We have heard a lot about the difficulties that popular tourist cities are having with the massive number of tourists. We have seen it in several places but it was really apparent during our stay in Porto. We were in Porto from October 8-10th in 2018 and it was a different atmosphere than our stay from Sept 21-26 in 2025. We were not shocked by packed sidewalks in 2018. I’m not sure if it is change of month or the 7 years difference that made our experience so different. Before I talk about our stay, I need to show you why Porto is so popular. It is absolutely beautiful and I again had a hard time stop taking pictures.
With the beauty of the town, we also dealt with the crowds. I know we are also tourists, and also part of the problem. We have guilt for staying in a great Airbnb in the wine making neighborhood of Vila Nova de Guia, that is probably contributing to rising housing prices for locals. We stayed just a block away from the waterfront in the middle of the port wine-making cellars and tasting rooms. There were a lot of people in this neighborhood drawn by the wineries but also by the many bars and good restaurants. It also wasn’t far to walk over the bridge to the official old town of Porto. The number of people walking on the bridge made it difficult to stay on the sidewalk so we usually were walking on the road. Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic on the lower bridge besides the many tour vehicles. The Porto side of the river was also crazy busy with what seemed to be 3 times as many outside cafe tables than our first visit in 2018 and most of the bars and restaurants were very busy. A lot of the old buildings all over town have been restored or are in the middle of restoration, which can probably be tied to the influx of heavy tourism. Tourism money helps a city, but it also changes it a lot. We didn’t hear much Portuguese being spoken.
We spent a couple of days doing the standard tourist activities. We took our “free” walking tour. We climbed some church towers and visited a history museum. We walked through the pedestrian shopping streets and visited the markets. Porto is very hilly and we walked a lot of the alleys looking for out of the way bars and restaurants. We did a Port cellar tour that included some Port tastings. All of these activities were done next to many other tourists doing the same things. I can’t blame the tourists for the crowds because we are part of the crowd. We still enjoyed ourselves but most of the time everything just seemed a bit hectic.
One day, we decided to get away from the downtown Porto crowds and go see where the river empties into the ocean. The trolley was too crowded but we were able to find a good seat on a double decker bus to go couple of miles to the beach. This neighborhood was a nice respite from the bustle of the city. The beach was a bit too cold for swimming, but we enjoyed walking by the light house and old fort along the waterfront. We then found a locals neighborhood and had one of the best meals of our visit in a small market with mostly locals at a very reasonable price. It is always possible to escape the tourists in any city but sometimes it takes a bit of searching.
We ate well during our recent stays in Spain but we were eager to eat some of our favorites in Portugal. We were happy to have some more sit down restaurant experiences after spending the previous couple of weeks eating pintxos and tapas from the bar counter. The bacalhao (salt cured cod) is the star. Yes we ate a lot of it in Spain, but the Portuguese are also huge fish fans and we saw it on most menus. They also like pork just as much as the Spaniards. The most famous food from Porto is the Francesinho which is a layered bread, sliced pork, ham, bacon, beef and cheese sandwich that is grilled and then covered with a tomato/beer sauce and topped with a fried egg. Very filling but we had to try it again!!! We also ate the pasteis de nata which is the small custard pastry that was invented here and has now spread all over the world.
We have been in a lot of over touristed towns, but we most always miss high season because we like to be in Seattle during the summer. There is talk that high season has been extended in many parts of Europe and September is never going to shoulder season again. I believe that after seeing this town in late September. We are now headed to Lisbon and are prepared for few more days of massive amounts of people before we head South to the Algarve in October. We will enjoy Lisbon just like we did Porto but we are also ready for the European fall season to settle down and let us relax. We are ready to just “be” in Portugal instead of being a tourist.