Porto's centre is small enough to walk and steep enough to notice. The Baixa, around Avenida dos Aliados and São Bento, is the walk-everywhere core: Praça da Liberdade, at the foot of the avenue, has São Bento three minutes away on foot, the Clérigos Tower five and Praça da Ribeira twelve, downhill. Ribeira on the river is the postcard, and every walk into town from there starts uphill: from Praça da Ribeira up to Aliados you climb about 75 metres by any street, and the Guindais funicular is closed for maintenance.
All five hotels here are in the city, four on the Porto bank and one across the bridge in Gaia; the Douro valley hotels are a different trip. Choose the Baixa for the Metro, Ribeira for the river under the window, Miragaia for quieter streets and Gaia for the view back across the water. You will not need a car: a Z2 Andante ticket, 1.40 euros, covers the centre for an hour with unlimited changes.
The One Monumental Palace stands at Avenida dos Aliados 151, the granite avenue at the centre of the Baixa, and you step out of the door to an entrance of Aliados station, on Metro line D, a minute from Trindade, where the airport line arrives. São Bento station is about five minutes on foot, and the Clérigos Tower, Livraria Lello and the Bolhão market are a flat walk of a few minutes. Praça da Ribeira is 14 minutes down to the river; the walk back climbs about 75 metres, so walk down and take a taxi up.
Dinner is never far. Café Guarany is two minutes from the door and Camilo five, and on Tuesday to Saturday nights Le Monument, with its Michelin star, is downstairs. You will not want a car here, and you will not need one.
The room to book
Grand Deluxe City Views
€435 a night
The only room category the hotel sells on its view of Porto, so the city you have spent the day walking is still in the window at night.
Casa da Companhia is at Rua das Flores 69, on the pedestrian street that runs down from São Bento towards the river, in a 16th-century house of 40 rooms. São Bento station, on Metro line D, is five minutes one way and Praça da Ribeira seven the other, downhill; two or three minutes bring you to the Palácio da Bolsa and the Igreja de São Francisco, and Clérigos and Livraria Lello are under ten, uphill.
Eating out is a matter of steps: Cozinha das Flores, Cantinho do Avillez and the starred DOP are all within three minutes. After a day on foot, the heated indoor pool is open from 7:30 to 20:00 and a small rooftop pool looks at the cathedral. The street is closed to traffic: only official taxis and licensed transfers may drive in, not app cars.
The room to book
King Premium Sé Cathedral View Balcony
30 to 31 m²€278 a night
The cathedral from your own balcony and a predictable 30 to 31 m², without paying for a suite you will barely use between walks.
1872 River House is a guesthouse of eight rooms at Rua do Infante D. Henrique 133, one terrace above the Ribeira quays and four minutes from Praça da Ribeira. Along the same street, the Igreja de São Francisco is some 85 metres from the door and the Palácio da Bolsa 130; the Dom Luís I bridge, for the port lodges in Gaia, is about 550, and tram line 1 starts at the end of the street for the ride along the river to Foz.
Good tables are close: O Comercial, inside the Bolsa, is three minutes away and Postigo do Carvão four. The way up to Clérigos and Livraria Lello, around 700 metres, and to São Bento, about 750, is a proper climb, so do the high town in the morning. There is no parking, and you will not miss it.
The room to book
Superior Room with River View
20 m²€198 a night
The river half of the house: 20 m² with the Douro and the Dom Luís I bridge in the window, where the Charm rooms look at the street.
Torel Avantgarde, at Rua da Restauração 336 on the Miragaia hillside, has the Palácio de Cristal gardens on one side and Clérigos on the other, and the Rua Miguel Bombarda galleries are a short walk uphill. By the streets, Livraria Lello and the Clérigos Tower are 12 minutes on foot, São Bento and Avenida dos Aliados 18, and Praça da Ribeira 19. Clérigos stands above the hotel, so coming back from the centre is downhill and coming back from the river is the climb.
The streets around it feed you: Out To Lunch Kitchen is two minutes away, a weekday café and a regional kitchen eight, and the two-star Antiqvvm eleven. If you do bring a car, parking at the hotel is 30 euros a night, and the space is best reserved ahead.
