West of Porto (Cedofeita, Baovista, Massarelos)

Porto West is an area extending north and west of the city center. We have grouped together several neighborhoods, similar in their remarkable character, but their limited tourist interest for a first visit to Porto. After exploring the historic center and the city center, or if you stay a whole week in Porto and you are looking for authentic, elegant, deeper and intellectual, cultural Porto, this is where you should go.

Ceidofeita is a neighborhood that will attract art lovers, in an urban form. There are galleries, charming and more luxurious boutiques.
Continuing north, we reach Boavista, which is a rather business and action district for Portuenses. The vacationer will, however, find a perfect place to stay, close to everything and far enough to benefit from an unbeatable quality/price ratio for accommodation.
Massarelos and Arrábida take us back to the banks of the Douro, so pleasant and peaceful as we move away from the tumult of the historic center. We walk and stroll there, we visit at a less frantic pace because the points of interest are more spaced out. They are ventilated by the living spaces of the inhabitants of Porto.
Continuing towards the ocean, we pass by Ouro and Lordelo do Ouro. Nothing but pleasure: the banks of the river which widen as it becomes a small estuary, the salty atmosphere which is felt as you walk on a picturesque landscaped promenade and several gardens, sometimes intimate, sometimes grandiose. Are you staying a week in Porto and looking for a day of greenery or an afternoon to recharge your batteries? This is the place to come!

Page Summary

• The unmissable attractions of Porto West
• Walk around Porto West and discover the neighborhoods
• The Ceidofeita District
• The Boavista district
• The Massarelos and Arrábida neighborhoods
• Ouro and Lordelo do Ouro
• What we like best about Porto West
• Our advice for discovering this area of the city
• The unmissable visits of Porto West
• Casa da Musica
  
• The Romantic Museum (Museu Romântico)
• Tramway Museum (Museu do Carro Eléctrico)
• Museum of Porto – Reservation
• Botanical Garden and the Museum of Natural History and Science (Jardim Botânico do Porto | Museu de História Natural e da Ciência)
• Park and Garden of the Serralves Foundation
• House of Cinema Manoel de Oliveira
• The Porto Holocaust Museum (Museu do Holocausto do Porto)
• Activities, gardens and beautiful views of Porto West
• The Garden of the Crystal Palace (Jardim do Palácio de Cristal)
• Mercado Bom Sucesso
• The Douro quays in Porto West
• Climb the Arrabida Bridge
• Jardim do Cálem

The unmissable attractions of Porto West

1. Take a long walk (especially without being in a hurry) in the Gardens of the Crystal Palace (Jardim do Palácio de Cristal).

1. Go see a concert or just visit the Casa da Música, a strange diamond-shaped concrete ship
2. Return to your childhood at the Tramway Museum (Museu do Carro Eléctrico), ding ding!
3. Get your fill of thrills by climbing the Arrábida bridge, equipped with a harness
4. Explore the Park and Gardens of the Serralves Foundation, its green spaces, its aerial promenade and its museums

Walk around Porto West and discover its neighborhoods

The Ceidofeita District

This is the artistic district of Porto, where you will find art galleries, concept store style boutiques and a number of quality street art murals and drawings (not just wild graffiti). The place is also lively in the evening. If you like to party, you will be close to the city center and the historic center, while being quiet. This neighborhood has something quiet and romantic, it is less busy than its neighbors and you feel a form of tranquility there! Shopping aficionados will enjoy strolling through the Centro Comercial Bombarda.

Miguel Bombarda Street is where you will find art galleries, artistic exhibition centers and other stores that highlight graphic talents, classic but above all alternative. Artists, manufacturers, creators are concentrated in this area.

Travessa de Cedofeita has been renovated like other streets in the neighborhood. It is adorned with this floor made of limestone and basalt cubes, typical of Portugal. It is pleasant to walk there and in the evening, it is lively thanks to the tapas bars and other restaurants there.

