Thinking of a hen/stag party abroad within easy reach? Then switch the hot ports in the local pub for the real thing. Porto, in Portugal, is a great city for a friends’ weekend.
With low cost airlines offering amazing opportunities to travel abroad, going to another European city for a hen/stag party is as easy and cheap as doing it locally.
Porto (Oporto) is Portugal’s second largest city and full of charms. The most famous ones are its waterfront and port wine.
Porto is a cosmopolitan north town with Erasmus students and tourists wandering around churches and plazas during the day and packing restaurants, bars and nightclubs in the evenings.
Spread along the river Douro, the city of Porto has a colourful taste of fishing town. Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1996, the River bank (Ribeira) is packed with winding streets, stairs lanes and colourful houses overlooking the Douro. Antique port-wine boats dot the Douro.
Across the river and facing the Ribeira, Vila Nova de Gaia is the main centre of Port wine production. Over fifty companies are based in the twisting charming streets of Vila Nova. Most of them offer guided tours so that visitors may see how Port is made.
A tour of the cellars and wine tasting is mandatory in Vila Nova, where names like Taylor’s, Grahams, Cockburns and Sandeman age and blend most of the world’s supply of Port wine.
2001 European Capital of Culture, Porto enjoys some amazing seafood, bacalhau (cod), tasty grill family restaurants, cheap accommodation, accessible transport with its brand new underground system and 10-20C this time of the year.
Check out some great hotel deals in Porto, visiting:
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