Hotels
Hotels in Porto: eight places to stay on both banks of the Douro
From the upper deck of the Dom Luís bridge you take in the whole city at once: the painted houses of the Ribeira stacked up the slope on one side, the port lodges' names on the rooftops of Gaia on the other, and the river running green between them. Porto is two cities joined by a bridge, and your hotel decides which side you wake up on.
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Porto is built on a slope down to the Douro, and the first thing you learn is that the map lies about distances. From the Ribeira at the water's edge to Avenida dos Aliados up in town is a few hundred metres and a hill that makes you stop twice. The second thing you learn is that Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river, is not strictly Porto at all. It is a separate town where port wine has aged in barrels for centuries. The view from there is why everyone takes their photographs in exactly that spot.
We have chosen eight hotels in four areas, from a row of old riverside houses in the Ribeira to a wine hotel in Gaia with a pool facing the city. Out to Foz where the Douro meets the Atlantic. Some are expensive; several are here because Porto still gives you unusually good hotels for the money compared with Lisbon. For each we say who it suits and who should stay elsewhere. Links go to Hotels.com, and the hotel is always chosen before the link.
In short: where to stay in Porto
Stay in the Baixa around Avenida dos Aliados if this is your first visit: it is flat enough, central for the metro and trains. You walk down to the Ribeira in ten minutes. The Ribeira suits travellers who want the river and the old houses outside the window and can cope with the climb back up. Vila Nova de Gaia is the choice for views and port, while Foz suits anyone who wants the ocean and quiet and will take the tram into town.
Our first choice: InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas. Check availability and prices
Best for romance: The Yeatman
Best for families: Vila Foz Hotel & Spa
Best for a first visit: InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas
Best for value: Torel 1884
Best for design: Torel Avantgarde
How to choose a hotel in Porto
Think about the hill before you think about the view: The Ribeira down by the river is beautiful, but everything else is uphill. Stay down there and you climb every day. Stay up in the Baixa and you walk down when you choose, then take the funicular back up.
Gaia is not Porto, and that is the point: Hotels in Vila Nova de Gaia have the view everyone wants, the port lodges on the doorstep and a bridge to cross to reach the city. Choose Gaia for views and calm, not for having Porto's bars round the corner.
The metro is good but does not go everywhere: Porto's metro runs from the airport to Trindade in the centre, but neither the Ribeira nor Foz has a station. Check whether the hotel is near Trindade, Aliados or São Bento before you plan on public transport.
Ask for a river room or a street room: In the Ribeira and Gaia the river view costs extra and earns it. In the Baixa the streets are narrow and the cobbles loud at night, so there it is the courtyard you should ask for.
A francesinha is not breakfast: Porto's famous sandwich of meat, cheese and beer-and-tomato sauce is lunch. Hotel breakfasts in Porto are often good, with fresh pastéis de nata, but the café round the corner is cheaper and just as good.
Ribeira
The row of houses at Ribeira, where Pestana Vintage sits by the river.
The Ribeira and Miragaia: the houses that stand in the river
The Ribeira is the old harbour quarter down on the Douro, with tall, narrow houses in pink, blue and yellow stacked behind the quay. Restaurant tables line the water from lunch until late. Westwards along the river it becomes Miragaia, a quieter residential stretch below the old city wall. You stay here for the river, the bridges and the narrow alleys climbing towards the cathedral, and you pay for it in both rates and gradient.
Pestana Vintage Porto: the row of houses on Praça da Ribeira
Pestana Vintage Porto is made up of a row of old houses right on Praça da Ribeira, the quayside square at the heart of the Ribeira. So river-facing rooms look straight across to the port lodges of Gaia and along to the Dom Luís bridge. The houses are linked inside by stairs and corridors on different levels, so no two rooms are alike.
This is the hotel for travellers who want to sleep inside the postcard. The quay is below the window, and in the evening you hear the river and the restaurants. It is made for couples and first-time visitors who do not mind a climb. The square is busy until late, and rooms vary a great deal in size and light, so ask for a river view and be ready for stairs.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at Pestana Vintage Porto
The pool
The pool at Torel Avantgarde.
Torel Avantgarde: the artists' rooms above Miragaia
Torel Avantgarde sits on a slope in Miragaia, some way west of the Ribeira. Every floor and every room is decorated after an artist or writer of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The terrace with its pool and the restaurant, Digby, sit on the edge of the slope with the river and the Arrábida bridge below.