Rua do Rosário is full of concept stores, charming and “cool” boutiques. Direct competitor of Miguel Bombarda Street, it also hosts co-working spaces, creative artistic centers for young people who have taken the neighborhood by storm in recent years.

Rua de Cedofeita is one of the largest commercial and pedestrian arteries in Porto (a little less than 900m) and its function as a thoroughfare dates back to the 6th century! Its floor is paved with stone mosaic designs. You will find all styles in the shops, to dress yourself, buy decorative products, from the useful to the futile, from the ugly to the beautiful... It is a street frequented mainly by Portuenses, which tends to become more and more more popular with tourists.

Rua de Cedofeita and the church of Cedofeita and its Romanesque architecture, which is familiar in France but astonishing in Porto

The Boavista district

A chic business district, Boavista does not particularly have any tourist attractions, however it is an ideal area for staying in Porto. Well served by public transport, it is quiet and slightly out of the way, and above all much cheaper to stay there. 10 minutes from the city center and the historic center by metro or bus, it is a place teeming with business-related activities.

If you are in the neighborhood (perhaps for a second or third visit to Porto?) go take a look at the Mercado Bom Sucesso, a completely renovated food court, which will however be a little more expensive than the food you found in town. You take a tray, you choose your dishes and you sit wherever you want, or you opt for takeaway food. There are local dishes and a choice of world products. To walk around the neighborhood, 2 green spaces are interesting: the Praça de Mouzinho de Albuquerque (also called the Jardim da Rotunda da Boavista), which is a park in the middle of a large roundabout (therefore not very quiet), with an imposing central monument dedicated to the heroes of the Peninsular War. All kinds of activities take place there during the year. Right next door is the Casa da Música, a performance hall installed in a building that surprises as much as it pleases or disturbs. In concrete, in the middle of a square where skaters love to come and do tricks, it is a popular place with an interesting and eclectic program. You can come by metro (eponymous) and park easily by car. Designed by architect Rem Koolhaas, the Casa da Música can also be discovered on a guided tour (available in English) and it's nice and original! Keep for rainy days! The second park in the neighborhood is the Jardim de Teófilo Braga: a few benches and trees, a cute place without being extraordinary, to take a break and relax during your visits!

The Boavista district and Casa da Musica

Central Monument of Mouzinho Square in Albuquerque

The Massarelos and Arrábida neighborhoods

We return towards the city and the Douro. Massarelos is a very nice neighborhood, which borders Miragaia and Vitoria, in the city center. The unmissable place in the neighborhood is the Crystal Palace Garden (Jardim do Palácio de Cristal), a very large green space with several styles of cascading gardens, and views of Porto that will leave you speechless. On one side, you admire the Ribeira and the Dom Luis bridge, on the other the Arrábida bridge and the Douro which flows towards the ocean, surrounded by palm trees for a memorable photo! Allow half a day to explore the gardens properly, if possible at the end of the day to enjoy the sunset. Pack a picnic or save your appetite for the neighborhood restaurants. Massarelos is less popular than the city center areas, but it is nevertheless a charming place. Within the garden is the Museum of Romanticism (Museu Romântico), a tastefully reconstructed bourgeois house, to discover for a low price. Continue towards the Douro, to walk on the quays, you will pass near the Cais das Pedras, a small astonishing viaduct, and on the bank passes the tram (which is also a means of transport to consider in this district) with nice little cafes. The Tramway Museum (Museu do Carro Eléctrico) is housed in the former train storage shed. There are information panels, 2 rooms with several vintage trams. It will please young and old children alike!

