35 min
20 min
30 min
1 · 18
2.5 / km²
19
0 - one reason for the Mixed verdict
581
+3% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Boavista & Massarelos
This parish runs from the Boavista roundabout down to the Douro, and it is where Porto put the things that needed space. The Serralves foundation and its park are here, so is the Ipanema Park, so are the four-star conference hotels along Avenida da Boavista with rooms twice the size of anything the old town can fit. The river bank between Massarelos and the bridge is one of the few stretches of Porto waterfront with no tourists on it.
The catch is that nothing is close. There is no metro station inside the parish at all - Casa da Música, the nearest, sits just over the boundary in Cedofeita - and Aliados is a 35-minute walk, uphill on the way back. Tram 1 runs along the river towards Foz and the Ribeira, which is charming and slow and stops in the evening. The hotels here are built around conference schedules, so a Saturday can feel like a business park with the lights off.
Book here for work, for a car, or for quiet. Do not book here for a three-night sightseeing trip.
What works
- Serralves and its park are inside the district, not a bus ride away
- Large four-star rooms that the old town physically cannot fit
- Tram 1 runs the river bank to the Ribeira in about 20 minutes
- Quiet enough to sleep with the window open
What does not
- No metro station inside the district - Casa da Música is over the boundary
- A 35-minute walk to Aliados, uphill coming home
- Hotels built for conferences, so weekends feel deserted
- Nothing within walking distance stays open late
Several parts of the city are still not covered by the metro network - Boavista, the financial district, for one.