Six Bridges Cruise & Douro River Boat Tours

The classic Porto boat trip is the Six Bridges cruise, a short loop on the Douro that ducks under all six bridges spanning the gorge between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. It is the easiest way to see why the city is built the way it is, the tiled houses of Ribeira stacked up one bank and the port lodges of Gaia on the other.

Most of these run on a rabelo, the flat-bottomed wooden boat that once carried port barrels down from the valley, which makes the Six Bridges cruise as much history as sightseeing. They are short, usually under an hour, and cheap, so they slot into any Porto day. When you compare a Porto river cruise, the main split is between the in-city Six Bridges loop and a longer Douro river cruise that heads upstream into the valley for the day, often with a winery and lunch. The short loop is the one to book if you just want the bridges and the waterfront from the water; the full-day Douro river cruise is the one for the terraced vineyards.

Go at the end of the day if you can. A sunset Porto boat tour turns the Ribeira and the Gaia waterfront gold, and the Dom Luis I bridge looks its best in the low light.

21 Porto river cruises from EUR 15. Six Bridges loops on a rabelo and full-day Douro cruises, with free cancellation on most - easy to book online.