8 Day The Other Side Of The Douro Walking and Hiking Tour in Douro Valley, Portugal
Hiking Tour Portugal
Douro is famous for producing cherries, apples, elderberries, figs, and other fruits so you’ll encounter orchards as far as the eye can see around Armamar. Depending on the time of year, the fruit trees may be in blossom or in fruit, adding extra color and flavor. The route takes you to many typical villages. Some, such as Salzedas and Barcos, stand out for their historical monuments including a Romanesque church and a Cistercian monastery. Others are unassuming places where you will see how local people manage their vegetable plots, vineyards, and fruit trees. Hang out in a café and watch life unfold around you. Better still, you can make some new friends!
Highlights
- Detailed route notes (in English)
- App with trail information for use on a smartphone
- Tour and tasting session at Quinta do Tedo winery
- Port wine tasting at Quinta das Carvalhas
- Private transfer from Porto Airport to Porto Hotel
- Private transfers between accommodation
- Daily breakfast and 5 packed lunches
- 7 nights of accommodation
Accommodation
Manor houses, village cottages, farmhouses and charm hotels
You will stay in a combination of restored manor houses, village cottages, farmhouses, and charm hotels.
All rooms have their own bathrooms. They chose these accommodations for their hospitality, comfort, and location.
You use some accommodations for multiple nights in order to reduce the need for luggage transfers. When these are necessary, they use local taxi drivers to reduce carbon emissions and support the local economy. Encouraging public transport from Porto is another way of doing their bit for the environment.
To ensure that money stays within the small local communities where you spend time, you will stay in a combination of small, unique hotels and family-run rural lodgings. These accommodations offer an insight into local history and culture. Some of these accommodations produce their own wine, olive oil, and fruit, from which they make and serve home-made jams that can also be purchased as gifts/souvenirs.
Program
About the program
This is a 1-week self-guided walking holiday through the unexplored, rural side of the Douro wine region with orchards, vineyards, and typical villages to explore.
Most of the walking days involve passing through small hillside villages, where you are welcome to stop at local cafés, bakeries, and grocery or craft stores to get a sense of local life and interact with the residents.
This trail is in the heart of the renowned Douro wine region, so in addition to observing the manual labour that goes into tending the endless grape vines, there are plenty of opportunities to visit local wine producers to taste and buy their wines and learn about the unique family histories of these quintas (wine estates).
Portugal Green Walks provides an app for clients to use during their tours to reduce the need for printing information. It is a simple and straightforward navigation tool that will give you all the directional information you need and peace of mind that you are on the right track. It also contains information about points of interest along the route and the location of useful services such as cafés and grocery stores.
Overview
After making your way from Porto to the riverside town of Peso da Régua, you’ll spend most of the week in the area south of the Douro River, in places where few tourists venture. The wine production here is mostly smaller producers, which means a greater variety of vineyard patterns and a very local feel to the experience.
You will also experience the UNESCO World Heritage landscapes of the Alto Douro wine region, which spreads out from both banks of the Douro River, from multiple vantage points that give you a sense of its magnitude.
Pre-tour briefing
You can choose whether to meet with a member of the Portugal Green Walks team online, before you depart, or in person on the day before you start walking to give you a full briefing and personally hand-deliver your Welcome Pack.
This pack contains all the materials you’ll need as a walker: a roadbook with route descriptions and tips plus a few other goodies for the trail! If you opt for the online briefing, your Welcome Pack will be waiting for you to collect when you check into your first hotel.
During the briefing, a member of the staff will be delighted to answer any questions that you have before starting your holiday.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrival in Porto
A private driver will meet you at Porto International Airport and take you to your hotel in Porto. A member of the team will meet you at your city center hotel in Porto to welcome you and provide a full briefing for your self-guided walking holiday in the Douro wine region, as well as the necessary documents. If you would like Portugal Green Walks to include a cultural or food tour of the city today just let them know (additional costs apply).
- Accommodation: 4-star hotel in Porto city center
Day 2: Scenic train or river cruise to the heart of the Douro Valley
Today you travel to the heart of the Douro Valley and you can choose between taking the train (approx. 2.5 hours) or spending most of the day on a river cruise all the way from Porto. If traveling by train, Portugal Green Walks will pick you up at your hotel and take you to the station. Enjoy the river views all the way to the town of Peso da Régua.
