TO FIND OUT MORE
Portuguese National Tourist Office
Tel :01 56 88 31 90 - Email : info@visitportugal.com - Internet : visitportugal.com
GETTING THERE
Tap Air Portugal operates three daily flights from Paris-Orly to Porto. These flights, available in business and economy classes, are operated by Airbus A319-R or A 320, with a flight time of 1 hour 45 minutes. On weekdays, take-offs are spread throughout the day, taking place in the morning, in the middle of the day or in the evening.
Tel: 0820 319 320 - Internet: flytap.com
Transaviathe low-cost subsidiary of Air France-KLM, offers between four and six flights a day between Paris Orly and Porto.
Internet : www.transavia.com
Aigle Azur operates four daily flights to Porto from Paris Orly.
Internet: www.aigle-azur.com
CROISIÈRES
Douro Serenity This 5-star luxury yacht sails from Porto to Vega Terron, on the Spanish border, and offers 63 outside cabins (between 14 and 30 m2) spread over three decks. Sun deck, swimming pool, restaurant, lounge, small spa and fitness centre. French-speaking oenologist on board.
Tel: +351 223 402 500 - Email: reservas@douroazul.pt - Internet: douroazul.com
Compahia turistica do Douro Pinhao: From Pinhao, this company organises mini-cruises on boats inspired by traditional rabelos, which can be booked for up to 50 people.
Tel: +351 965 340 173. - Email : geral@ctdouro.com - Internet :
companhiaturisticadodouro.com
HOTELS
Pinhao
VINTAGE HOUSE HOTEL
Gardens and oleanders, a large pergola, a swimming pool under palm trees and a narrow door that opens directly onto the mooring for cruise ships and other Rabelo boats. Overlooking it all, the long building dating from the eighteenth century has a magnificent view.e The former wine cellars and their mansion house, now converted into a hotel, have become a firm favourite with business tourism groups. Cleverly converted and perfectly renovated, this five-star hotel with 38 rooms and 11 suites, all with balconies and views over the Douro, emphasises its historic aspect by furnishing its communal areas with magnificent period and even Indo-Portuguese furniture. The restaurant, with its vaulted ceilings, offers a fusion of regional cuisine, while the bar-lounge is happy to organise tastings of port and other Douro wines. The cellar is one of the best in the region.
Rua Antonio Manuel Savaiva. 5085-034 Pinhao - Tel : +351 254 730 230 - Email : reservations@vintagehousehotel.com - Internet : www.vintagehousehotel.com
Marialva
CASAS DO CORO
It's a village. A traditional village with dry stone walls, grey tiles, cobbled streets, a pillory and, above it, a ruined fortified castle. The heat is sweltering in summer and bitterly cold in winter. All the young people have left, leaving just thirty or so old men clinging to their memories. All gone? Not really, because an enlightened couple, Carmen and Paulo Romao, have decided to take over a few houses in danger of falling into ruin and convert them into stylish rooms and flats, combining contemporary design with the spirit of days gone by. The result is tasteful and spectacular, with nooks and crannies, sloping streets, staircases, sofas, antique objects and furniture, balconies overlooking the valley, a stunning eco-friendly spa and a library set in a resolutely modern building, but so well integrated that it's barely noticeable from the outside. The same goes for the swimming pool and the gourmet restaurant in a completely reinterpreted house. Marvellous. 12 houses, 30 rooms.
Largo do Coro. 6430-081 Marialva. Tel: +351 91 755 20 20 - Email: info@casasdocoro.pt - Internet : www.casasdocoro.com.pt
Provesende
MORGADIO DA CALCADA
White walls, blonde parquet floors and waxed concrete bathrooms: the eight rooms at Morgadio da Calçada - for exclusive groups, in other words - are stripped down to the bare essentials, almost monastic. They open onto a courtyard that is silent behind its high walls, adding to the 'away from the world' feel of the place, and look out directly onto the vineyards of Manuel Villas-Boas. A simple passageway separates them from the family manor house, an old Portuguese nobleman whose imposing coat of arms majestically crowns the entrance porch. As you'd expect, Manuel Villas-Boas also owns and harvests magnificent red and white Douro wines. Of course, he's not averse to tastings, or to visiting the old cellars, which are no longer in use but have been left as they were, with their gigantic oak barrels, one of which could hold over 16,000 litres of wine. Even better: in the evening, when it's time for an aperitif - port, of course - Manuel Villas-Boas takes visitors on a tour of his home, a veritable museum with its many lounges, boudoirs, bedrooms and above all its dining room, where the tables - and this is a real surprise - are laid for dinner. It's a very merry dinner with large place settings, in the château and by candlelight, of course.