Continuing along Rua do Ouro which runs along the Douro, we reach the Arrábida district, which is around the bridge of the same name. On the Arrábida bridge, a fun experience: climbing it, with ropes and harness, like a giant treetop adventure! A fun (a little expensive) and unique guided climb! To book in advance and to avoid if you are afraid of heights of course. The slope makes this area very popular for its views. Climb to the stars at the Porto Planetarium, a science expo center. A little above, it is the Botanical Garden and the Museum of Natural History and Sciences (Jardim Botânico do Porto | Museu de História Natural e da Ciência) which are adjacent and (at the time of writing these lines) free. It is a University museum, with a particularly interesting room: the biodiversity gallery.

The Crystal Palace, stunning gardens to relax in, just minutes from the center of Porto

The Massarelos district and the Arrabidia Bridge

Ouro and Lordelo do Ouro

We continue west, getting closer to the ocean along the Douro. 2 neighborhoods are far from the center and yet deserve our attention. To the west of the Arrábida Bridge, you can walk on foot and make small detours to the heights to appreciate pretty viewpoints (for example the Miradouro de Santa Catarina) and the tranquility of these residential and authentic neighborhoods. Along Rua do Ouro, you follow the tram route and the banks of the river are full of small, inexpensive restaurants and sort of taverns in the summer. From Jardim do Cálem, a pleasant park on the banks of the Douro, there is a promenade which is also a cycle path, which will take you to Foz do Douro. At the end of the day, it's a treat. There is an observatory to contemplate birds, ducks, herons, seagulls, cormorants, sandpipers, spoonbills (Observatório das Aves)... benches and spaces to rest, it is a place that the inhabitants of Porto enjoy, alone or as a couple, we walk there all year round.

The banks of the Douro for a walk or a drink

Don't hesitate to gain a little height by going for a walk in these aerial neighborhoods which offer beautiful panoramas. Here the Mirador de Santa Catarina.

There is a lot of greenery in this peripheral area of Porto and at the entrance to Foz do Douro. The Parque Urbano da Pasteleira, a park with a play area for children, animals roaming free, a pond… To the west of the park, the Museu do Porto – Reservatório (free with the Porto Card) which will interest lovers of History and Archaeology, it is a museum built in an old water reservoir, the museography is atypical, unusual, with workshops and regular screenings. Just a little further north, another garden, much larger and dotted with original museum spaces: the Park and Garden of the Serralves Foundation (18ha of gardens, forest, lake). It’s an unusual place, a breath of fresh air in the city! This foundation aims to promote contemporary art and the promotion of Portuguese artists, through more than 4000 works exhibited in collections. The architecture of the buildings is careful and designed to fit into this beautiful natural environment. It is one of the prettiest places to walk around Porto, and art lovers will enjoy visiting the museums and activities (details below): The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves), the Treetop Walk Serralves (an aerial walk in the trees on a footbridge), the Casa de Serralves (its auditorium, library, documentation center, shop, bookstore and restaurant). To the east of the park, in a former garage of the Serralves House, is the House of Cinema Manoel de Oliveira, a Portuguese filmmaker. To the north of all these wonders is Avenue de Boavista and the loop is complete in this district of western Porto!

The gardens and Casa Serralves, the Treetop walk

What we like best about Porto West

These neighborhoods are just as welcoming as the city center, but less crowded. It's like looking at a new side of this vibrant, luminous city. Take a stroll on foot, by scooter or by tram, take the time to enjoy your stay. You will also find quality visits there with fewer queues than in the historic center. We feel less like a “foreigner” in this Porto which is not focused solely on tourism.

Explore these neighborhoods on foot or by scooter, taking your time!

Our advice for discovering this area of the city

Take your time! It's not a box to check to say "I saw that in Porto" :-) (apart from the Crystal Palace Garden, this one is still a must!). The metro is not the best means of transportation (except to Casa da Música). The tram is perfect along the Douro, the bus network for other localities. At Massarelos, you will have to walk, because it is all uphill. You can do a circuit starting from Cedofeita, then Massarelos and along the Douro, for a day it is completely doable on foot, you will then return by bus or you will end the evening in Foz do Douro!

