Portugal's Food, Wine and Old Towns

Getting around

• Day 1: Porto airport to your hotel by private vehicle, then an afternoon on foot and a short drive west to Foz.
• Day 2: A full day in Porto on foot, no hotel change.
• Day 3: Porto to Braga, about 40 minutes, then about 20 minutes to Guimarães and about 40 minutes back to Porto.
• Day 4: Porto to Amarante, about 40 minutes, then east into the Douro, and about 1 hour 15 minutes back to Porto from Peso da Régua.
• Day 5: Porto to Coimbra, about 1 hour 15 minutes, then Coimbra to Lisbon, about 2 hours.
• Day 6: A full day in Lisbon on foot and by private vehicle, no hotel change.
• Day 7: Lisbon to Sintra, about 30 minutes, then the coast road to Estoril, Cabo da Roca and Azenhas do Mar and back to Lisbon.
• Day 8: Lisbon to Óbidos, about 1 hour each way, back in Lisbon by early evening.
• Day 9: Hotel to Lisbon airport by private vehicle, at an hour to suit your flight.
• Your licensed driver-guide drives every day. On the Lisbon and Sintra days with Luisa, a licensed driver joins her.

What does a 9-day food and wine tour of Portugal include?

A 9-day food and wine tour of Portugal covers Porto, the Douro Valley and Lisbon, with the north’s kitchen at the start and the Atlantic coast at the end. This route gives Porto four nights, with a market morning, a cooking class on request, Braga and Guimarães, and a full day in the Douro. Coimbra fills the drive south. Lisbon then gets four nights, with Belém and its custard tarts, Sintra’s palaces and pastry shops, and a day in Óbidos with a bread-baking morning at a windmill. Every winery visit, tasting and cooking class on the route is an option you choose, and the guided walks and site visits form the frame of each day.

Is one day in the Douro Valley enough for wine lovers?

One day in the Douro is enough for travelers who see wine as one thread of the trip among several. It covers a family quinta with a tasting, a lunch above the river, the tiled station at Pinhão and the river town of Amarante, and you sleep back in Porto. American travelers who plan a trip around wine do better with two Douro days or a night at a quinta among the vineyards. On request, our team adds a second Douro day with a winery lunch, or a night at a quinta. Our report on the wine and food of northern Portugal describes the region in more detail.

Is a cooking class in Porto part of this private food tour?

Yes. On this route a hands-on cooking class with a local chef is an option on day two in Porto, after a guided morning at Bolhão market and São Bento station. The menu follows the season and your tastes, often caldo verde, bacalhau à Gomes de Sá or tripas à moda do Porto, and you sit down to the meal you cooked with wines from the north. The class runs for your own party only, so children, a vegetarian or a guest who prefers to watch fit in without fuss.

Nine days, or a longer wine route?

Choose this 9-day route if cooking, crafts and history matter as much to you as wine. It puts a cooking class and an azulejo workshop in Porto, adds the Iron Age hillfort of Citânia de Briteiros, Amarante and Pinhão, and Estoril on the Sintra day, and closes with a bread morning at a windmill and the walled town of Óbidos. It spends one day in the Douro.

If wine comes first, our team reshapes this route on request, with a second Douro day and a private winery lunch, and a day in the Alentejo among cork oaks, olive groves and vineyards, with Roman Évora, in place of Óbidos and the bread morning in the west.

With one week, the 7-day Portugal private tour starts in Lisbon, adds Évora and Aveiro, and keeps a Douro day from Porto. If Rioja and the Basque table appeal as much as port, the 10-day Northern Spain food and wine tour runs from Madrid through San Sebastián, Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Every Portugal route sits on our Portugal destination page, and our Portugal food and wine page gathers the regions and dishes.

Who this journey suits

Couples who cook at home and want to bring a few Portuguese dishes back with them.

Families with teenage or adult children, since the cooking class, the tile workshop and the bread morning give everyone a part to play.

First-time visitors to Portugal who want Porto and Lisbon both, with only two hotels in nine days.

History lovers who want the Roman and medieval north of Braga, Guimarães and Coimbra alongside the food.