This is our pick for design: bold, colourful and personal, with a view from almost every room. It is ideal for couples who want something different and an evening by the pool with the river in sight. The hillside position means you climb or descend wherever you are going. The Ribeira is a quarter of an hour away along the river, so skip it if you want the city on the doorstep.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at Torel Avantgarde
The lobby
The lobby at InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas.
Baixa and Aliados: the city up on the hill
The Baixa is the centre up in town, with Avenida dos Aliados as its grand boulevard from the town hall down to Praça da Liberdade. São Bento station and its blue tiles are beside it, and the Clérigos tower works as a compass. Here are the cafés, the Lello bookshop, the Bolhão market and most of the bars, and here it is flat enough to walk without thinking about it.
InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas: the palace on Praça da Liberdade
The hotel occupies an old palace that fills the whole short side of Praça da Liberdade, where Avenida dos Aliados ends. São Bento station and the Aliados metro stop are a couple of minutes away. The façade is long and classical, and rooms facing the square look up the full length of the avenue to the town hall.
We recommend it for a first visit because it makes everything simple. You arrive by metro from the airport and walk down to the Ribeira in ten minutes and to the Clérigos in five. The city's largest square is right in front of the entrance. Service and rooms are what you expect from a big chain hotel at its best, and breakfast is substantial. It is large and formal, so it does not suit anyone who wants small and personal.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas
The lobby
The lobby at The One Monumental Palace.
The One Monumental Palace: Art Deco on the Aliados
The One Monumental Palace stands directly on Avenida dos Aliados in a building that was once a grand café. The old café on the ground floor has been reopened with mirrors, marble and high ceilings. The hotel has a spa with an indoor pool in the basement and rooms facing either the avenue or a quiet inner courtyard.
This is the hotel for travellers who want French elegance and Art Deco on the most central street in the city, with a spa for the rainy days. It is right for couples who want classic luxury without staying in an eighteenth-century palace. The avenue is busy and the cobbles are loud at night, so ask for the courtyard if you sleep lightly. Know that the view from the rooms is city, not river.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at The One Monumental Palace
The bar
The bar at Torel 1884.
Torel 1884: the spice rooms on Rua do Almada
Torel 1884 occupies an old town house on Rua do Almada, a quiet street a couple of blocks from the Aliados and the Clérigos. The rooms are themed on the goods of the Portuguese voyages of discovery: cinnamon, silk, porcelain and tea among them. There is a small bar and a restaurant on the ground floor, and the roof terrace looks over the rooftops of the Baixa.
This is our pick for value. You get thorough design, high ceilings, personal service and a location in the middle of the centre, at a rate well below the big hotels on the Aliados. It is a strong pick for travellers who like small hotels where you greet the same faces every morning. Street-facing rooms hear the city, and there is no spa or pool, so pass on it if you want facilities.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at Torel 1884
The lobby
The lobby at Hotel Infante Sagres.
Hotel Infante Sagres: the old grand hotel behind the Clérigos
The Infante Sagres stands on a quiet street beside Praça de Lisboa and the Clérigos tower, a couple of minutes from the Aliados. Has been the city's classic luxury hotel for decades. Inside it mixes the old, such as the stained glass on the staircase, with newer design in the rooms and the bar.
It appeals to travellers who want tradition and calm in the middle of town. The Lello bookshop, the university and the bars of the Galerias de Paris are round the corner. Rooms are generous, and the bar is somewhere Porto locals go too. There is no river view and no terrace with an outlook, so it does not suit anyone who is in Porto for the photographs from the balcony.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at Hotel Infante Sagres
The pool
The pool at The Yeatman.
Vila Nova de Gaia: the port and the view
Vila Nova de Gaia is the town on the south bank of the Douro. The port houses have kept their cellars here since British merchants began shipping wine out of the river mouth. Along the quay stand Sandeman, Taylor's, Graham's and the rest in a row, and up the slope sit the hotels with the view you see in every photograph of Porto. The Dom Luís bridge takes you across to the Ribeira in ten minutes on foot, and the cable car up and down spares you the hill.