The unmissable visits of Porto West

Casa da Musica

Performance and concert hall, cultural space, but not only that! The Casa da Música is truly one of the symbols of the new and forward-looking Porto. It's a mix of bunker-style concrete look, with a diamond or a spaceship falling from the sky! It is the work of a Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas, who designed it to be part of a system dating from the beginning of the millennium: Porto 2001-European Capital of Culture. You can take guided tours of the Casa da Música (alone or as a twin ticket, see the venue's website), which are interesting. There is a cafeteria in the building. At the end of the evening, the square and its street furniture are used by skateboarders to do tricks!

The Romantic Museum (Museu Romântico)

It's common in Porto to visit houses that immerse you in the past and the daily life of their former owners. Bourgeois residence from the 19th century, nearby, even IN the Garden of the Palace de Cristal, it is a small museum. The most interesting thing remains the quality restaurant attached to it, in a pleasant setting. This is not a place suitable for families and children (because it will bore them).

The entrance to the Museu Romântico and its restaurant

Tramway Museum (Museu do Carro Eléctrico)

This museum is located on the banks of the Douro, near tram line 1. It is installed in a former tram storage shed. You will see several cars there (but unfortunately you cannot get inside) and a little history of the tram and its gradual aesthetic evolution over time. The first trams ran in 1895 and it was the arrival of the automobile that relegated it to the status of a tourist attraction. You will also see trams, pulled by horses... (modern carriages!) The little extra: Come by tram, you will have a reduced fare!

Tramway Museum

Museum of Porto – Reservation

A great surprise. This small, recent museum offers an original and interesting presentation of its contents (difficult to explain) across time and place. It is free with the Porto Card. In an old water reservoir, it is already an atypical place, which will tell the story of the history and archeology of Porto, its different types of habitats. Take the opportunity to stroll in the garden surrounding the museum, the Pasteleira Municipal Park (Parque Urbano da Pasteleira)

Botanical Garden and the Museum of Natural History and Science (Jardim Botânico do Porto | Museu de História Natural e da Ciência)

Ideal for a family outing, the Natural History and Science Museum is run by the University of Porto. It is located in a 4-hectare Botanical Garden and presents collections of objects and naturalized specimens, grouped together in a biodiversity gallery. Exhibition of scientific tools and equipment, small rooms easy to navigate and understand for everyone... It should also be noted that the architecture of the building is remarkable. The Garden, for its part, dates back to its first sketches in the 19th century, is pleasant for walking, you will come across multiple species of duly identified European plants as well as exotic species.

Park and Garden of the Serralves Foundation

This is one of the most interesting places in Porto, outside the listed city center. Whether you are a contemporary art lover, fond of green spaces with beautiful perspectives or curious about original experiences, you will have a great time in this gigantic natural space. Several gardens are organized over 18 hectares which were designed in the 1930s by Jacques Gréber, a French architect. Rose garden, camellia gardens, romantic lake, area dedicated to aromatic herbs. The villa from the 1930s, the Palace of Serralves (Casa Serralves) is a charming belle époque architecture furnished art deco with great taste, and perfectly highlighted by a series of ponds and plants. Since 1986, it has been a state-owned house, which houses a Foundation working for the influence and promotion of contemporary art.

Inside the park, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Serralves (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves) offers the opportunity to discover several Portuguese artists of modern art, organized into collections which are regularly updated. You will be provided with a small booklet, but do not hesitate to ask for additional explanations about the works. If the park is free to walk around, the museum is however paying and at a certain price.

Still in the park, an experience as aesthetic as it is sensory, the Treetop Walk Serralves, a walkway perched in the trees with wooden balustrades, for walking in the air. Do it on a sunny day to enjoy the beauty of the shadows of the leaves shimmering on the gardens.

