Portugal

Rem Koolhaas designed this concert hall, which opened in 2005 and houses a symphony orchestra and other resident ensembles. Besides guided tours, an open tour lets you walk the building with QR code audio guides, so bring headphones. It runs daily during the day, subject to availability. Round off the visit with an…

Porto's fado houses stage short concerts of about an hour, often at 18:00 and 19:30, so you can hear live fado before dinner. Casa da Guitarra, in a shop selling Portuguese guitars next to the Sé, and Ideal Clube de Fado, which focuses on traditional fado, are two venues named in recent guides. Book online ahead in…

Locals call this Porto's gallery district: contemporary galleries, independent creative spaces, design shops, bookstores and small cafes sit side by side. Several times a year the galleries hold their openings on the same evening, and the street fills with people moving between galleries and bars. Come on one of those…

Feira da Vandoma is Porto's long-running Saturday morning fair for second-hand goods, and it has changed address several times over the years. Different guides still show different locations, from the old streets near the cathedral to newer sites in the east of the city. Check the Visit Porto or city council page the…

This small terrace is tucked away in the backstreets above Ribeira, at the end of Rua de São Bento da Vitória, and lets you fit the Dom Luís I Bridge, the cathedral and the Douro in one frame. It is usually quiet, so you can take your time. Reach it from the top, near the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vitória, to skip…

This narrow terraced park above the Douro looks toward the river mouth, with the Virtudes fountain and terraces dropping toward Miragaia in the foreground. Locals bring a beer or a glass of wine and settle in as the sky turns pink and orange. Arrive about 30 minutes before sunset to pick a spot. The listed opening…

The Stock Exchange Palace is still an active institution, so you see it only on a guided tour of about 30 minutes, ending in the Arab Room, a Moorish Revival hall inspired by the Alhambra. Queues build and you wait for the next tour in your language, offered in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French. Arrive in the…

Jorge Colaço painted the roughly 20,000 blue-and-white tiles of the São Bento main hall between 1905 and 1916. The big panels show the Battle of Valdevez, King John I entering Porto and the conquest of Ceuta, while others show vineyards, wine transport on the Douro and a cattle fair. A frieze above tells the history…