What the seven days cover
Days 1–2: PortoThe old town on foot, with the logic of the city explained so you can move through it without a map. Port wine education at the source - not in a tourist lodge, in a cellar with someone who can answer questions. The gastronomic programme for Porto: where the kitchen is working properly, what to order, when to arrive. The coastal neighbourhood of Foz for the Atlantic and the evening light.
Days 3–4: Douro Valley
The drive east along the river, with specific viewpoints timed to the afternoon light. A lunch with a winery team - not a tasting room performance, a table with the people who make the wine. A vintage rabelo boat on the river. A private vineyard picnic, with wines chosen to match the altitude.
Day 5: Guimarães and Braga
The two cities that most Porto itineraries skip, both reachable in under an hour. Guimarães is where Portugal began - the medieval centre is one of the best-preserved in Iberia and unhurried in a way that the Alfama in Lisbon is not. Braga is the country's religious capital: architecturally dense, with a covered market on certain mornings that is worth organising the day around. The Bom Jesus staircase at sunset.
Day 6: Peneda-Gerês
The national park in the far north, with professional mountain guides. The waterfalls that require local knowledge to find. Lunch in a traditional village in the Serra do Gerês. A spa afternoon in the evening.
Day 7: Vinho Verde country and the ocean
Private visits to two premier estates on the Minho - the Alvarinho-dominant blends from this far corner of the country are different from any Vinho Verde sold in supermarkets abroad. Portugal's oldest village. The cathedral at Caminha with the river estuary behind it. Farewell dinner in a fishing port on the Atlantic coast.
Northern Portugal: Seven Days
What does Northern Portugal taste like when you approach it properly?
The answer runs from a fifth-generation Port lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia to a family quinta on the upper Douro terraces — with everything in between considered. The lunch worth driving forty minutes for. The viewpoint the roads do not announce. The Vinho Verde estates on the Minho that most itineraries never reach.
Seven days structured so that Porto and the valley work together. The city, the river, the terraced hillsides, the upper estates where the air is different.
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An 88-page downloadable PDF containing:
- A full hour-by-hour itinerary with driving distances, parking notes, and verified opening hours for every stop
- Cultural and wine context for each place and producer — so you understand what you are tasting and why it matters
- The gastronomic programme: specific tables, tastings, and market visits, with booking instructions and what to ask for when you arrive
- The Hedonist's Shortlist — where to sleep, where to have breakfast, the best picnic spot within five kilometres of each stage
- A personalised Google Map with your exact route, ready to open on your phone
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