Should you decide to travel by boat, as well as the views, you’ll have the experience of going through two locks that are a feat of engineering which has transformed the Douro River and enabled boats to travel safely between Porto and the wine region.
On Peso da Régua there is a wide array of bars and restaurants and nearby wineries that you can arrange to visit if you have time, as well as the Douro Museum (optional, paid locally).
Settle into your boutique hotel and rest well for the week ahead or stretch your legs on a riverside stroll.
- Accommodation: Boutique hotel | Meals: Breakfast
Day 3: Walk from Peso da Régua to Aldeia de Baixo | 15.9 km (9.9 miles) | +706m -226m
Once you leave the bustle of Peso da Régua and the traffic behind, you’ll enter into a landscape filled with birdsong and vineyards. You’ll pass through several villages where tourists seldom venture and life goes on as normal and you can stop at a local café to interact with local people.
As well as offering remarkable views, the landscape is an interesting mix of rugged, untouched hillsides and those that have been cultivated for growing grapes, olive trees, cherry, and apple trees. In early spring, the fruit tree blossoms add color and joy to the landscape while the spring flowers that follow are an endless source of delight, as are the fruits once they are ripe for picking.
- Accommodation: Country house | Meals: Breakfast and packed lunch
Day 4: Walk from Salzedas to Aldeia de Baixo | 14.6 km (9.1 miles) | +348m -322m
A short, scenic drive takes you to a magnificent Cistercian monastery in the village of Salzedas which dates back to the 12th century. Take the opportunity to look around the church and village before starting your walk. You’ll spend the day walking between apple and cherry orchards, olive groves, and small vineyards, punctuated by villages.
Depending on the time of year, you might enjoy an abundance of fruit blossoms, a myriad of wildflowers, ripening fruit or a harvest in progress. As well as the endless orchards, there are mountains in the near and far distance, including the undulating hillsides of the Alto Douro wine region and the majestic Alvão Natural Park.
- Accommodation: Country house | Meals: Breakfast and packed lunch
Day 5: Walk from Armamar to Quinta do Tedo | 14.2 km (8.8 miles) | +356m -814m
After a short taxi ride to the nearby small town of Armamar, you will start your day with fabulous views but the best is yet to come! The first part of the day takes you through typically rural landscapes with plenty of olive and fruit trees as well as small vineyards.
The journey to the village of Vacalar offers marvelous views - a taste of what’s to come later. As you progress through gorgeous vineyards, the expanse of the UNESCO World Heritage Landscape of the Douro Valley, with its endless terraced slopes and the mighty Douro River, comes into view.
End the day’s walk with a wine-tasting session at Quinta do Tedo before transferring to the small town of Tabuaço.
- Accommodation: Boutique guest house | Meals: Breakfast and packed lunch
Day 6: Tabuaço circular walk via Adorigo | 16.5km (10.2 miles) | +417m -431m
Today’s walk offers a variety of scenery, from the boulder-strewn hills that overlook Tabuaço to the Douro Valley and its undulating slopes, as well as flatter areas at around 500 meters altitude. You will pass through the center of one of the Douro’s 6 official wine-producing villages, namely Barcos. Around and beyond Barcos, you’ll see lots of vegetable plots and flat vineyards that belong to smaller producers than the vast estates nearer the Douro River.
The route is tranquil and allows plenty of opportunities to enjoy a peaceful time in the countryside surrounded by birdsong and the various scents of flowers and trees. At the halfway point, you will have fabulous views of the Douro River and the UNESCO landscape as you make your way to the village of Adorigo and back to Tabuaço. You also have the option of visiting a family-owned winery that’s over 100 years old (at additional cost).
- Accommodation: Boutique guest house | Meals: Breakfast and packed lunch
Day 7: Walk from Valença do Douro to Pinhão | 15.4 km (9.5 miles) | +325m -635m
Today’s walk starts in the village of Valença do Douro, which overlooks the hilltop building of the Quinta das Carvalhas estate. You’ll walk through the heart of the village and then out into the vineyards and countryside.
This is the landscape of small producers and the patterns of the grape rows are interesting and varied on the way to the next village.
