Oporto: Travel and tourism

Oporto is in itself full of interest, but the district it heads, though largely industrialized, offers the visitor plenty to see.

Along the coast, holiday resorts like the cosmopolitan beach of Espinho, busy ports like Matosinhos, with splendid seafood, or traditional fishing towns like Póvoa de Varzim, but where there is also an animated casino.

Inland, for example, the quaint charm of Amarante, with 17th-century mansions overlooking the river and famous for a kind of sweet egg pastries called papos de anjo (angel bellies).

Right next to Oporto, you can visit, in Vila Nova de Gaia, the lodges where Port wine is blended and aged and where you can taste the different varieties, or you may choose to take a river cruise along the Douro.

The whole district is filled with prosperous towns, as commerce and industry thrive there, but you can drive along many calm roads with wonderful views over the river or enjoy a rugged and still unspoilt coastline.