Plan the day
A Porto day before fado
Ways to spend the hours before a late fado dinner in Porto: a football museum, a day in the wine country, the river at sunset, and when to eat lunch.
Reserve a fado dinner ↗Quick answer
Keep the day light, because the fado dinner starts late and lasts up to two hours. A football afternoon at the FC Porto museum and Dragão Stadium takes about an hour and a half. A day trip to the Vinho Verde and Douro wine regions fills nine to ten hours, so it suits a different day. A sunset cruise on the river can come first if the timings work. Eat a light lunch, and save your appetite for three courses.
Keep the day light
The fado dinner is the main event, and it comes late. Three courses with music take up to two hours, and every date lists its own start time. That shapes the day before it. A packed itinerary leaves you tired by the time the first song begins, and a heavy lunch leaves no room for a set dinner. The plan that works for most visitors is one good activity in the afternoon, a pause back at the hotel, and an unhurried walk to dinner. A coffee and a custard tart will bridge the gap better than a full meal.
A football afternoon
For football fans, the FC Porto museum and Dragão Stadium tour fills about an hour and a half. The Estádio do Dragão, designed by the architect Manuel Salgado, has been the club's home ground since 2003 and was one of the host venues of the Euro 2004 tournament; it seats just over fifty thousand. The ticket covers the museum and the stadium, with audio guides to rent in six languages, and children up to four go free. On match days, the eve of European fixtures and some event days, only the museum is open.
A day in the wine country, on another day
The two-regions wine day leaves Porto for family-run estates in the Vinho Verde region and the Douro valley, with tastings of ten wines, a farm-to-table meal and an hour on the river in the valley. It runs nine to ten hours, so it fills a whole day by itself, and it is not suitable for children under ten or for wheelchair users. Check its return time against your dinner's start time before you try to fit both into one day; for most visitors the wine day works better on a different date.
What the wine country is
The two regions are very different. Vinho Verde, green wine, means young wine: the region in the far north produces wines released a few months after harvest and usually drunk soon after bottling, most of them white, and the whites slightly sparkling. The Douro valley, upstream from Porto and sheltered from the Atlantic by mountains, is best known for port, but it makes as much unfortified table wine as fortified. Having tasted both by day, you will know which to order at dinner.
The river before dinner
A cruise on the Douro is the other natural partner for a fado evening. The six-bridge yacht spends about two hours on the river with at most twelve guests and a welcome drink, passing under all six bridges and heading out through the estuary when the river allows. Choose the sunset option for the evening light, then check that its finish leaves time to reach the old town before dinner. The comparison guide sets the cruise and the dinner side by side if you can only fit in one of them.
Read next: Fado dinner or Douro sunset yacht?
When to eat, and what to skip
Lunch is where the day most often goes wrong. Porto's famous francesinha, layers of bread and hot meats under melted cheese and a beer-and-tomato sauce, is a lunch to plan around, not one to eat before a three-course dinner. A bowl of caldo verde, a couple of cod cakes or a pastel de nata will carry you to the evening instead. Keep in mind that drinks at the fado dinner are paid separately, so an afternoon tasting and a bottle at dinner can add up; pace the day with that in mind.
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