Porto Contemporary Art Museum and Serralves Foundation Gardens

House of Cinema Manoel de Oliveira

To the east of the gardens, another small museum space, the Maison du Cinéma dedicated to a contemporary Portuguese filmmaker and director, Manoel de Oliveira (1908, 2015). There are specific days for organized screening sessions, an auditorium and photos. Unless you are passionate about Portuguese cinema, this is not a museum particularly suitable for vacationers.

The Porto Holocaust Museum (Museu do Holocausto do Porto)

A touching and moving museum, retracing the period of the rise of Nazism in Europe and Portugal. Documentation, numerous originals, photos, testimonies, symbolic objects. It is a free museum and it should be noted that the entrance is very filtered and particularly secure (you will have to leave a very large number of personal objects like at the gates at the airport) to avoid acts of vandalism.

Activities, gardens and beautiful views of Porto West

The Garden of the Crystal Palace (Jardim do Palácio de Cristal)

This is one of the prettiest sets of gardens in Porto! In addition to the beauty of its plant organization and the diversity of species present, it also offers sumptuous views of Porto. On one side you will enjoy looking towards the Dom Luis Bridge and Vila Gaia de Nova, on the other, the river flows towards the ocean. From the west end of the gardens, its aerial position offers you exquisite sunsets (from Parque da Quinta da Macieirinha). Allow at least half a day to visit this park. Children will be delighted because there are animals roaming free (ducks, peacocks, chickens) and games, various wooden structures. Picnic tables, grassy areas, everything is there for comfort and pleasure. Several thematic areas are offered and depending on the season, they will have more or less interest: The forest, a rose garden, an aromatic plant garden, a garden of feelings, artificial caves, bridges, and also a restaurant. All terraces, it offers very beautiful perspectives, decorated with palm trees and cedars. These gardens of the Crystal Palace date from the 19th century, designed by German landscaper Emile David. They are so named because of an ancient richly glazed palace, which stood where the Super Bock Arena - Pavilhão Rosa Mota is today, a pavilion which hosts concerts. Note that it is possible to climb to the top of the Dome (Porto 360), a nice experience at sunset (with a guide), which offers you a slightly higher viewpoint than in the gardens…

The Crystal Palace Gardens, perfect for resting, relaxing and enjoying beautiful views

Mercado Bom Sucesso

Located in Boavista, Mercado Bom Sucesso is a recently renovated gourmet hall and market. In the heart of this business and shopping district, it is a stop that is not worth the detour, but is worth stopping if you are in the neighborhood. Note that the prices are curiously a little higher than in other places to eat. It's a chic and elegant place to find simple but refined dishes, from different origins. There are also fresh and raw products.

Make your choice in this gourmet hall

The Douro quays in Porto West

The Douro docks are safe getaways for quality walks. This portion which goes from Miragaia to the entrance to Foz do Douro contrasts with the hustle and bustle of the hyper-center and it feels good! Take an electric scooter (be careful to return it before Foz do Douro to an available drop-off point), or simply walk to enjoy this delicious atmosphere of vacation and freedom. Small cafes are located near the tram museum or the metal viaduct.

The Douro quays, away from the city center, are much quieter

Climb the Arrabida Bridge

Built in the 1960s, it was a feat of bridge and road engineering, since it was at the time the largest concrete arch in the world. It is almost 500m long. You pass under it when you walk along the Douro, which it spans. The little surprise is that from the banks, you can climb a staircase to reach a place where you can buy tickets for a sensational attraction! Porto Bridge Climb is a guided climb, with a professional and properly equipped with a harness and a lifeline. Everyone can do it, from 12 years old. It is not necessary to have any particular physical condition, you just need to climb stairs (262 steps). Beware of those who really suffer from vertigo (even if the experience is very safe, you still climb to a height of 65m)! It is the only bridge in Europe that can be visited in this way.

Jardim do Cálem

A garden in a nice setting on the banks of the Douro, with games for children. Nearby is the bird observatory, an ideal place to admire seagulls, sandpipers and other cormorants fishing and sunbathing. A cycle path starts from this area and joins Foz do Douro.