Head uphill through a wine estate and be prepared for some extra special views as you wend your way down the hill to Pinhão. Zig-zag your way downhill through the grape vines to reach the tasting rooms of Real Companhia Velha where a port wine tasting awaits you.
- Accommodation: 3-star hotel | Meals: Breakfast and packed lunch
Day 8: Walk from Vilarinho de Cotas to Pinhão | 8.9 km (5.5 miles) | +131m -484m
Return to Porto
Experience the views from the north side of the Douro River today on this mostly downhill walk. You’ll start in a small village high in the hills and views of the Pinhão Valley. As you start your descent, you’ll have views of the Douro Valley to your left.
As you round the hillside towards Casal de Loivos, your views of the Douro Valley arrive and will accompany you all the way down to the river through the vineyards of Quinta da Roeda and Quinta do Bomfim back to Pinhão. Catch the afternoon train back to the captivating city of Porto.
- Meals: Breakfast
Location
Douro Region
This tour will take place in the Douro Valley region.
You will hike to the following locations:
- Porto, Porto District, Grande Porto, North Region (Arrival)
- Douro, Iberian Peninsula
- Peso da Régua, Peso da Régua, North Region
- Aldeia de Baixo
- Salzedas, Tarouca, Viseu District, Douro, North Region
- Armamar, Viseu District, Douro, North Region
- Quinta do Tedo
- Tabuaço, Viseu District, Douro, North Region
- Adorigo, Municipality of Tabuaço, Viseu District, Douro, North Region
- Valença do Douro, Municipality of Tabuaço, Viseu District, Douro, North Region
- Town of Pinhão
- Vilarinho de Cotas, Municipality of Alijó, Vila Real District, Douro, North Region
Highlights:
- Stunning views
- UNESCO World Heritage wine region
- Rural life
- Typical villages
- Historical monuments
- Fruit trees
- Wide range of vineyards
- Small wine producers
- Wine and port tasting
The self-guided hike follows rural backroads and paths through a fascinating landscape with undulating countryside, vineyards, valleys and villages, offering you the chance to enjoy the local flora and fauna with negligible environmental impact.
Food
Breakfasts
All breakfasts are included with your accommodation. Portugal Green Walks also include packed lunches for days when it’s not possible to buy lunch en route.
The daily lunch pack contains fresh, local produce, and they encourage you to dine at hospitable local restaurants to sample traditional regional dishes, engage with the owners, chefs or servers, and, of course, taste Douro wines and port.
Other dietary requirements
Let them know if you have any dietary restrictions and they can ask the hotels to accommodate for those as well!
Water
Since tap water quality in Portugal is excellent, they recommend that participants bring a refillable bottle to use during this walking holiday.
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Regular (typically includes meat and fish)
- Other dietary requirements on request
Things to do (optional)
- River cruise from Porto to Peso da Régua, with lunch included: 110 EUR per person.
- River cruise from Peso da Régua to Porto, with lunch included: 140 EUR per person.
- Visit a winery and wine tasting in Pinhão: 35 EUR per person.
- Extra nights in Pinhão (3-star hotel): On request.
- Extra nights in Porto (4-star hotel): On request.
- Transfer from Porto to Peso da Régua: 230 EUR for up to 3 people; 310 EUR for 4 to 7 people.
- Transfer from Pinhão to Porto: 255 EUR for up to 3 people; 350 EUR for 4 to 7 people.
What's included
- Detailed route notes (in English)
- App with trail information for use on a smartphone
- Tour and tasting session at Quinta do Tedo winery (day 5)
- Port wine tasting at Quinta das Carvalhas (day 7)
- In-person welcome briefing
- 24-hour emergency contact number (English-speaking)
- Luggage transfer between accommodations (days 3, 5, and 7)
- Private transfer from Porto Airport to Porto Hotel (day 1)
- Private transfers between accommodation and the start or end of daily walks, where relevant
- 5 packed lunches (day 3 to day 7)
- 7 nights of accommodation with breakfast
What's not included
- Transfer from Porto hotel to Porto train station
- Train tickets
- Lunches and dinners (except for the packed lunch between day 3 and day 7)
- Insurance
- Gratuities
- Personal expenses
- All items not mentioned in the “Included” section
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Francisco de Sá Carneiro Airport
74 km
Transfer included
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 25% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through Tripaneer.com. All major credit cards supported.