Porto: the Magic Villages Tour

Pay only for what you enjoy!

Our guided tours aim to be a unique and personal experience, supported on our expertise: we suggest an itinerary, one or two restaurants to lunch, and the most iconic monuments and attractions to visit. But, we want you to feel free to choose your favourite restaurant, your preferred monuments or attractions! We will adapt the itinerary, whenever possible, to meet your wishes.

That is why our price does not include lunch, or the tickets to visit monuments and attractions.

• North bank of Douro: This tour starts going down till the riverside and along the north bank up the riverside till Casa Branca do Gramido. Imposing, on the Valbom waterfront, in Gondomar, is the building where it was signed, in 1847, the Gramido Convention, a document that ended wars between liberals and absolutists and the popular uprisings that became known as Maria da Fonte and Patuleia. That was the event that put the White House in our country’s history.
• Areja Village and Lomba Beach: Areja is a village in the south bank of Douro, where the houses climb elegantly the steep from pier. Erstwhile a busy place, this small quay was used for trade and the transportation of merchants.Today, it  docks leisure boats, and one or the other fishing boat. Close by , we may swim at Lomba beach: an extensive sandy beach and calm water it has a bathing support area consisting of a car park, WC, First Aid station and Bar.
• Ilha dos Amores: It is a piece of land where peace reigns, so close and so far from the busy world. Legend has it that a farmer and a noblewoman from the region lived a love story that ended tragically.
• Cabroelo Village: A charmng village belonging to the network of Preserved Villages. Visit to Museu da Broa a museum dedicated to one of the most typical local food – the corn bread. The museum is a complex composed of several mills located before reaching the village.
• Figueira Village: being part of the Romanesque Route, Figueira is a concentrated settlement with good-quality vernacular buildings, from which we highlight the Pisão house and the watermills, served by the water of the brooks Pisão or Figueira.
• Quintandona Village: Visiting this Preserved Village in the Romanesque Route, with its very narrow streets means going back to old stories and experiences that are still preserved in time. With friendly and dynamic people, Quintandona presents itself today as a centre of culture and attractiveness, as demonstrated by the opening of the Cultural Centre – Casa do Xiné.
• Castromil Village: the village is surrounded by a natural and agricultural atmosphere. Its well-cut granite buildings have rural architectural features. Here we have the opportunity to visit the gold mines, an extensive heritage associated with mining activities that began in the Roman period. Your visit should be booked in advance.
• Viewpoint Senhora do Salto (Our Lady of Jump): the place is wrapped in a legend, in which a knight survived to death by invoking the protection of the Lady after an inadvertent jump in the abyss, a “Boca do Inferno”(Hell’s Mouth).

The place provides moments of tranquillity, freshness and its cliffs allow the practice of rappelling, climbing, mountain biking or hiking.

• Couce village: on the right bank of Ferreira River, there appears Couce, a small rural village of remote origins with marked rural experiences, whose lifestyle comes from the close relationship with the land and the local natural resources. Recently classified as Aldeia de Portugal, visiting Aldeia de Couce allows us to go back in time.
• In this secular place we may find a cultural heritage that joins the natural through walls, levadas, sidewalks, pontoons, granaries, fojos, mills, megalithic remains, identifying a little the different civilizations that passed through here like the Celtics and the Romans.
• Viewpoint of Santa Justa: Close to the chapels of Santa Justa and St. Sabino framed by a leisure area, there is a panoramic view of the cities of Valongo and Porto, as well as the surroundings. From here you can see the Douro River and the Atlantic.
• Return to Porto.

Notes: This attractions list is not mandatory nor exhaustive and it may be adjusted to your expectations. Besides, the itinerary may differ due to weather conditions, the time spent in each location and the guide’s discretion.

This tour is classified as Easy. May comprise some short walking routes, yet accessible for those with limited mobility;

Most of the places are accessible on a wheelchair. This ride is possible with collapsible wheelchairs, however, the passenger may need someone’s assistance.