The Perfect North Portugal Road Trip – Cities, Nature & Food

Northern Portugal is one of the most underrated regions in Europe for a spring road trip. With historic cities, beautiful beaches, mountain landscapes, excellent food, and relatively short driving distances, it turned out to be the perfect destination for our family trip. As every year, children in Belgium have a two-week Easter break from school. Therefore, we were looking for a destination that is warmer than Belgium but not too far away, with good flight connections. Northern Portugal turned out to be an ideal choice!

During our 8-day road trip, we explored Porto, Braga, Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castelo, and smaller coastal towns while combining city sightseeing with nature and local cuisine. Traveling with a four-year-old child and my father visiting from Poland, we were looking for a relaxed plan with a good balance between culture, beaches, hiking, and family-friendly attractions.

In this article, I share our full itinerary, transportation tips, accommodation experiences, restaurant recommendations, travel budget, and practical advice for exploring Northern Portugal by car. If you are planning a Portugal road trip with kids or simply looking for ideas beyond Porto, this guide may help you plan your own adventure.

Our Route and General Impressions
I had already visited Porto in December 2024 for a long weekend to see a colleague, and I really enjoyed my stay. This time, I wanted to explore more of Northern Portugal with my family by renting a car and doing a road trip, similar to what we did in Denmark last summer. My father joined us from Poland, which made this our first trip where someone flew in from a different country. That always adds a bit of risk when coordinating group travel, especially with potential flight cancellations, but luckily everything went smoothly. We arrived one day before my father, but our return flights were on the same day, which made logistics easier. See details of our route on the Google Map below:

More details about my earlier trip can be found in these posts: A Rainy Day Adventure in Porto , A Magical Visit to Braga and Guimarães and Exploring the Natural and Cultural Wonders of Gerês-Xurés

Getting Around – Transportation Tips
We rented the car at the airport and dropped it off at the airport as well. We really did not need a car in Porto for the last 2 days of our stay since we were sightseeing the city on foot. offers multiple drop-off locations in Porto, including one outside the city centre, but returning the car to a different location than where it was picked up would have involved an additional fee. Because of that, it made more sense for us to return the car at the airport, where we had originally collected it.

Metro ticket costs 2.90 euro (2.30euro zone Z4 + Andante card 0.60euro). Andante card can be re-chargeable so you pay fee for the card once and you can buy multiple tickets at once. On the ticket machine, there was a sticker with all metro station names and next to the, there was a zone that applies when you go there from the airport. I went to General Torres metro station so it was Z4. You can also check more details on official website. Remember to validate your ticket before entering the metro in the machines located next to ticket machine or on the platforms. Ticket needs to be validated again when changing the line so in our case we validated again before entering line D at Trindade station where we had to change. The metro system is partly above ground in this area, so it often feels more like a tram than a subway. We used Line E (violet color) from the airport to Trindade (terminal station), then changed to Line D towards Santo Ovídio and got off at General Torres. Line D runs frequently and crosses the iconic Luís I Bridge.

Parking and Driving
We never paid for parking during the trip. In smaller towns and at most attractions, parking was free. In Braga, where we stayed for four nights, parking was free as well in some zones, but it could be difficult to find a spot in the late afternoon when returning from day trips. After a couple of days, we learned which streets had better chances for free parking. In some places, we noticed locals parking outside designated spaces, and we occasionally did the same, but always legally and without ignoring no-parking signs. Our apartment had a central location and we had to pay a price for being in the city centre by having limited parking spots. However, we had to walk around 250m to the apartment from the furthest parking spot. We always marked the parking location to avoid losing time while looking for a car next day in narrow streets!

In Porto, we also used Bolt to go to Parque de Serralves from our apartment and for this ride of 6km, we paid around 6-7euro one way so it is very competitive compare to prices of public transportation if travelling as group of 3 (my father already left to the airport when we decided to check this park out on the last day) and it was definitely faster and easier way to get there.

Fuel and roads
Fuel prices ranged between €1.88 and €2.02 per litre, with Auchan being the cheapest option. We did in total almost 500km so there was no need to tank multiple times and we used petrol station close to the airport. Portugal has toll highways, but we always avoided them. On our routes, the time difference was often less than 10 minutes, and driving through smaller villages was actually more enjoyable. There was not too much traffic but speed limits were slowing us down. When you rent a car via Sixt, they charge an additional E-Toll fee for using their automatic system on Portuguese highways so you don’t need to queue and pay manually. Because of this, even taking a short distance on the highway that would normally be cheap could become disproportionately more expensive due to the €2.23 daily fee. Sixt automatically adds this E-Toll fee for the whole rental period and later reimburses it if the car did not pass any highway toll gates. I was informed that the reimbursement would happen within 30 days after the rental, and it was actually done as promised. Cars are equipped with an electronic toll device.

