From Porto’s City Hall to Vila Nova de Gaia: Portugal’s Hidden Stories

(47 reviews)

Porto audio tour: From Porto’s City Hall to Vila Nova de Gaia: Portugal’s Hidden Stories

This is a 2.7mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Porto

Portugal

$11.99

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About the Tour

Porto’s picturesque streets are home to grand medieval buildings, revolutionary history, and cute cafés filled with culinary delights. On this walking tour, you’ll hear the stories of kings who dressed their dead wives as queens, princes who launched the Age of Discovery, and ordinary citizens who shaped Portugal’s destiny.

Starting in front of the impressive Porto City Hall, you’ll wander through cobbled streets where Roman settlers once traded, medieval merchants crafted sword scabbards, and Portuguese rebels proclaimed the first republic. Strolling through the city’s atmospheric streets, from the grand Avenida dos Aliados (Avenue of the Allies) to the ancient Jewish quarter’s narrow alleyways, you’ll hear the history hidden beneath its famous blue tiles and granite facades.

As you make your way to Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto’s neighbouring city where the tour ends, you’ll head up steps to spectacular viewpoints. From Miradouro da Vitória and Miradouro da Rua das Aldas, you’ll enjoy sweeping vistas over the Douro River. You’ll cross the iconic Dom Luís I Bridge, designed by a former partner of Gustave Eiffel, while learning about the tragic bridge collapse that claimed thousands of lives during Napoleon’s invasion.

On this 90-minute tour, you’ll have a chance to:

Marvel at São Bento Station’s 20,000 hand-painted tiles depicting Portugal’s most pivotal historical moments, from medieval battles to royal weddings
Stand outside Livraria Lello, often called the world’s most beautiful bookshop, and learn why literary pilgrims queue for hours to enter
Climb Torre dos Clérigos, once Portugal’s tallest building and a navigation beacon for ships, while hearing ghost stories of lovelorn monks
Sample Castro Atelier de Pastéis de Nata famous custard tarts
Explore Igreja do Carmo’s spectacular tiled facade featuring 40,000 ceramic pieces
Pass by Porto’s tiny Puppet Museum, which preserves centuries-old Portuguese marionette traditions
Find out how Gaia, the quieter riverside city, became the heart of the port wine trade

By the end of this tour, you’ll have an experience of Porto not just as a tourist destination, but as a living chronicle of Portuguese creativity.

Please note: this walking tour covers about two miles with some uphill sections.

Tour Producer

Mark Whiteley

7 tours

I trained as an actor at London's prestigious Arts Educational School where I learnt about the voice and the art of telling stories. I went on to work in theatre, television and film for 10 years eventually running my own theatre company for 20 years. As a company we tried to make the work as imaginative and unique as possible, in one show we walked across the UK with no money, food or accommodation to see if humanity was kind. In another play we emigrated to Poland and used the experience for an award winning UK tour about immigration. I turned shops into theatre spaces, I performed in barns, houses, fields and many of the UK's best theatres.

In 2014 I won a prestigious Manchester theatre award for my play Thick as Thieves. I've taken three shows to the Edinburgh festival winning rave reviews along the way. In 2020 our world changed forever as COVID hit. My theatre company "went dark" and I lost my passion for it. On a whim my wife and I bought a motorhome unseen in an auction and in blink of an eye a new obsession began... travel.

To date I have been to most countries in the European union, I have parked up in woods, on cliffs in car parks. I have travelled far and wide until I picked Portugal to put down new roots. But even that wasn't easy, where do you live in a foreign land? The answer is you go out in the motorhome and look, so that's what we did. From the mountains in the north through the midlands and into Algarve we travelled for two years until we discovered Tomar.

We bought our home in 2025 and because I needed to find work I started studying Tomar's rich history and researching the stories about Templar Knights, Portuguese kings and how Portugal once discovered the world. With my background in performance and storytelling I began take travellers around Tomar sharing not only the history, but Portugal's culture too. This is what brought me to Voicemap and their excellent team and production values.

