AD The Porto City Guide

This post is in collaboration with Jet2Holidays.

Add a Winter Break to Your Bucket List Next Year…

Welcome to the Porto city guide and boy, am I happy to introduce you to one of my new favourite places in Europe. This trip wasn’t planned. In fact, we weren’t going to go away this year whilst we saved up money for a home. However, when Jet2 reaches out and offers you a mini winter break to southern Europe, you can’t say no. So with my bags in hand and a bestie by my side, we headed off to Manchester Airport and on our way to Portugal.

Now when it comes to your next getaway, city breaks to Porto needs to be included on this list. A place that I have never thought about visiting before, is now incredibly high up on the list to come back to. Plus, who knew the beginning of November was a great time to visit? The weather was in the low to mid-twenties, much warmer than the UK. Plus, going off-season meant fewer crowds at some of the tourist hotspots.

If Porto isn’t at the top of your list (I truly don’t know why), there are plenty of options for short breaks with Jet2holidays. Check out their website for all their options and fantastic deals available.

This break truly made me rethink our holiday structure and what time of year we need to be going. Whilst a summer holiday is great, I think for me and my husband, travelling sometime at the beginning and the end of the year is going to be high on our priorities list.

With this in mind, let’s break down my Porto city guide and why you need to visit next year.

How to Get Around.

Flights to Porto are readily available from the UK. However, as mentioned, we flew from Manchester. For us, it’s one of the nearest airports to us (Leeds Bradford being much closer) and so easy to get to. Flights from Manchester with Jet2 are pretty seamless. To start with, you’re flying out of Terminal 2 and may I say, what a stunning airport! Security has been updated so no taking ANYTHING out of your bags! Do you know what a joy this is after experiencing the stress of getting your electronics out with hundreds of eyes grilling you to move faster?!

The flight to Porto is about two-three hours and with Portugal being in the same timezone, you don’t lose anything to jetlag. For us, we flew at about 7 am, landed at 10 am and were at our hotel by 11 am. It meant we had a full day from the minute we got there and weren’t feeling too frazzled at all.

Once you’re in Porto, I recommend walking. Yes, there’s public transport available (and a taxi from the airport is about €20), but Porto has some incredible sights to take in. I also found everything was within short distance of each other, so walking from one landmark to another took no longer than 20 minutes. Porto does have an underground and if it’s anything like Lisbon, it will run seamlessly, but we didn’t feel a need to use it during our stay.

Where to Stay.

Now when it comes to a place to call your second home, you cannot go wrong with Portobay Teatro. We completely lucked out with the location, it was smack bang in the middle of everywhere we wanted to visit. Plus, for being in the middle of the theatre district, it was a quiet location.

The rooms themselves are gorgeous. Modern, simple and great for putting your things down. The beds so so comfortable, there was plenty of space for my friend and I to have our zones when we needed to rest. And the bathroom. My guides are famous for the a hotel is only good if there’s a nice bathroom. When I first saw glass walls, it occurred to me that my bestie and might be getting close very quickly! Thankfully there’s frosting, at both the shower and toilets are in their own rooms so there’s plenty of room to move around.

If I could critique anything, I wish the sink had more room for toiletries, but I’m assuming not everyone travels with Sephora like I do.

Inside the hotel is a gorgeous pizzeria restaurant as well as a bar to have drinks. It’s very modern and cool, you’ll feel like a bit of a celeb when you step inside.

Where to Explore.

There’s so much to see in the city of Porto. This history alone is worth the trip. To start with, you’ve got a few historical, tile-covered buildings to see, including Igreja de Santo António dos Congregados, Torre dos Clérigos and the Chapel of Souls. Also included in this list is Porto São Bento, which is the city’s train station with a gorgeous tiled room. Get there early if you want that photo shot without a lot of people in the background.

Another spot to visit is Luís I Bridge, which you have to visit at night time as the sun is setting. It gets busy, so be prepared for crowds, there’s a hillfront on the other side that is ideal for watching the sunset in the evenings, with live music playing. Nearby/ along the way is Porto Cathedral, which is a gorgeous location to visit and wander around. There are a few additional landmarks to see, so you could easily spend an afternoon there.

If you want to explore nature, the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal is perfect. It’s a vast space of Victorian gardens, a large dome that you can climb to the top of. Oh, and peacocks roam the grounds.

Where to Eat.

This Porto city guide would not be complete without gushing about the delicious food available. To start, you have to go to Time Out Market. It’s right next to the station (and about 10 minutes from our hotel) and has some of the best food in the city. A great place to grab fresh seafood.

Two of our best meals were had were at Puro 4050 and Especie. Puro was a great place to grab meat-based dishes and comfort food, whilst Especie was one of the best vegetarian restaurants I’ve ever been to.

Now coffee is where Porto shines. We found two places that we ended up visiting regularly. Combi was not far from our hotel so we had multiple stops there, including an afternoon sitting out in the sunshine. Another place I fell in love with was Hakko, which did the best brunch. Order the French toast and thank me later!

Until Next Time…

I hope you enjoy this Porto city guide and it inspires you to visit such a stunning place.