Porto was the very first city we visited in Portugal during our camping trip to Portugal. I had never been to Portugal before, Ema had been to Porto during college. I have to say that my first feeling about Porto and Portugal was very good. We were only in the city for about 2 days as the weather had deteriorated and we were mainly tempted to check out the surf spots somewhere further south.
Where we parked the motorhome
We arrived in Porto late in the evening and parked close to the centre in one of the motorhome parkings by the Rio Duoro. The parking lot was full of RVs and vans. However, as of 2021, you won’t be able to park there anymore as there is a ban on sleeping in motorhome outside campsites in Portugal. Currently you have to go to a campsite in Porto, which is quite a distance from the centre. I’ve added the car park we were parked in to the map, hopefully they’ll lift this nonsensical ban soon.
Map with attractions
Town centre
The town is built uphill and there is a cable car that runs from the river to the bridge. It’s quite an interesting thing, I keep saying that they should build such a cable car from the city centre to Furca. We hung around the town with the sole purpose of trying fried cod and Port. We managed to do it on the first try, as they seem to have it at every turn.
The old market in the centre
Probably the biggest attraction of the whole market was the live poultry. I remember that animals used to be sold at the market here in Košice as well. But I wasn’t expecting that in downtown Porto in 2017.
Interesting cafes by the river
There are lots of small stylish cafes and restaurants in the harbour by the river. It’s close to the motorhome parking. So you can pop there for a coffee and breakfast. Breakfast is pastries with butter and salt and coffee with cinnamon. Quite interesting but it tastes good.
