Because it is Portugal's most characterful city — a steep, granite place of tiled facades and red roofs tumbling to the Douro, where the river meets the Atlantic. Porto gave the world port wine and offers superb, affordable food, azulejo-tiled churches, the Gaia wine lodges across the river, and the Douro valley vineyards upstream, all with a gruff, authentic charm rarely found in a city this rewarding.

How many days do you need in Porto?

Two to three days take in the old city — the Ribeira, Clérigos, São Bento, the bookshops and markets — with time for a port-lodge tour across the river in Gaia and a long lunch or two. A fourth day allows a trip up the Douro valley to the vineyards, by car, train or river cruise, which is the region's unmissable excursion and well worth the extra time.

Is Porto or Lisbon better to visit?

They suit different moods, and many visitors do both. Lisbon is the larger, grander, sunnier capital, with more sights and a livelier scene; Porto is smaller, steeper, moodier and more compact, easier to cover on foot and arguably more characterful, with the Douro wine country on its doorstep. For a short first trip Porto is more manageable; for a capital city break, Lisbon.

What is the Douro valley, and can you visit from Porto?

The Douro valley is the terraced wine region upstream of Porto where port and Douro wines are grown, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and one of Europe's most beautiful river valleys. It is very much visitable from the city — as a day trip or overnight by car, by train along the river, or by boat cruise — and is the classic excursion from Porto, especially in the autumn harvest.

Boutique Hotels in Porto, Portugal

The city, both banks

Porto is best understood as two banks and the river between them. The north bank holds the old city: the riverside Ribeira, a UNESCO-listed warren of lanes dropping to the quay; the soaring Clérigos tower; the São Bento station with its tiled hall; the Lello bookshop and the cafés of the Baixa; and the Bolhão market and shopping streets above. Most of Porto's sights, and most of its life, are here, on the slopes climbing from the water.

Across the Douro, reached by the double-decked Dom Luís I bridge, lies Vila Nova de Gaia, where the port-wine lodges have aged their wine for centuries and now open their cellars for tours and tastings, with the WOW cultural quarter above and the best views back at Porto's stacked facades. Downstream, the river runs to the sea at Foz, with its promenade and beaches; upstream lies the Douro valley, the terraced wine country that is the city's great day trip and one of the loveliest river landscapes in Europe.

Eating, drinking and where to stay

Porto eats and drinks exceptionally well, and cheaply. The local plate is hearty — the francesinha, a formidable layered sandwich; tripe, the dish that gave Porto people their nickname; fresh fish and seafood; and the bifana pork sandwich — washed down with vinho verde from the surrounding Minho and, of course, port from across the river. The café tradition is strong, the natural-wine and small-plate scene is growing, and the Douro and vinho verde regions on the doorstep make the wine list a pleasure everywhere.

For where to stay, the club has three properties in the city, each with a different character. In Porto's gallery district, high above the river by the Palácio de Cristal, Torel Avantgarde is an art hotel of sixty rooms named for avant-garde icons, with an infinity pool over the Douro. Down in the downtown core, the Torel 1884 fills an 1884 former-bank palace with twelve rooms and apartments, its old vault now a wine cellar. And across the water in Gaia, The Rebello turns a run of nineteenth-century riverside warehouses into an apartment-style design hotel with a Roman-bath spa, facing the old city across the river.

When to go

Porto's Atlantic position makes it greener, cooler and wetter than the south of Portugal, and that shapes the year. Late spring and early autumn — May, June, September — are the sweet spot: warm, mostly dry days, long light on the river, and the crowds lighter than midsummer. High summer is warm and busy but rarely uncomfortable, cooled by the ocean, and peaks with the São João festival on the night of 23 June, when the whole city takes to the streets — one of Europe's great street parties. Autumn brings the Douro grape harvest, a wonderful time to head upriver. Winter is mild but properly wet, grey and quiet, with the lowest prices; bring a coat and expect rain, but also an emptier, atmospheric city.