Friends traveling together as a private party, where one wants the quinta, another the palaces, and the guide keeps the whole day on one plan.

The people behind the route

Luisa, one of our licensed guides in Lisbon and Sintra, leads the Lisbon and Sintra days where your dates allow. She works alongside a licensed driver, so the walks start where the car drops you, from the castle hill down through Chiado and from Pena down to the old town of Sintra. She times Belém around the hours of the monastery and knows which pastry shop suits a morning stop and which an afternoon one. In the north, a licensed driver-guide holds both licenses, drives the car and leads the visits from Porto to the Douro and on to Lisbon.

What the 9-day journey costs and what it includes

This 9-day journey starts from $11,249 per person, double occupancy. The from-price covers eight nights in deluxe four-star properties selected for comfort, location and service. Five-star luxury properties are available by request. It also covers licensed guides and driver-guides on the touring days, private vehicles for every transfer and excursion, and the planning and in-country support of our team.

What moves the price: travel dates and season, hotel category, the size of your party, single rooms, and the options you add, such as the cooking class and azulejo workshop in Porto, a quinta tasting and lunch in the Douro, a fado evening in Lisbon, the bread morning in the west or a night at a quinta. Our team prices each journey to your dates and party. Magical Private Travel maintains excellent ratings on Trustpilot and Google’s independent review platforms.

When the route looks close to the trip you have in mind, speak with our team about your dates, your party and the table you want to sit down to.

Questions about the 9-day Portugal food and wine tour

How many nights do we spend in Porto and Lisbon?

Four nights in each city. Porto hosts nights one to four, with day trips to Braga and Guimarães and to the Douro Valley, plus a full day in the city for Bolhão market, São Bento station and the cooking class on request. On day five a licensed driver-guide drives you south to Lisbon, stopping in Coimbra, and Lisbon hosts nights five to eight, with a full day in the city, a day in Sintra and on the coast, and a day in Óbidos. You pack only three times: on arrival, on day five and on the departure morning. Travelers who prefer a night among the vineyards swap one Porto night for a quinta in the Douro, and the trip stays at nine days.

Are the winery visits, tastings and cooking class included?

Each one is an option you choose, never a fixed part of the route. Our team builds the food and wine moments around your party. One couple wants the Porto cooking class, a quinta tasting and lunch in the Douro, another prefers the river towns and a fado evening in Lisbon. The options on this route include an azulejo workshop and a hands-on cooking class in Porto, a visit and tasting at a smaller family quinta in the Douro, a lunch reservation at a village restaurant or a winery, a fado evening in Lisbon, and the bread morning at a windmill in the west, where available. Your planner prices each one separately, so the quote shows what you have chosen. The guided walks, the site visits and the road transfers with your guide and driver form the frame of each day.

What food will we taste on the route?

The dishes change as the route moves south. In Porto and the Minho, expect caldo verde, the soup of shredded couve-galega and potato, bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, salt cod with potatoes, eggs and olives, and tripas à moda do Porto, the tripe and white bean stew behind the local nickname tripeiros. Bolhão market shows the raw materials, from salt cod and sardines to cured sausages and cheese. On the drive south, the Bairrada country around Mealhada roasts leitão, suckling pig with glassy crackling, alongside the region’s sparkling wine. Lisbon brings pastéis de nata in Belém, which the bakery beside the monastery has sold since 1837, and Sintra adds travesseiros from Piriquita. The last touring day ends with ginja in Óbidos, in a cup of chocolate. Our foodie guide to Portuguese food and wine lists more dishes to look for. Traveling gluten-free, vegan or with a food allergy? Our guide to traveling with a special diet explains how we plan around it.

Do we need to drink wine to enjoy this route?

No. The route runs on food and culture as much as on wine, and only one day centers on the vineyards. The days hold the Bolsa and São Francisco in Porto, Braga, Guimarães and Citânia de Briteiros, Coimbra’s library, Lisbon’s castle and Belém, Pena Palace and the cliffs of Cabo da Roca. Non-drinkers often enjoy the market morning, the cooking class, the tile workshop and the bread morning as much as anyone in the party. Our team replaces the quinta tasting with a walk through the vines, a river town or a longer lunch on request, and swaps ginja for coffee and a pastry. Our page on alcohol-free private travel in Portugal sets out how our team plans for travelers who prefer not to drink.

