock Exchange Palace
With all this you will already know the upper part of the city. It’s time to start descending its steep streets until you reach the Duero River. If you have the opportunity, during your descent, go to the Mirador da Vitoria, a very decadent place but from which you have great views of the city.
Soon you will arrive at the Jardín do Infante Dom Enrique, where in addition to the Ferreira Borges Market, you will also find the Palacio de la Bolsa, another of Porto’s great jewels with a very interesting neoclassical façade but with a spectacular interior that makes it one of the most the essential places to see in Porto in one day. Of course, in this one-day visit it is very likely that you will not be able to meet him since he will not give you time. Unless you sacrifice the climb to the Torre de los Clérigos for this visit.
Attached to the Palacio de la Bolsa is the Church of San Francisco, whose great attraction is its interior thanks to the golden coating of its three naves, so ostentatious that even the church was closed for a while because it was offensive due to the poverty that surrounded it.
The Ribeira neighborhood
6Now is the time to visit the Ribeira neighborhood, the most genuine and beautiful in Porto, the one next to the Douro River and the most authentic. It was an old fishing neighborhood where we can now find numerous restaurants, a lot of atmosphere and the Casa do Infante. Don’t forget to walk along the river to admire the Don Luis I Bridge and the wineries on the other side of the river, in Vila Nova de Gaia.
With this intense tour you will have visited the most important places in Porto. It is advisable to have more days to be able to make all these visits with peace of mind as well as everything that you have left in the inkwell.
You can find more information on the official Porto tourism page.