Rua Cabo de Vila, 18, Provesende. 5060-251 Sabrosa - Tel: +351 254 732 218 Email: mvb@morgadiodacalcada.com - Internet : www.morgadiodacalcada.com
Amaranth
CASA CALCADA
The building is historic, at least as much so as the bridge it overlooks, which saw clashes between Portuguese and Napoleonic troops. With its Relais et Châteaux label, it is also the city's most chic hotel, and one of the most renowned in Portugal. Original baroque or neo-classical features, deep sofas, thick carpets, rooms decorated in the traditional style - some overlooking the river and the bridge - and, above all, a Michelin-starred gourmet restaurant. The hotel also boasts a convention centre with six rooms ranging in size from 41 to 495 m2, accommodating from 14 to 500 people depending on the configuration. Events can be held in the gardens or by the swimming pool. What's more, Amarante is only 60 km from Porto, giving large groups the chance to escape the urban life of Portugal's second city for a while. 60 rooms and suites.
Largo do Paço, 6. 4600-017 Amarante. - Tel: +351 255 410 830 - Email: reservas@casadacalcada.com - Internet: www.casadacalcada.com
Porto
HOTEL TEATRO
As soon as you step over the threshold, you sense that this boutique hotel, a member of Design Hotels, has been thought through, even if you don't immediately understand the concept. Everything is dark, very dark. In fact, at times, particularly in the corridors leading to the rooms, you can't see a thing... And then there are the ropes fixed to the ceiling, and the coat hangers with period costumes hanging from them, and the black carpet in the rooms with its fiery stripes, and this gigantic fresco, a black and white photo enlarged to its maximum size, showing a crowd seated, no doubt, in front of a theatre stage. Theatre! That's it! And even backstage. At least, that's what the talented Portuguese designer Nini Andrade Silva wanted to portray, inspired by the history of the Teatro Baquet, which burnt down in 1888. For groups as exclusive as they are trendy. 67 rooms, seven suites and a very popular restaurant in Porto.
Rua Sà da Bandeira, 84. 4000-427 Porto - Tel : +351 220 409 620 - Email : geral@hotelteatro.pt - Internet: www.hotelteatro.pt
RESTAURANTS
Marialva
CASAS DO CORO
People come from far and wide to try the exceptional cuisine of Carmen Romao, owner of the hotel to which this restaurant belongs, a very free interpretation of incredibly inventive Portuguese cuisine. But you'll also come for the decor, an old house freely reinterpreted in a village partly transformed into a hippie-chic hotel. It's all there: chandeliers with pendants, a few gigantic white-tablecloth tables, an oversized china cabinet, mismatched objects everywhere and a trendy black slate floor.
Largo do Coro. 6430-081 Marialva. - Tel: +351 91 755 20 20 - Email: info@casasdocoro.pt - Internet : www.casasdocoro.com.pt
Vila Nova de Foz Coa
COAMUSEU
After a visit to the exceptional prehistoric site, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the no less exceptional adjoining museum, a stopover at its air-conditioned restaurant is a must. The traditional cuisine is excellent - but don't try the vegetarian option, you'll miss out. And, above all, the view of the Douro winding through the vineyards below is a picture postcard.
Rua do Museu. 5150-610 Vila Nova de Foz Coa - Tel: +351 279 765 400. - Email : restcomuseu@hotmail.com - Internet: www.restaurantecoamuseu.com
Porto
VINUM
It's chic, but not too much so; the service is attentive, without being stuffy; the menu is full of Lusitanian specialities revisited in a 21st century spirit, as light as they are beautifully presented. But above all, this restaurant, which is always busy, is housed in an old wine storehouse that has been given a contemporary makeover and belongs to Graham's Port. This guarantees a wine list
and exceptional ports.
Rua do Agro 141. 4400-281 Gaia. Tel: +351 220 930 417 - Email:
grahams@grahamsportlodge.com - Internet: www.vinumatgrahams.com
Private venue and conferences
PALACIO DA BOLSA
There are worse places to hold a conference, a seminar or even a meeting in a historic 19th-century building, such as the former Porto stock exchange. Especially if the venue in question is richly decorated and offers a multitude of rooms that can be privatised: the former courtroom, the hall of the basket, the president's room and above all, the marvel of marvels, the Moorish lounge. From 20 people to 700, depending on the room and its configuration.
Rua Ferreira Borges. 4050-253 Porto - Tel: +351 223 399 064 (conference centre) - Email : cfcarvalho@cciporto.pt - Internet: www.palaciodabolsa.com
PRACTICAL GUIDES
Geoguide, Petit Fûté,
Le Routard