What is the best time of year for a food and wine trip to Portugal?

April to June and September to October suit this route best. IPMA, Portugal’s weather institute, gives Porto a mean daily high of 17.6°C (about 64°F) in April, 22.6°C (about 73°F) in June, 23.4°C (about 74°F) in September and 20.3°C (about 69°F) in October, on its 1981 to 2010 averages. Lisbon runs a few degrees warmer, at 19.8°C (about 68°F) in April, 26.6°C (about 80°F) in September and 22.5°C (about 73°F) in October, against 27.9°C (about 82°F) in July. The Douro harvest falls between September and October, when the quintas pick their grapes. Winter departures suit the slow-cooked dishes of the north, with shorter days in the vineyards.

Who guides and drives us on the 9-day tour?

In Porto, Braga, Guimarães, the Douro, Coimbra and Óbidos, a licensed driver-guide looks after you, one person holding both licenses who drives the car and leads the visits. The same arrangement covers the road transfer from Porto to Lisbon on day five, with your luggage in the car. In Lisbon and Sintra, where your dates allow, Luisa, one of our licensed guides, leads the touring days and works alongside a licensed driver, two separate people. Every transfer runs by private vehicle for your own party, from the Porto airport pickup to the Lisbon airport drop-off. Our team plans the whole route, books site entries and the options you choose, and stays in contact through the trip.

How do you get from Porto to Lisbon on this route?

A licensed driver-guide drives you south by road on day five, and the transfer becomes a touring day. Porto to Coimbra takes about 1 hour 15 minutes, and you spend the middle of the day among the Roman galleries under the Machado de Castro museum, the Biblioteca Joanina, the Great Hall of Acts and Quinta das Lágrimas. Coimbra to Lisbon then takes about 2 hours, so you reach your Lisbon hotel in the late afternoon. The day carries about three and a quarter hours of driving in all, and a lunch of leitão in the Bairrada country fits on the way. Our note on stops between Lisbon and Porto sets out other ways to break the same drive, such as Aveiro or Óbidos.

Why does the route start in Porto and end in Lisbon?

Porto first puts the Douro Valley and the port lodges at the start of the trip and ends it in Lisbon, the Portuguese airport with the widest choice of nonstop flights home to the United States. Nonstops into Porto run from Newark with United and TAP Air Portugal, from Boston with TAP in season and from New York JFK with Delta in summer. From other U.S. airports, your planner reverses the route or adds a short connection. Our note on flying into Lisbon or Porto weighs the two airports in more detail.

Should we add a night in the Douro Valley?

Yes, and many travelers do. The route as written visits the Douro as a day trip from Porto, with Peso da Régua about 1 hour 15 minutes inland by road. A night at a quinta hotel among the vineyards gives you a slower lunch, an evening on the terrace above the river and an early walk through the vines before the heat. Swapping one Porto night for a Douro night keeps the trip at nine days, and adding a night makes it ten. Our team arranges either on request, with your licensed driver-guide driving you on to Coimbra and Lisbon from the valley.

How much walking does the itinerary involve?

Several places on this route sit on hills with cobbled lanes and steps, including the old center of Porto, the upper town of Coimbra, Alfama and the castle hill in Lisbon, and the old town of Sintra. Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga climbs 583 steps, and the funicular from 1882 carries visitors up and down the hill instead. Pena Palace sits high above Sintra in a large park. Your driver drops you at the top of a quarter where the roads allow, so many walks run downhill, and your guide sets the pace to your party. Your guide is glad to advise on suitability before booking, and our page on accessible travel explains how our team plans step-free days.

Who do we contact if something goes wrong or we want a change?

Your planner designs your journey with you and stays in touch after you land. For the fastest response at any hour, message your private WhatsApp group, where our 24/7 support team works alongside Rachel or Dan. Because we begin no more than five journeys per country each week, peak spring and fall dates fill early, and that limit is what lets us stay this close to every trip.