Opening up like a pop-up book from the banks of the Rio Douro, edgy-yet-opulent Porto entices with its historic centre, sumptuous food and wine, and charismatic locals.
- Lonely Planet
Here are a few resources for discovering Porto:
- Make sure to check out the official tourist information Visit Porto
- WikiTravel/Porto
- Geeky Explorer: Porto City Guide
- Timeout: Porto
- GPSMyCity: Walking Tours in Porto
The city of Porto, with an area of 42km2, is the second largest city in Portugal. It is located in the north of the country, on the North-western part of the Iberian Peninsula and lies to the right hand side of the river Douro in close proximity to its mouth.
plane
The Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, located 11km from Porto, is an award winning, contemporary structure, well equipped to meet the increasing demands of today's air traffic, operating regularly with 14 different airlines to 64 destinations.
We have made a partnership with TAP Air Portugal (event's official carrier) in order to offer all djangocon participants a 15% discounts on all flights (both economy and business class) to/from Porto or Lisbon airport. Instructions and more details about this offer can be found here.
The quickest and most efficient way to reach Porto´s city centre from the airport is by metro - line E-Violet (Aeroporto – Estádio do Dragão). This line operates daily from 06:00 - 01:00 and getting to the city centre takes about 30 minutes. To get to the city centre by bus, you can take either line 601, 602 or 3M (00:00-05:00). Another option is to take a taxi which costs between 20/25€, a ride-sharing app or rent a car at the airport.
train
Porto is served by international trains, Alfa Pendular (high-speed train), intercity, inter-regional, regional and urban trains, connecting the city to several destinations inside and outside the country. The Campanhã train station is the busiest in the city and the S. Bento railway station is the most central one.
bus
You can travel to or from Porto with ease from any point in Portugal or Europe (international operators: Flixbus, Eurolines, ALSA, InterNorte). In the international transport terminal (Casa da Música interface) you are provided with the following options when travelling to the city centre: metro lines A, B, C, E and F; bus lines 501, 502 and 201; and by taxi the journey costs around 6.00€.
The easiest way to travel is with the Andante Tour tickets, 1 day – 7.00€ and 3 days – 15.00€ (both available at the Trindade metro station and the S. Bento train station ticket offices). This ticket allows you unlimited travel on both bus and metro.
metro
Running daily between 06:00 - 01:00, the Porto metro service has 6 lines that connect the outskirts of the city to the centre. The Andante occasional ticket, from Z2 to Z12, depending on the number of zones included in your journey, can also be purchased from the automatic ticket machines in the metro stations.
bus
Buses operate daytime services (from 05:00 until 00:30 with some lines only running until 21:00) and night services (from 00:00 until 05:00 - lines 1M to 13M). Bus tickets (to be validated upon entering the bus) can be purchased from Payshop offices, train station ticket offices, post offices, Andante shops, automatic ticket machines and at the STCP or Andante service points. It is also possible to get a Single Trip Ticket (Título Agente Único) in the bus (bought for that trip only) - 2.00€.
taxis and ride-sharing
Taxis in Porto are usually not very expensive, however ride-sharing apps such as Uber, Bolt and Kapten are also available.