Peering down over the town centre and the Rio Ave, this imposing ex-monastery, founded in 1318, still has a severe-looking Gothic chapel, though the main building is an 18th-century affair. The entire complex is currently closed to visitors.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
13.13 MILES
The hum of traffic on the Avenida da Boavista soon fades as you enter the serene, green Parque da Cidade, Portugal's largest urban park. Laced with 10km…
15.98 MILES
In this handsomely renovated medieval town house, according to legend, Henry the Navigator was born in 1394. The building later served as Porto’s first…
15.63 MILES
Lined with bulging, beaux arts facades and capped by the stately câmara municipal (municipal council), this avenida recalls grand Parisian imitators such…
15.52 MILES
Blink and you might miss that this is a church in its own right, snuggled as close as it is to the Igreja do Carmo. The twin churches are separated only…
16.02 MILES
Down by the Rio Douro, narrow streets open out onto a plaza framed by austerely grand, tiled town houses overlooking a picturesque stretch of the river…
-
15.7 MILES
With its cobblestones polished smooth by centuries of shoe leather, and pretty tiled houses with little wrought-iron balconies and window boxes brimming…
-
15.8 MILES
Porto is reduced to postcard format at this viewpoint, perched high and mighty above a mosaic of terracotta rooftops that tumble down to the Douro. It's a…
Centro Português de Fotografia
15.71 MILES
This stately yet muscular building (1767) once served as a prison and now houses a photography museum. You actually walk through the thick iron gates and…
Nearby The Douro attractions
0.09 MILES
Religious art, antique furnishings, ceramics and early-20th-century contemporary art can be glimpsed at this museum, named after the distinguished local…
0.22 MILES
On the lower level of Vila do Conde's glass-box riverfront tourist office, this small museum offers up models, photo displays, old fishing gear and one…
0.24 MILES
It’s no accident that seafaring fingers, so deft at making nets, should also be good at lacemaking. Vila do Conde is one of the few places in Portugal…
4. Alfândega Regia Museu da Construção Naval
0.29 MILES
Shipbuilding has been in Vila do Conde’s bones since at least the 13th century. This museum on the Rio Ave's banks, just west of Praça da República, has…
12.64 MILES
Arriving in Matosinhos, you can’t help but stop dead in your tracks as your gaze is drawn upward to this 50m-high sculpture by North American artist Janet…
6. Forte de São Francisco Xavier
12.92 MILES
Otherwise known as the Castelo do Queijo (Cheese Castle) because of the wedge of rock it stands upon, Forte de São Francisco Xavier looks every inch the…
13 MILES
Some 5000 marine creatures splash in the tanks at Sealife, where kiddie highlights include a shark tunnel and a rock pool for handling crabs, starfish and…
13.13 MILES
The hum of traffic on the Avenida da Boavista soon fades as you enter the serene, green Parque da Cidade, Portugal's largest urban park. Laced with 10km…