Before we left for Portugal, I spent a whole day researching day trips from the city of Porto. I knew I wanted to get out of the city and visit a few of the vineyards because, well, you can’t really visit Porto without drinking port wine! When I found this tour with Viator, I knew it was exactly what we were looking for. I didn’t want to do anything too exhausting. I really just wanted to look at beautiful views and drink port wine. This tour was EXACTLY that. If you’d prefer to watch rather than read, you can check out my full YouTube video about our tour on my YouTube channel here!
We met our tour group super early in the morning and hopped on the bus. We were greeted by our super sweet and cute tour guide, Margarida. Our first stop was the beautiful town of Amarante. We only had about 30 minutes here to grab a pastry or a cup of coffee, peek into one of the churches and snap a few photos of the view. It was a quiet and gorgeous little town though!
Our next stop was the first vineyard, Casa dos Barros. It had a stunning courtyard covered in vines, free-roaming peacocks and delicious port wine. One of the workers at the winery showed us to one of the wine cellars and gave us 3 different port wine tastings, along with cheese. She was absolutely hilarious and so entertaining. We then enjoyed lunch at the winery in a lovely dining room, along with the rest of our tour group. It was a full 4 course meal, a salad, soup, main entree, and dessert. We had both white and red wines served alongside our lunch too! While the food wasn’t anything too exciting, it was substantial enough that we were content and full. Plus, we were there for the wine anyway, and the wine was delicious!
We made our way back to the tour bus and enjoyed the incredible views of the Douro Valley. The morning was cloudy but it finally began to clear up as we made our way to the traditional rabelo boat ride on the Douro River. By the time we were cruising the river, the sun was popping out and we were able to witness the rolling hillsides and beautiful vineyards along the river. The boat ride was quite slow and peaceful, which actually made me rather sleepy. But I thoroughly appreciate a slower pace on these tours because I’m typically exhausted from traveling. As a photographer, I loved this part of the tour because I was able to take some gorgeous photos of the Douro River as I sat in my seat, watching the hills slip by. It was rather meditative, and exactly what I needed after a few days in the hustle and bustle of Porto.
After the boat ride, our bus driver took us about 5 minutes up the road to our next stop, Croft Port. It’s one of the oldest wine producers in the world and was truly the most beautiful vineyard I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s because the weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and we’d already had a few glasses of port, but we couldn’t get over the scenery. We were given a tour of the vineyard and one of the workers told us about the process of port wine-making. We were then handed three tastings each; a white, a ruby, and a tawny port. They were all amazing. We bought a bottle of the white port for only 10 euros, which is insane. It was so incredibly refreshing. We wanted to stay there forever because it was such a magical place.
On the ride home, almost everyone took a nap as our tour guide filled us in on a few more facts about the Douro Valley. We got back to Porto just in time for dinner. And yes, we enjoyed even more port wine with our dinner. 🙂 We went to the most incredible vegetarian restaurant, Espécie. I’ve honestly never had a dessert as delicious as the sticky toffee pudding. I’ve been inspired to try to recreate that dish at some point back home. SO. GOOD.
I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Porto. It’s the perfect getaway from the city and it’s so relaxing. Any age group could go on this tour. The port wine was as delicious as I’d hoped it would be and we learned so much about the history and process behind it. This might have even been one of my favorite bus tours I’ve been on so far in Europe. I didn’t get carsick and I didn’t feel like it was too rushed. Most of the day was spent looking at stunning views and drinking port wine, which is precisely what we were hoping for. 🙂 I’d say it’s a 9 out of 10 on the tour scale. It was lovely.
If you’re interested in booking this same tour, you can find it here. And make sure to check out my Viator shop to see all of our favorite tours around the world so far! And you can see more videos from our trip to Portugal on my YouTube channel!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read all about our adventure! Make sure to check out our blog post about our favorite Cute and Affordable Hotels in Porto and Lisbon, Portugal. Or you can read about our 3 Hour Food & Wine Tour in Porto here!
Have a lovely day!
❤ Myles Katherine
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