Food Tours · Tour

The Azulejos at Pinhão Station, and Wine on the Boat

Out of Porto at 7:45 from the front of the Palácio da Bolsa, back at the same place around six. The times are published rather than approximate, which on a nine-hour day is worth something. The first stop is Amarante, half an hour of free time on the Tâmega for a walk, a coffee by the river or photographs of the São Gonçalo bridge, before the road turns towards the wine country. You pass through Peso da Régua, the trading town of the region, and visit the first winery there for a guided tour of how Douro wine is made and a tasting of both port and DOC Douro. At Pinhão the stop is the railway station, and it deserves its own paragraph. The platform walls carry azulejo panels installed in 1937 that show the whole working year of the valley: the terraces, the harvest, the treading, the barrels going downriver. It is the clearest single explanation of the region anywhere, and it is on a working platform where trains still stop. The cruise leaves from Pinhão and runs fifty minutes, and unlike most, wine and snacks are served on board. Then the route loops on a circular road through the high ground, with a viewpoint above São Cristóvão, before lunch at a restaurant near Sabrosa with regional cooking and local wine, and the second winery visit and tasting after it. The drive back takes about an hour and a half. Nineteen guests maximum in an air-conditioned Mercedes, guided in English, with the N222 covered along the way. Every activity is under cover, so the day runs in any weather, but the valley is very hot in summer and cold in winter: dress for the month and bring water. Vegetarian meals, dietary preferences and allergies can be handled with advance notice. Not recommended for children, and car seats are legally required if you bring them, so declare them first. Hotel pick-up is not included.