PORTO & PORT Family-friendly travel ideas
Roaming vineyards and wine tasting might not be your first choice for a family holiday, but in and around Porto you’ll find plenty of child-friendly distractions including parks, grape juice tasting and custard tarts
Research on this trip began in-flight, sampling Air Portugal’s great wine range. My six-year-old helped. She’d stick her nose in our wine glass, tell us what she smelt, then scrawl notes in a journal bought just for her. Everyone loves to be included. Especially if inclusion comes with the promise of pastries, pocket money and splashing in the pool. Porto is a city of two halves joined by dramatic bridges (one of them designed by Gustave Eiffel), and on the Vila Nova de Gaia side, you’ll see famous port names above the warehouses –Taylors, Fonseca and Croft. Despite the hilly terrain, the city is best experienced on foot. Shop for gorgeous Portuguese textiles on Rua das Flores, visit the park at Serralves, which is home to some wildlife – great for kids – and browse the books in Livraria Lello where you can climb the staircase that apparently inspired the magical one in Harry Potter. Take a river taxi or walk the upper deck of Eiffel’s Dom Luís Bridge, enjoy music, shop at food stalls and sample local dishes at the covered Mercado Beira-rio near the river. Definitely go on a tour of the cellars at Taylor’s (£13 for adults, taylor.pt), including a tasting of two ports. There’s also grape juice tasting for kids. Do this between meals and other childcentric activities so morale stays high, along with the impetus for little ones to be on best behaviour. Though port is named after the city, the grapes are grown about
80 winding mountainous miles upcountry, in the heat of the Douro Valley. I recommend taking the train, the journey starts spectacularly from the Beauxarts-inspired São Bento Station, famous for its azulejo tiles, and gets better as the little train meanders along the river. We bought tickets on the day but if you want to take the Douro historical train powered by a steam engine (available June to October), book in advance. Stock up on traditional sweets before boarding, like nutty bolacha amendoim, to keep kids contented, and pencils so they can draw what they see en route. At Quinta da Gricha, part of the Churchill’s Estate, we were greeted by a member of staff who became like a surrogate aunt to our child, spoiling her with cakes. While we tasted wines poolside, they looked for salamanders in a pond, then tiptoed with torches to observe bats sleeping in caves. Evidently, the key to a happy family holiday is a steady supply of pastel de nata for the kids and a sense of belonging, both of which you’re ensured to have on a wine holiday in Portugal.