I spent 3 days in Porto, Portugal, with EF Ultimate Break

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

Ever since I studied abroad in South Korea in the summer of 2024, I’ve been trying to write blog posts for the little things I do, even if it’s going across town for a fun little day. When I was studying abroad in Busan my Korean teacher would show us these Naver (a Korean search engine) blogs random people would make documenting visiting parks or bakeries, and I loved that energy.

I think the Internet is a cluttered place, so even if no one reads this at the end of the day, it’s a cute little time capsule for as long as we have electricity—or my credit card stops paying for this domain. I recently started a job, at the time of typing this, and I’m finding one of the ways that I’ve continued to stay sane is by going on little side quests here and there.

Today’s blog post comes from a trip I had impulsively booked. I had gone to Germany, Italy, and Switzerland through EF Ultimate Break, and when their Black Friday sale came along in 2025, I ended up booking their shorter Portugal trip because it meant that I was able to fit it into my PTO calendar and afford the trip overall. I paid like $3100 for everything with excursions, which is expensive, but I like not being able to think for a bit.

I ended up flying from Washington D.C., out of Dulles (IAD) to Lisbon then Porto for my first leg of the journey. I’ll be breaking each section of the trip up into separate blog posts, but this one is dedicated to Porto!

Let’s get into what I did.

Day One: flying into Porto, walking around the Douro River, enjoying the scenery.

My flight from Lisbon into Porto ended up being delayed an hour, so by the time I got into Porto with the other two girls I was flying with, we barely had time to do anything before dinner and our tour’s safety check.

I went through immigration in Lisbon, which took about an hour and a half, so when we landed in Porto we got our bags, found our driver, then headed to our hostel. We stayed at The Central House, which is literally a block from the river and the perfect location in my humble opinion. This was the better of the two hostels as well.

I only had a little bit of time to freshen up before heading downstairs to meet the rest of our group. We did a quick safety introduction, then went on a little walking tour of the riverside section of Porto. In May 2026 it was a heatwave, so it was hot and crowded as we walked along the river.

We went to the other side of the bridge, drank a small amount of Porto wine from a bottle our guide had, then enjoyed the views before heading back to the hostel. Dinner was next up, and I had an excellent chicken and french fry dish—although it was a bit too much after all the plane food.

After dinner, we did some more icebreakers, then I joined a small group who went out walking along the river. We stopped by the Imperial McDonalds, bought some souvenirs, then headed back after passing out to get ready for the next day.

Day Two: walking tour of downtown Porto, Crystal Palace, beach time in Matosinhos

I woke up bright and early on the second day to head down to the hostel breakfast, which was pretty good. I enjoyed their pastel de natas, breads, and the random bean sprouts they had for the Asian tourists. I ate a lot and chatted with other members of the group, then headed upstairs for my walking tour.

We went on a three hour walking tour on the main and downtown part of Porto. We strolled through the streets looking at all of the different tiles, buildings, and popped into a few churches here and there to see what faith looked like here. I enjoyed walking around Porto overall.

After the walking tour, which ended at a farmer’s market, I joined some other girls in my group to go get lunch. I ordered picanha, which is a Brazilian steak, and was impressed by the sheer amount of food I was given. I was still full from breakfast lowkey and I packed it in.

I then headed up to the Crystal Palace with some other girls from my lunch date. We walked there, which was a crisp twenty minute walk, and I was sweating in the May heat. But it was so worth it! The Crystal Palace isn’t an actual palace—it’s a series of gardens overlooking the Douro River.

There are also peacocks freely roaming the area, which was pretty cool to see with the roosters. We spent about an hour roaming the gardens, then we headed back down to the hostel. I rotted for about an hour, then got into an Uber with some other girls to see the beaches by Matosinhos.

I didn’t get in the water, but I did enjoy the vibes and the ocean overall. We got a light dinner by the water and watched the sunset. I drank a passion fruit sangria and thought it was the best drink I’ve ever had—though it did make me a little tipsy. We headed back after enjoying the sunset and I showered then passed out.

Day Three: Amarante, Douro Wine Valley, and Souvenir Shopping

Day three I actually didn’t really spend in Porto. I got up, ate my usual breakfast at the start of its hours at the hostel, then went on a little solo walk along the river. I feel like I got some of my best shots while it was 8 AM on the Douro River—the sunlight just hit the water perfectly, and there weren’t any other tourists really.

Once it got closer to 9, I headed back to the hostel to meet the group for the wine tour I had signed up for. We got on the bus and headed first to Amarante, which is a small town at the foot of the wine valley. Our guide bought us some scandalous cookies, then I explored the town before we got back on the bus.

We then ventured deeper into the wine valley to go to a local winery, which was literally run out of a guy’s house. It was such a cool experience, since it was his house, and we tasted his wines and his friend’s Porto wine. I bought one of his green wines because it tasted like soda.

He also gave us some snacks and let us take pictures around his gardens. I liked this little excursion a lot, and that’s how we wrapped up the day. It was a trek back to Porto, then I got pho with someone in my group and we yapped about our lives, the trip, and what was next for us.

We then ended up buying souvenirs at the shops along the river. I didn’t find them wildly overpriced for a European town, but they did add up fairly quickly. I picked up tiles and postcards mainly, then packed everything neatly into my bag, as we were headed to Lisbon the next day.

And that’s it for this post! Read the rest of my Portugal diaries on my blog.

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