Second To None: Why Porto Is My Number One For A City Break In Portugal

Second cities can be more welcoming and fun than capitals, perhaps nowhere more so than Porto, with its less manicured charm

If you walk along the south banks of the Douro River in Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite Porto city, towards the sea, the scene will be classic Portugal for a while: a lot of waterside restaurants, a lot of grilled chicken, some stalls selling unlikely items made of cork (aprons?). A little further back are the showcase port houses: Sandeman, Fonseca, Taylor’s – we’ll come back to those.

Keep on walking westwards along the river, away from the pretty Dom Luís I Bridge and towards the sea, and you reach Afurada, a fishing village. It’s famous for people grilling fish in the street and because it’s apparently not possible to eat badly there, the fish being so fresh and all the restaurants so close together, they’re in a race to the top. Or do we just call that a race? A Margem restaurant has a funny, boxy front like an Amazon drop-point and serves incredible polvo à lagareiro (octopus, olive oil, potatoes and garlic).