Lonely Planet Pocket Porto

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• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN:
  9781788681780
• Print ISBN:
  9781786572882

Aliados & Bolhão

This vibrant neighbourhood hides boutiques, old-school grocery stores, pavement cafes, and baroque churches dazzling with azulejos (hand-painted tiles) down its backstreets. This is where Porto comes to market-shop, eat and play, with the Galerias enticing partygoers to its speakeasy-style bars, slinky cocktail-sipping lounges and live-music venues after dark.

Rewind to an age of lace-gloved farewells at beautifully tiled São Bento Train Station, then continue your walk on beaux arts boulevard Avenida dos Aliados. Nearby Rua de Santa Catarina is made for strolling – begin at Capela das Almas and end at sumptuous (if touristy) Café Majestic. Further west, climb baroque Torre dos Clérigos for cracking city views, before popping across to neo-Gothic bookstore Livraria Lello. Revive over éclairs at Leitaria da Quinta do Paço, then check out twin baroque churches Igreja do Carmo and Igreja das Carmelitas.

Book a table for dinner at delightfully mellow Flor dos Congregados or gourmet Euskalduna Studio.

Town hall, Avenida dos Aliados | TRABANTOS / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Getting There & Around

m Stops include Trindade, Aliados and São Bento.

j Tram 18 links Jardim da Cordoaria to the Massarelos district. Line 22 makes a loop of the centre between Carmo and Batalha/Funicular dos Guindais.

g A number of bus lines converge at the southern end of Avenida dos Aliados and Cordoaria.

Walking TourAliados & Bolhão

Allow at least half a day for this walk from Porto’s monumental Avenida dos Aliados boulevard to the haunting sculptures of Spanish sculptor Juan Muñoz in Jardim da Cordoaria. En route you’ll take in the banter of one of the city’s best old-school grocery stores, exquisite baroque and Gothic churches, a tower with a view and the magical bookshop that continues to put the Harry Potter in Porto.

Walk Facts

Start Avenida dos Aliados

End Jardim da Cordoaria

Length 3km; 3½ hours

1Avenida dos Aliados

Paris has the Champs Élysées and Porto has the Avenida dos Aliados, a sta...

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Welcome to Porto
• Top Sights
• Eating
• Four Perfect Days
• Need to Know
• Porto Neighbourhoods
• Ribeira
• Aliados & Bolhão
• Miragaia
• Vila Nova de Gaia
• Massarelos
• Boavista
• Foz do Douro & Around
• Matosinhos
• Survival Guide
• Language
• Behind the Scenes
• Our Writers