On my audio tours I take the role of your friend in whatever city we are in, I like to make you smile and see a place as a real city, not a museum piece. Seeing a place warts and all is what makes the difference between an okay tour and a great tour.

Preview Location

Location 37

Porto Puppet Museum

Continue around the left as you reach the bottom. I have got something quite quaint to show you.

[10 second pause]

Tucked away in this quiet side street in Vitória, just a short stroll on your right, is a place where characters come to life, not on screen, but through wo... Continue around the left as you reach the bottom. I have got something quite quaint to show you.

[10 second pause]

Tucked away in this quiet side street in Vitória, just a short stroll on your right, is a place where characters come to life, not on screen, but through wood, fabric, and human hands.

Welcome to the theatre of Marionettes in Porto, the city’s puppet theatre, and a living tribute to one of Portugal’s oldest and most imaginative art forms. Please stop here for a minute.

Founded in 1988 by John Paulo Cardoso, a visionary puppeteer and stage director, this theatre wasn’t just about entertainment. It was a revival. Cardoso believed that puppets could tell stories in ways humans sometimes couldn’t, offering satire, magic, melancholy, and myth. Over the decades, the theatre has produced dozens of original shows for both adults and children, using handcrafted marionettes, shadow puppets, masks, and objects.

Inside the theatre's adjacent museum, you’ll discover its soul: a collection of over 1,200 puppets, masks, and stage props, each one with its own personality, carved expressions, and worn joints from years of performance. You’ll find characters from classic plays, adaptations of Portuguese literature, and creatures from folklore.

Right let's carry on again while I continue my story. You're doing really well,

Keep going in the direction we were going, along Rua de Belomonte, which translates to beautiful mountain, by the way.

So, puppetry has deep roots in Portuguese culture. It dates back at least to the 1500's, when marionette shows were performed in public squares and royal courts. The traditional puppet theatres, known as robertos, were once a common sight at fairs and markets. These glove puppets, much like Punch and Judy in Britain, would perform humorous, often violent, sketches with a cheeky lead character named Roberto.

But as cinema and television took hold, traditional puppet shows began to fade. That’s why the Theatre is so important: it didn’t just preserve this art form—it reimagined it for modern audiences, adding poetic visuals, original scripts, and contemporary themes.

Remember you can stop anytime for refreshments. In fact, there is a fabulous place I can show up ahead.

Keep going straight. You'll hear from me shortly. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Luís I Bridge
Porto City Hall
Igreja do Carmo
University of Porto
Livraria Lello
Clérigos Church
McDonald's - Imperial
Sao Bento station
Porto Cathedral
Jardim do Morro
Taylor's Port Shop
Casa de Pasto O Golfinho
Casa Expresso
Torre dos Clérigos
Rua de 31 de Janeiro
MMIPO - Museu da Misericórdia do Porto
Miradouro da Vitória
Casa da Rua de São Miguel
Porto Puppet Museum
Castro - Atelier de Pastéis de Nata
Igreja de São Lourenço and the Convento dos Grilos
Miradouro da Rua das Aldas
Porto Cathedral
Igreja do Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
PC GEN Humberto Delgado, 4049-001 Porto, Portugal
Total distance

4km
Final location
N1, 4430-999 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
Distance back to start location

1km

Directions to Starting Point

The city hall (Câmara Municipal do Porto) is easy to find at the top of the largest square in Porto. The metro station is Aliados and if you are getting a cab ask for Avenue Aliados or Câmara Municipal do Porto.

The best taxi app in Porto is Bolt, you can also hire bikes/scooters with this app.

Show Directions

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

I've highlighted the lots of places in the tour, but you'll find loads more places too. Next to the library Lello is a great place to mooch.

Best time of day

The early bird catches the worm, but later in the afternoon is good too.

Precautions

Roadworks. They are everywhere in Porto. Remember if there is an obstacle go around and hopefully the GPS will pick you up. Look at the map on our App.

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App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”