There are plenty of day excursions from Porto to Dorou Valley sold in different travel agencies or on internet. We have not chosen this easy way but it turned out to be quite fun and more freedom.
In fact, we have decided quite late to go to Dorou Valley. After talking to different people and travel agents, we decided to go by ourself.
Our Itinerary:
8:30 – 10:15 Porto to Regua by train, enjoy the Dorou Valley’s picturesque landscapes
Lunch in Regua
Dorou Museum of Wine or small train to go to vineyard for wine tasting and photo taking
14:45- 17:00 River cruise from Regua to Pinhao, pass the most beautiful part of the valley, unobstructed view on both sides of the valley from the boat.
Pinhao – Take a taxi to go up to top of hills. Look at the vinyard and the valley from different heights.
18:14: Train back to Porto
20:50 Porto
This itinerary used three types of transportations: train, boat and car. We bought train tickets from the train station (64€ for 3 persons) The cruise was booked through an agence in Porto (39€ Per person), we could have got it in Regua for 30€. Well, many people said the seats are almost sold out so we wanted to securing our places. Another point is to save time for looking around in Regua. Afterall, it is possible to get cruise tickets in Regua. Besides, there are one hour cruises selling for 12€ ( from and back to Regua). It is good to take a cruise to see the valley but whole day on a river cruise in Dorou may be a bit monotonous. One or two hours is enough.
For taxi, there are taxi stationed next to the train station. Half an hour taxi in Pinhao is about 15€.
Lunch suggestions in Regua:
Casa da Sao Domingo Reservation is highly recommended for July and August.
If you are going by foot, turn left after going out of the train station in the direction of the River. Turn left again when you see the yellow WC and cross the railroad there and go up. Google indication will make you walk 10 minutes more and got lost.
Manel da Aninhag
Locomotiva
Go across the river to a quinta if you haveyour vehicle..
If you don’t want to work on the details or got no time, just book an all-inclusive tour ( transportation, guide, lunch) or count on a private guide to organise for you. In this case, you may consider to come back from Pinhao to Porto by private transportation. For information, the train or car is much faster than the boat.
Celia So Paris, August 2023
Celia SO Paris English and Cantonese private guide – Explore the city of Light with Celia SO 