Porto food and wine tasting tour

Eat your way around Porto on this must-do 4-hour food tour, visiting the city’s top cafés and markets. Discover belt-busting Portuguese classics like the ‘Francesinha’ sandwich, and sample seductively sweet custard tarts in a Belle Époque eatery called Café Majestic. With an expert guide at your side, sample the city’s most famous export – Port – while hearing the history of the country’s much-loved gastronomy.

After meeting your guide near Gomes Teixeira Square in Porto, stroll around the city to learn about its gastronomic heritage. The best place to sample Portugal’s traditional cuisine is, of course, in Porto, and your guide will introduce you to all the locals’ favorite places.

Visit Café Progresso, the city’s oldest coffee bar, and hear how the coffee scene in Porto has changed since the early 19th century. Sample its much-loved brews, and then walk to Bolhão Market – a colorful open-air arcade that sells nearly every food under the sun. Breathe in the aroma of freshly baked bread, and browse stalls selling artistically arranged cheeses and glistening mounds of fruit.

Continue to Café Majestic, a beautiful Belle Époque café with elaborate décor, that’s frequented by Portuguese dignitaries and locals alike. Rumor has it that J K Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone here, so follow in her footsteps and sit down to eat a Portuguese custard tart amid sumptuous surroundings.

Inside the café, sample a classic Portuguese fishcake made of cod called bolinhos e punheta de bacalhau, and then walk to Restaurante Regaleira to try their award-winning Francesinha – an extravagant sandwich adapted from the French croque-monsieur. Consisting of ham, sausage and steak wedged between slices of bread, the impressive ‘snack’ is topped with melted cheese, drenched in a thick tomato and beer sauce, and then served with chips; it's the sandwich of all sandwiches!

Try chamuça – a spicy samosa-like pastry – and then sit down for a wine-tasting session to sip glasses of Port and taste regional olive oil. In between visits to cafés, stroll through some of Porto’s prettiest areas, like the charming Riberia neighborhood and Flores Street with its striking architecture.

After four hours of eating your way around Porto, your tour finishes at Vila Nova de Gaia in the center of town.