Accommodation
We stayed in Airbnb apartments in A Ver o Mar and Braga, always entire flats. Both apartments had self check-in via lockbox, were very spacious and highly rated. The first apartment was very comfortable and located near a large beach. The town itself was not very charming, but it was a great base for exploring the coast and conveniently close to the airport from where I had to pick my father on the second day of our stay. The Braga apartment was modern, well located, and had an elevator, but the sofa bed in the living room was quite uncomfortable.

In Porto we found interesting offer via booking - Cais de Gaia Historic Loft. I usually compare Airbnb and Booking, especially in larger cities where competition is higher. This apartment turned out to be a great choice in an excellent location. The apartment was much smaller than previous ones but very well organized so we didn’t feel like it was any problem for us and the host welcomed us in person and provided many useful tips.

Average cost: €90 per night
• Booking minimum 3 months ahead is ideal for good deals
• Average rating: 4.9+

Food & Eating Out
We were looking for local restaurants, with great reviews and value. Important to note is that restaurants in Portugal are closing around 3pm and re-opening at 7pm. There are always some places open the whole day but really not many and often these were often more fast food places. To avoid eating in the late evening that would be difficult with our daughter, we were having food around lunch time which turned out to be great for our pockets are most of the restaurant had special dish of the day “sugestão do dia” in a lower price, around 10euro (between 2-6 dishes to choose from). We were always eating in the restaurants since food was cheap and very tasty. Our daughter loves to try new food but I feel like it was easy to find something suitable for her. To our surprise, almost always french fries were served with rice and meat but vegetable were smaller part of the meal. We also tried famous porto francesinha sandwich but it was not my favourite dish as it was too heavy. We could not communicate in English in the local restaurants so AI came in handy. If there was not even menu in English, we would take a photo of dishes of the day that were often listed on the board in front of the restaurant and ask AI to translate. Then we would even ask AI to make a list with selected drinks and dishes in Portuguese and we would show the waitress. They were very happy with these clear instructions. Everyone was always very nice even if we had some communication issues.

List of restaurants we would recommend:
Porto: Spice Art Indian Restaurante & Bar
Porto: Mirone - Cachorrinhos do Morro
Porto: Manteigaria
Porto: Casa Expresso
Barcelos: Cafe Raiz Barcelos 2 - the only one not closing in the afternoon
Aver-o-Mar: Tasquinha Sra. Das Neves
Viana do Castelo : Recanto da Picanha
Ponte de Lima: NACOS Restaurante
Braga: Atípica
Braga: Bella Braga Caffé & Restaurante

Budget Overview (for 8 days, 3 adults and four-year-old child)

Our Experience of Travelling with a Child
This trip was easier due to shorter distances between attractions. Despite the fact that good quality playgrounds were very rare, our daughter was occupied by nature. She was happy when we found even small playgrounds, but discovering beaches, forests, or old medieval cities was a perfect substitute for playgrounds. We also loved Portuguese food and always tried different dishes between all of us. We usually didn’t order her a separate meal, but she was getting some food from all of us to try. We sometimes ordered an extra appetizer, but most of the time portions were big enough to share with her. She always got an extra plate in the restaurant without us asking for it, which was very nice. Many hikes had multiple variants, so we could always find a suitable length for us. One of the attractions was taking a boat at the Lake of Bom Jesus Park, a short 15-minute ride but a lot of fun for her. She also enjoyed looking for different roosters in Barcelos, where this symbol of Portugal was hidden in different places in the city. A short walk in Serra da Labruja with waterfalls and two suspension bridges was one of the places she was excited about. There was also nice park near the first apartment where we stayed but Jardins do Palácio de Cristal was her top pick due to animals living there.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations
We do not regret any of the places we chose. The balance between cities, mountains, and coastal areas worked very well. For a spring trip, Northern Portugal is an excellent option. While locals mentioned the weather was not ideal, for us 15–20°C felt comfortable and pleasant for exploring.