Blog ≫ 2026 ≫ Portugal holiday part six
Getting to the end of the content now but we're just arriving in Porto. The holiday was five nights in Lisbon and four nights in Porto, so it feels like there's been approximately a post per day until this point.
The contemporary notes
Disappointing station to leave Lisbon from really, scruffy, not a lot of food options for our three hour train journey. I really thought it would be like a big intercity station at home but it was fairly small. Easy to find out seats on the train, but seemingly not easy for anyone else, we were asked if we were in the right seats a few times. Think I already wrote this up somewhere else 1. Edgy arrival at Porto. First, bonus thing, we thought we were meant to pull into the main station, Porto Campanhã, then get a transfer to Porto Sao Bento, then walk from the centre to our hotel, The Rebello. Would be a five minute cab ride but we were going for the thirty-five minute walk to get a look round. But! Found there's a nearer station to where we're staying, AND the train we're already on stops there about twenty mins before the main station. And then it's only twenty minute walk. By my reckon we gained at least thirty-five minutes of holiday here.
The edgy bit is the shady looking walk from this station. Station doesn't look like it's meant for passengers, we had to walk across the tracks to get out, then on roads, under underpass etc. It soon gets nice as you get to Gaia itself 2.
Hotel is amazing. Didn't look like much from outside, but five star inside. We have a two bedroom suite, two bathrooms, huge lounge and kitchen area with fridge stocked with drinks. The first fill of the fridge is free. Then there is a knock at the door and they brought a plate of fruit. Really lovely.
Back up to date again
The train bit was good, glad we figured that out. I think originally we just looked up "how to get to Porto from Lisbon" instead of the specific place we were to the specific place we needed to be, saved us a lot of time and effort. But that station we arrived at was small, and we did have to cross the tracks to get out of the station, then cross the tracks the other way via an underpass to walk to our hotel. If you'd been doing that bit a night you'd think you were in the wrong place, but it worked nicely and wasn't far.
The Rebello hotel was really classy, nicer than the last one, but a bit smaller. There's a great view from the front of the hotel along and across the river to the iconic Luiz bridge.
We got a tour of the hotel, found out about breakfast and so on and how to work the hotel. There is a spa pool and that, and a rooftop bar, but because the place is relatively small, and these are open to outsiders we need to book them. Even just for a drink at the bar. We booked our breakfast slots and spa slot and a slot at the rooftop bar for drinks.
The "room" is amazing. Last time we had two adjoining rooms, this time we had a two bedroom suite. Large lounge and kitchen, then two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Really neat features in the suite like the smart TVs we could stream to, the Marshall amplifier for streaming music and a very fancy looking Nespresso type coffee machine. And a hotel room with a dishwasher?? We didn't use that but we did make use of the stocked fridge of drinks. There were beers and wines and soft drinks, and then some extra posh food that we would have to pay for if we had it. Prices were reasonable though, two or three euros for things.
Here's the lounge area:
And the bedroom:
We left the boys in the hotel and went out for a quick walk around. On the Gaia side there is a strip, that was old port warehouses and now converted to river cruise docking points and then all bars and restaurants and things. All feels fairly recently converted really. More holidayish than where we were in Lisbon. This is where we finally got our Ginjinha cherry liquer in the edible dark chocolate cup. I did ask, they said may contain traces of milk but the person selling was lactose intolerant and can eat them, so I think I'm fine.
We walked along the river about as far as the bridge but didn't cross over without the boys. We had port cocktails on the wate front. Lovely spot, average cocktails really
We went up to the rooftop bar, but the weather was too poor to go outside. I had a cocktail, it was better, it had beetroot in it.
Dinner that night was pizza in the place right next to the hotel. Feels a bit of a cop out but it did seem to be the best option.
The weather was not great when we arrived, really changed between Lisbon and Porto, and would not get much better for the rest of the trip.
- Several other places now I think!
- I say we're in Porto, but Porto is one side of the river Douro and Gaia is the other side, we're on the Gaia side.
⬅️ Portugal holiday part five :: We were going to the Clarendon but all change ➡️