The Yeatman: the pool with the city behind it
The Yeatman sits at the top of the slope in Gaia, above the Taylor's port cellars. Is built in terraces so that every room has a balcony facing Porto across the river. The outdoor pool is shaped like a decanter and hangs on the edge with the whole city behind it, and the wine cellar holds Portuguese wines from across the country.
This is our pick for romance: dinner in the restaurant with the view, wine tastings, a spa with grape-based treatments and a balcony where the sun sets behind the Ribeira. It is well suited to couples who want calm and plan to spend an evening at the hotel. The drawback is that you are in Gaia, with a bridge and a hill between you and Porto's bars. So look elsewhere if you want to pop in and out of the city several times a day.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at The Yeatman
The pool
The pool at Vila Foz Hotel & Spa.
Foz do Douro: where the river meets the ocean
Foz do Douro is the district right out at the river mouth, where the Douro flows into the Atlantic and the seafront promenade begins. This is where Porto's well-off live, where the seafood restaurants are and where the evening walks along the water happen. It is quiet in a way the centre never is. The historic tram line 1 runs along the river into the Ribeira in half an hour, and buses go more often.
Vila Foz Hotel & Spa: the mansion on the seafront
Vila Foz occupies an old mansion right by the seafront promenade in Foz, with the Atlantic across the road. A modern wing behind holds the spa and an indoor pool. Rooms in the main house have stucco ceilings and tall windows onto the sea, and the restaurant is among the most talked about in the city.
We recommend it to families and to anyone who wants to combine city and ocean. Swim in the sea or the pool in the morning, take the tram into the Ribeira for lunch and eat seafood by the promenade in the evening. It also suits couples who want calm and design. You are half an hour from the centre, and the tram runs rarely in the evening, so you will need a taxi home after dinner in town.
Book your stay: Check availability and prices at Vila Foz Hotel & Spa
When to book
May to September is high season: Porto has become one of Europe's most visited cities in a few short years. The small hotels in the Ribeira and the Baixa fill two to three months ahead in summer. May and September are the best months, with light, warmth and fewer coaches.
São João fills the city in June: On the night of 23 June Porto celebrates its patron saint with fireworks over the river, grilled sardines and plastic hammers in the streets. Hotels across the city are booked long in advance. The same goes for big matches at the Estádio do Dragão.
Winter is wet, quiet and good value: November to February brings rain off the Atlantic, but also empty cellars in Gaia, free tables and lower rates. Christmas and New Year are the exceptions.
Our first choice in Porto
InterContinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas
We recommend InterContinental Porto because it makes everything simple: you arrive by metro from the airport and walk down to the Ribeira in ten minutes. It occupies an old palace that fills the whole short side of Praça da Liberdade. Service and breakfast are what you expect of a big chain hotel at its best.
Frequently asked questions about hotels in Porto
Where should I stay in Porto?
The Baixa around the Aliados suits a first visit, the Ribeira the river and the old houses. Vila Nova de Gaia is for the view and the port, Foz for the ocean and quiet. The first three lie within a quarter of an hour's walk of each other, hills included. Foz is about twenty minutes from the centre by tram or bus.
Is it better to stay in Porto or in Vila Nova de Gaia?
Porto if you want bars, restaurants and the city around you, Gaia if you want the view of Porto, the port cellars and quiet evenings. The Dom Luís bridge links them, and you cross in ten minutes on foot. A cable car also runs from the riverside in Gaia up towards the top level of the bridge.
How many nights do I need in Porto?
Two nights cover the Ribeira, the Clérigos, São Bento, a port cellar in Gaia and an evening by the river. Three or four leave room for Foz, the Serralves museum and a day trip up the Douro valley by train or boat. The Douro Valley is easiest by train from São Bento to Pinhão.
How do I get from Porto airport to the centre?
Metro line E runs from the airport to Trindade in the centre in around half an hour, and from there the hotels in the Baixa are a short walk. A taxi or Uber takes twenty minutes to the Ribeira or Gaia outside rush hour. The metro is the cheapest option, and you buy tickets from the machines in the station.
Is Porto hilly, and does it matter for choosing a hotel?
Yes. The city rises steeply from the river to the Baixa, and a hotel in the Ribeira means a climb every day. If you stay up in the Baixa, the Guindais funicular takes you down and up again instead of the steps. Good shoes matter more than almost anything else you pack.