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One of the great things about Porto, and Portugal in general, is how incredibly friendly the locals are. Wherever we went on our trip, we always asked where their favorite places to eat were. In the end we had a list of four places that kept coming up, so we decided to make our own food tour out of the list, spending a day walking around the city to see different sites in between trying the delicious food. We took about eight hours total to hit all of this, but feel free to take your time!
Start your morning at Leitaria Quinta Do Paco with some Portuguese-style eclairs for breakfast. Unlike the eclairs that you're probably familiar with, the filling in these is whipped-cream like. We got a couple different flavors of the mini size to share since we knew we were going to be eating a lot during the day (lemon and berry were our favorites!).
Make your way over to Mosteiro Serra do Pilar to get a view of the whole city and D. Luis I bridge. We took an Uber from our first stop which was only about 5 euros and a 15 minute drive.
After taking in the view, walk across the bridge to the Porto Cathedral. Entrance is only 5 euros per person to explore on your own. Take a climb to the top of the bell tower to get a 360 view of the city (and work off some of those eclairs).
Gazela's claim to fame is their cachorrino, an Anthony Bourdain favorite that is Porto's take on a hot dog. We also tried the francesinha here, a Porto sandwich that is layers of different meats (varies by restaurant) covered in melted cheese and a beer sauce. Wash everything down with Super Bock, one of the two most popular beers in Portugal. It was a lot of food so we shared everything here, and we ended up here around lunchtime so it was pretty packed with locals grabbing lunch, but we were seated right away.
We then made our way to Casa Guedes for their pork and sheep's cheese sandwich. We each paired our sandwiches with a Porto Tonico, a cocktail that is rising in popularity around Portugal. The ones here were based off of White Port, but there are Red Port ones too. This was probably my favorite stop all day so I would highly recommend making this stop.
Take a break from all the food and walk over to the picturesque Capela das Almas. We took pictures outside and went inside for a quick look around, but decided to keep moving.
Don't skip the Pastelaria e Confeitara Moura experience. While pasteis de Belem/de nata is the famous pastry of Lisbon, Jesuitas are the local favorite of Porto. The best way to describe them would be layers of flaky cinnamon-y pastry stacked together. There are many places you can get them in town, but these are many local's favorites.
Finish the tour by walking to the Sao Bento Train Station. Yes, it is an actual train station, but the tile murals inside are some of the most beautiful you'll see, displaying the history of Portugal. This last stop will also put you right downtown so you can easily get to your next activity fairly easily (ours was a nap after all that food).
Aisle-seater, slight overpacker, backseat DJ. I’ve been to 42/50 US states and have been a local in 3. My list of places I want to go is endless and I consider being well traveled one of the biggest accomplishments in my life. I work in brand marketing and am currently based in Upstate NY. You can find more of my travels on my blog, Studio SLB.
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