How to see Portugal by Train: 8 day Itinerary

Portugal by Rail Part Two

Uncovering family history and possibly one of our new favorite towns in the world (so far)

Welcome back to our journey through Portugal by rail! We hope you had a great week and we wanted to thank you again for reading!

Meanwhile, back in Portugal…

Day 9-11 | AVEIRO

Here we are at 6 am on the morning of day 9 packing our bags again. We bid a sad farewell to our beautiful room in Faro and walk up the street to grab our speed train up north to the historic town of Aveiro. 

Our train ride was smooth and uneventful and before we knew it we were pulling into our stop. 

We jumped off the train and stepped out into the streets of Aveiro where we were greeted by street vendors and Tuk Tuk drivers before we started strolling down the main street to our accommodation for the next two nights. 

We were especially exited about this part of our journey because we had finally arrived in the part of Portugal that Ashley’s family is from. We have been hearing stories about this part of Portugal for as long as I have been a part of Ashley’s life and it was amazing to finally be standing in the town that her grandfather used to visit/ live in. 

Aveiro is a beautiful town with canals through the town that have recently garnered it the nickname of “The Venice of Portugal”. To top off that name, they even have little boat tours much like Venice except their boats are converted salt and seaweed working boats that have been painted with vibrant colors and pictures of regional lore. It’s only a few euros to take a boat ride and we recommend doing it for sure!

We dropped our bags off and proceeded to do what we always do, and this is go for a walk to get the lay of the land and find some food and coffee. 

After a light bite and espresso, we went back to the hotel to get changed and figure out dinner. Turns out, Aveiro’s restaurants close a little earlier than places on the south coast so we ended up at an old salt and fish house that served regional fare at communal tables. It was actually pretty good!

The next morning we woke up excited because we were finally going to be able to do something Ashley has dreamed about since we met. We were going to finally meet her family that lives here! Turns out she has a cousin that lives just outside of Aveiro but works in town and his place of work was just across the canal from where we’re staying! We linked up with Gabriel and his family and ended up spending the next 12 hours together. It was amazing. Stay tuned for more on this because our time with the family could be a small novel on its own. 

Day 11-14 | PORTO

After spending two days with Ashleys family in Aveiro, we bid a fond farewell to them with promises of coming back as soon as we can and get dropped off a the train station to continue our adventures. 

We had considered staying in Aveiro one more night, but it made more sense to take the night train into Porto so we could start our next adventure fresh the next day. 

When you get into Porto, you are greeted by long hilly cobblestone streets and smells of food everywhere. We made our way down the street and ended up at our hotel which ended up being right on the river quay with views of the bridge that connects Porto to Gaia across the water. 

If or when you come to Porto, you have to splurge for at least one night and try to stay at the Pestana Vintage Porto Hotel. The people are some of the friendliest we’ve met and the service here was unreal. Seriously, I am not one to go on and on about a place to sleep, but this experience really impressed me.

Read more, or you can book through their website here!

Things to do in Porto

While you are here, if you have the time, you HAVE to take a boat trip on the Douro river. We didn’t have the time for one because most of them were 7-10 hour cruises up and back and we wanted to explore the city more than anything. 

If, like us, you don’t have the time or just want to explore on your own, here is a list for you!

1. Grab a drink at Bar Ponte Pensil. This little cafe is built on the river walls directly under the Ponte Luis bridge that is the first bridge built to connect Porto and Gaia. Great views, and great atmosphere.
2. Take the cable car ride from the riverfront to the top of Gaia and have a picnic lunch on the hilltop overlooking the Douro Valley. 
3. Take a sunset sail on the Rio Douro. We recommend these guys, they are awesome!
   Get Your Guide: Sailboat Sunset Cruise here!
4. Have a tapas dinner at The Wine Box Porto
5. Take in a Fado show. We actually did ours in conjunction with a tour of the Calem Port House. It was awesome. We learned about Port and then were tread to a tasting and a show. Get Your Guide: Fado Show here!
6. Explore the fort on top of Gaia. 
7. Check out the fountain gardens of Porto. If you’re on foot like us, be ready for some steps and some serious walking. 
8. Go see the world famous book store Livraria Lello This is the book store that gained international acclaim for its architecture and also for being the inspiration for much of what JK Rowling described Hogwarts as in the Harry Potter books. 
   Book tickets in advance here!
9. Take a cooking class while you are here. We took a small class that taught us how to make the country’s most famous dish, Pastel de Natas! Super fun and delicious too.
   Get Your Guide: Cooking Class here!
10. Porto Cathedral. Religion aside, checking out Cathedrals in Europe is just fun. There is so much history and the architecture is amazing. 

This is just a short list of what is possible (and walkable) in Porto. We loved this town so much that we spent an extra day here. Porto really has so much for everyone and honestly needs almost a week alone to do it justice. 

After three wonderful days in Porto, we packed our bags and got ready to start our journey home. It’s at this point that we begin to wrap our adventures up. Thank you so much for reading and we hope that our adventure by rail inspires you to go and explore Portugal! We cannot wait to come back and see more of their wonderful country. The people are some of the nicest you will meet and the food is amazing. 

If you would like a blog post about Food and Beverage through Portugal, be sure to head to our instagram page and send us a message with what you’d like to see. Thank you for being here, we appreciate you. 

See you out there!