Douro in Springtime

With visiting family, we headed north and returned to the Douro Valley for the first time in several years. We’ve been in summer and fall but never in spring. Oh man, what a great time to come! Fruit trees blossoming lighting up hillsides in lengthening days, birdsong from serins, sparrows and blackbirds serenading us as we explored, waning sunlight reflecting off the tiered hillsides covered with newly greening rows of grapes, the sparkling Douro River cutting through the valley under a brilliant mid-day sun.

While the temperatures were cool, the crowds were significantly less, and it made our explorations easy during a few days of spectacular sunny spring weather. We spent our days visiting towns we had not yet seen and returning to some old faves.

Pinhão. We began in Pinhão, destination: the Vintage House for lunch. We’d stayed previously and knew the terrace bar and restaurant to be good with special views of the river and hillsides beyond. Pinhão offers several local vineyards and shops for port and wine tastings, has a train station from Porto, has many short river cruise options and is a frequent stop on the larger river cruise lines down the Douro.

Lamego. We stayed in Lamego, a both vibrant and broken-down larger town/small city with a castle, cathedral, magnificent hilltop monastery and nearby natural park in the hills above the Douro River. It offered a lower budget hotel option with multiple restaurants and a good base for exploration.

Peso da Régua. We also visited Peso da Régua a larger town right on the Douro and train line with a riverside promenade, many restaurants and wine shops and a foot bridge with an old toll booth on one of the Caminho de Santiago routes through Portugal. We stopped off at Six Senses Douro billed as one of the best hotels in the world, but with a non-pretentious feel for a lovely lunch on the terrace with Foxy the hotel dog.

While we didn’t visit this time, Quinta do Vallado is also a favorite place of ours to stay when visiting the Valley.

With allergies flaring from the bright spring blossoms, we headed back towards home, glad we’d made the trip and vowing to return again with a gap of fewer than five years.

For more ideas about things to do in Northern Portugal please visit our page on the region here.