Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
allure has clearly not gone unnoticed. In 2001 Unesco designated the entire Alto Douro
wine-growing region a World Heritage site.
Further east towards Spain, the soil is drier, and the sculpted landscape gives way to
more rugged terrain. But despite the aridity - and the blisteringly hot summers - the land
around Vila Nova de Foz Côa produces fine grapes and excellent olives and nuts.
Many port and table wine
quintas
offer rural accommodation, though rooms grow
scarce in late September and early October during the
vindima
(grape harvest).
Daily trains run from Porto, with a change at Régua, up to Pinhão, Tua and Pocinho.
Travellers with their own wheels can take the river-hugging N222 from Régua to Pinhão,
beyond which the roads climb in and out of the valley.
Pinhão & Around
POP 1000
Encircled by terraced hillsides that produce some of the world's best port - and some
damn good table wines too, little Pinhão sits on a particularly lovely bend of the Rio
Douro, about 25km upriver from Peso da Régua. Wineries and their competing signs
dominate the scene. Even the delightful train station has
azulejos
depicting the grape har-
vest. The town itself, cute though it is, holds little of interest, but does makes a fine base
for exploring the many surrounding vineyards.
In addition to drinking your fill, this is a good setting for country walks, and there are
some fine day-trip possibilities. Except on high-season weekends, street parking is
straightforward. Look around the train station or down by the river (first left after passing
the train station).
Activities
Driving the Alto Douro
(Hwy N222 & N322)
One of the region's biggest thrills is simply driving the Douro's winding
roads, navigating hairpin turns, climbing terraced ridges and cruising village back roads
patrolled by mobs of latter-day Romeos. This road teases the adventurous driver, taking
you away from the river and into the shadows of another impossibly huddled village, then
back into direct sunlight that streams through trees and bathes the steep drop to the river
in surreal golden light. In between, of course, you will need to stop at a
quinta
or three.
DRIVING TOUR
