Porto travel info

Stand on the top deck of the Dom Luís I bridge at sunset and you get the whole thing at once: on the left, Ribeira's orange roofs and laundry-hung houses sliding down to the river in steps; on the right, the Gaia waterfront lined with the signs of the old port-wine lodges. Between them, flat wooden rabelo boats that once carried wine barrels sit on the Douro, and a metro train rattles across the bridge behind you. Most days in Porto involve crossing this bridge several times.

The city is small and steep. São Bento station's blue-tiled hall, the Clérigos tower and the Lello bookshop are all 10–15 minutes apart on foot, and nearly every one of those minutes is up or down a cobbled hill. The reward is that every corner has an espresso (a 'cimbalino' here) and a custard tart, and dinner can be a francesinha: meat and cheese stacked in a sandwich and drowned in beer-tomato sauce.

Most visitors fly into Porto's airport, which has direct flights across Europe, or land in Lisbon and take the three-hour train north. Three or four days covers the old town, the river and the wine lodges; add one more for the Douro Valley vineyards. Bring shoes with grip.

Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport (Porto) (OPO)