The room to book
Executive Deluxe Room
27 to 31 m²€393 a night
The first category sold with a balcony over the Douro, which is the reward at the top of the climb home from the river.
The Rebello Hotel & Spa is at Cais de Gaia 380, in converted 19th-century warehouses at the downstream end of the Gaia quay, with the port lodges climbing the hill behind. Vinum at Graham's and the Mercado Beira-Rio are seven minutes on foot, and Casa Adão, a traditional tasca, is six, so a Gaia evening needs no crossing at all.
Porto proper is 22 minutes on foot, along the quay and over the lower deck of the Dom Luís I bridge to Praça da Ribeira. For the high town, walk eight minutes east to the Teleférico de Gaia, which lifts you 67 metres to Jardim do Morro, beside Metro line D and the bridge's upper deck. It runs until 8pm from late April to late September and until 6pm from late October to late March, so after dark the way home is the walk along the water, or a taxi.
The room to book
River Studio
37 m²€251 a night
If you are out walking all day, the 37 m² River Studio frames Ribeira and the bridge just as the suites do, for less.
Up the valley, The Vintage House Hotel is the one Douro stay that works on foot: Pinhão station is eight minutes' walk, boats leave from the quay in front of the hotel, and Quinta do Bomfim is a few minutes away in the middle of the village.
The Yeatman sits among the Gaia port lodges: Ribeira is 21 minutes downhill over the lower deck of the bridge, and General Torres, four minutes from São Bento on Metro line D, is nine minutes from the door.
From about €290 a night
The best things to do in Porto, hand-picked
Hand-picked: only the best, one version of each, researched so you don’t have to.
Yes, as long as you plan for the hills. The walk from Praça da Ribeira up to The One Monumental Palace on Avenida dos Aliados is only a kilometre, 14 minutes, but it climbs about 75 metres by any route, and the Guindais funicular from the river to Batalha is closed for maintenance. Metro line D stays on the high ground, crossing the Dom Luís I bridge by its top deck into Gaia. Walk down to the river and take a taxi back up. Casa da Companhia is on the way down, on Rua das Flores, seven minutes above the river.
What is the best area to stay in Porto to walk everywhere?
The Baixa, between Avenida dos Aliados and São Bento station, where Metro line D stops twice. Livraria Lello is six minutes on foot from Praça da Liberdade, at the foot of the avenue, and the river at Praça da Ribeira twelve, downhill. The One Monumental Palace is on the avenue and Casa da Companhia lower down on Rua das Flores. Ribeira has more atmosphere and the river under the window, but every walk into town from the quay starts uphill; 1872 River House is four minutes from Praça da Ribeira.
Can you walk from Vila Nova de Gaia to Porto's old town?
Yes, across the lower deck of the Dom Luís I bridge. Sandeman's lodge on the Cais de Gaia is twelve minutes on foot from Praça da Ribeira and 17 from São Bento. The Rebello Hotel & Spa, further down the quay, is 22 minutes from Praça da Ribeira, and by day the Teleférico de Gaia, eight minutes from its door, lifts you to Jardim do Morro. From The Yeatman, up the hill, Ribeira is 21 minutes on foot, and the walk back climbs.
Do I need a car in Porto?
No, and you will regret parking one. 1872 River House and Casa da Companhia have no car park, Torel Avantgarde charges 30 euros a night, and The One Monumental Palace has valet parking at a charge it does not publish. The Metro and your feet cover the centre, and a 24-hour Andante Tour ticket for the whole network is 7.75 euros. In the Douro valley you do want a car or a driver, unless you stay at The Vintage House Hotel, eight minutes' walk from Pinhão station, or let Quinta Nova Winery House collect you from Ferrão.
How do I get from Porto airport to a central hotel without a car?
Metro line E runs from the airport to Trindade in 27 minutes, on a Z4 ticket, 2.30 euros, loaded on an Andante card that costs 60 cents. Change at Trindade to line D: Aliados, one minute on, has an entrance in front of The One Monumental Palace, and São Bento, three minutes on, is five minutes' walk from Casa da Companhia. The first trains leave the airport at about six in the morning and the last at 00:42; after that, STCP's 3M night bus runs hourly to Avenida dos Aliados.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The grand one
