Douro River Cruises and Boat Rides in Porto

The Douro is probably one of Porto's greatest attractions and as well as walking along its banks or sipping wine on a terrace with a view, you can take a cruise that passes by the city's main points of interest.

When talking about a cruise, think of a relaxing stroll along the waters that bathe a city while discovering its most emblematic sites. In Porto there are options and prices adapted to every type of traveller; these are the most relevant ones:

On this cruise of 50 minutes you will sail along the Douro River passing over the six bridges that connect Porto with the city of Gaia. Each bridge has something that makes it special in a unique way, which added to the spectacular views from the cruise makes this experience a fantasy for your camera.

The cruise across the six bridges of Porto is a very nice way to discover the city from another point of view, and you can do it in the morning or in the afternoon. If you are interested in taking spectacular photos in the best possible light, I recommend booking the morning cruise. But at sunset you will have, without a doubt, the most beautiful views and it will be an experience with a lot of magic.

Itinerary

If you are interested in experiencing a cruise during your trip, you don't necessarily have to do it in the city of Porto. With this excursion to Aveiro you will have access to a different kind of boat ride while visiting the town of Aveiro, close to Porto. This is a cruise on a moliceiro, a traditional Portuguese boat similar to a gondola.

This tour lasts approximately 4 hours and costs 164. When you book your place online you can choose between a morning or afternoon timetable. A guide will pick you up from your hotel in Porto in a comfortable vehicle and accompany you throughout the tour of Aveiro, known as the Venice of Portugal.

Itinerary

• The historical centre of Aveiro: your guide will explain the history of this city and will tell you where you can taste its star dish of traditional pastries, the Ovos Moles.
• The Aveiro estuary: you will cruise along it in a moliceiro while your guide helps you to contextualise the buildings you see along the way.
• Costa Nova beach: where you can admire the landscape and the traditional fishermen's huts, now converted into tourist residences.

Another option for cruising the Douro is to take a scenic tour of the area known as the Douro Rivera, an excellent sample of the quieter, more traditional Portugal. As part of this tour to the Douro Rivera, you will also enjoy a local lunch and wine tasting. All this in a small group for a more intimate experience, ideal for getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city crowds.

Itinerary

About lunch

For lunch you can choose typical Portuguese dishes such as roast chicken, spicy rice or fish stew. The full experience lasts 10:00, is available in German, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese and costs 330.

This cruise from Porto to Pinhão is more like the experience you would have on board a yacht visiting different secluded beaches. The difference is that you don't have to embark for a week; one day is enough. This cruise takes you through the most relevant landscapes of the Douro River including breakfast and lunch.

A guide will pick you up at your hotel in Porto and will take you to the place where you will embark to Pinhão, one of the most picturesque and charming villages of the Douro River.

Itinerary

Ana's Traveller Tip

When booking your place on a tour or cruise, always make sure you locate the embarkation point if hotel pick-up is not included.

As you can see, you can take a cruise through the city of Porto and accompany it with a sightseeing bus tour and a wine tasting. To book this option, you will have to choose the day and time that suits you for this activity and you will receive the confirmation details in your email.

Cruise and bus tour of the city of Porto

Although Porto can be explored on foot, the possibility of doing it comfortably aboard a boat or bus is not to be underestimated (especially if you want to avoid crowds or high temperatures). This option combines a two-day ticket for the Porto sightseeing bus with free stops with a river cruise and a wine tasting at Quinta da Boeira.

The bus ticket is valid for two days and is a hop on hop off model, meaning that for two days you can hop on and off the bus as many times as you like, getting on and off at the stops of your choice.

Tourist bus routes

When you set off on the sightseeing bus tour, you will see that there are two routes available. One of them is the Historic Porto route, where you will go through the centre and the other is the Porto Castles route. Both routes last two hours (although if you decide to get off at their stops, you can extend the visit as long as you wish). Their frequency is only 30 minutes, which gives you a lot of flexibility if you want to get off for a walk and catch the next one.

The stops on the Historic Porto route are:

The stops on the Porto Castles route are:

Ana's Traveller Tip

48-hour tickets for the tourist bus are activated with their first use; try to use them first thing in the morning to make the most of the service time.

If you have never booked a cruise before, you are probably wondering what to consider when choosing one or the other option. Besides the price (which nowadays is not an excluding factor to live this experience) I recommend that you also make sure of the type of boat on which you are going to do the tour. If you are looking for a more intimate experience, you will probably prefer the Moliceiro cruise as opposed to the one-day cruise to Pinhão, which will be on a larger boat.

The route is also an important point to take into account; if you have already seen the city of Porto on foot or on board the tourist bus and you are now looking to travel along the Douro River, consider an excursion to the surrounding area that leaves from the city and you will have the opportunity to see other parts of Portugal.

As for the guide, this is an important factor; many cruises include audio commentaries instead of an expert guide, but these will not be of the same quality as the information and recommendations that a local guide can give you.

It is also important to consider the weather when choosing the date of your cruise - many of the ships are prepared so that if it rains, you can still enjoy the experience, but it won't be the same if it is cloudy, for example. Choose an excursion that can be cancelled 24 hours in advance to avoid disappointment.

Finally, a word of advice: don't get obsessed with taking photos and enjoy the tour; you'll have time to get to know the places you pass through in depth during your visit. These types of boat trips are designed to take a general tour of the area (whether it is the city of Porto or the surrounding area) and enjoy the experience without rushing and stress.

If you have already toured the city of Porto and its surroundings with a cruise, why not do it also on foot? If you have booked your boat tour as part of an excursion you will have already discovered that guided walking tours have a lot to offer the traveller interested in the history and culture of a city.

In this article on Tours and excursions in Porto I explain the different options available for hiring the services of a guide to show you the city from a local and expert point of view. You can also accompany this type of tour with experiences such as a gastronomic tasting or a wine tasting.

I highly recommend you take a look at these types of tours; in my opinion they are the best way to put any city into context and approach it more like a traveller than a tourist.