Things to do in Douro

The Douro Valley is the river, not the city at its mouth. Porto sits where it reaches the Atlantic. The valley runs on for a hundred kilometres inland, terraced from the water almost to the ridgeline.

Two towns, one valley

• Peso da Régua. The valley's old river-trade capital, where the Museu do Douro covers the wine's history; the town marks roughly where the terraces begin in earnest heading east.
• Pinhão. Further upriver, in the Cima Corgo, the valley's densest run of quintas; the train station's blue-and-white tiled panels show the harvest the surrounding hills still produce.
• The terraces. Vineyards cut into schist slopes too steep for almost anything else, some walled by hand centuries before the region had a name for the practice.

Moving through the valley

• By train. The Douro line follows the river itself from Porto to Pocinho; the stretch approaching Pinhão is the part most people come for.
• By boat. Rabelo boats, once used to carry wine barrels downriver to Porto's cellars, now run short cruises past the terraces instead.
• By road. Roads on both banks link the quintas directly; a driver or a tour matters more here than in most wine regions, given how the roads climb.

Practical

• Weather. July and August regularly pass 35C around Pinhão, far hotter than coastal Porto; harvest runs from September into October.
• Demarcated since 1756. The Alto Douro was regulated as a wine region well before most others existed as one, and UNESCO listed the terraced landscape itself in 2001.
• Where to taste. Most quintas pair a tasting with a short tour or a lunch; a few also offer rooms, for a night among the terraces rather than a single afternoon.
• Getting around. A car or a tour covers the valley properly; the train is scenic but stops only at the main towns, not at the quintas themselves.