Food Tours · Tour

Amarante's Sweets, a 640-Metre Viewpoint, and One Quinta

Ten hours from Porto, and the version of the Douro day that spends less time in cellars and more of it on the way there. One estate rather than two, and a town and a viewpoint in the space that frees up. The first stop is Amarante, on the Tâmega below the Serra do Marão, where the bridge São Gonçalo built in the thirteenth century still carries the road and the town's houses hang over the water. Amarante is known across Portugal for its convent sweets: papos de anjo, brisas do Tâmega, toucinho do céu, bolos de São Gonçalo, galhofas, all built on egg yolk and sugar because the convents used the whites for other things and had yolks to spare. Every café in town sells them. Then the São Leonardo de Galafura viewpoint, at 640 metres between Vila Real and Peso da Régua, where the whole width of the valley opens at once and the terraced slopes drop to the river. Lunch is a full traditional Portuguese meal at a local restaurant with Douro table wines. Afterwards the N222 along the south bank, repeatedly named the most beautiful road in the world, takes you into the heart of the region, and at Pinhão you board a rabelo, the flat-bottomed boat that once carried the barrels downriver, for a cruise between banks that hold nothing but vines and wine farms. The estate visit comes last: a guided walk through the vineyards with stops along the way, then a tasting of three wines. The operator names Croft and Taylor's or Calém and Burmester as the houses involved. Groups up to twenty-seven in a minibus, guided in Portuguese, English, French or Spanish. Lunch included, with vegetarian and gluten-free options if requested in advance. A free Porto walking tour is included from the day after. Estates and restaurants depend on third-party availability and the itinerary can change without notice; in bad weather the cruise may be replaced.