The Douro River: Bridges, Cruises and Wine

The beautiful Douro River flows into Portugal after dropping out of the Sierra de Urbión in Soria, Spain. The meandering river eventually empties out into the Atlantic Ocean, near Porto, right next to the district of Foz.

The Douro is the third longest river on the Iberian Peninsula, and also serves as the main water source for the irrigation of Portugal’s famous wine grapes. The grapes are cultivated on farms (quintas) cut into sheer slopes along the riverbanks, quite a distance inland from the Atlantic. The grape harvests eventually find their way down the watercourse to Vila Nova de Gaia, where they’re distilled into Port wine. Of course, a lot of wonderful wine, apart from Port, comes from this region as well, including some spectacular reds and whites.

Once the river reaches Porto, it passes under six tall bridges, before finally rushing into the Atlantic. The bridges are, from west to east: the Ponte da Arrábida, which once boasted the widest concrete span in the world, the Ponte de Dom Luís I, the most prominent bridge in the city, with an undercarriage for pedestrian traffic to the village of Vila Nova de Gaia. Then there’s the Ponte do Infante (with the planet’s longest concrete arch), the Ponte Dona Maria Pia (designed by Gustave Eiffel, the man responsible for some famous tower in Paris), which was once utilized for rail traffic, followed by the Ponte de São João. Porto’s last bridge is the underappreciated Ponte do Freixo.

In the summertime, children and adolescents leap off the lower part of the Ponte de Dom Luís I into the river, although they have to be very careful when timing their jumps, so that they miss the riverboats passing beneath the bridge.

The best way to see the Douro River is by taking a ‘six bridges’ river tour. You can catch a boat in the district of Ribeira in downtown Porto, or hop on a boat just across the water in Vila Nova de Gaia. Most cruises last about an hour.

If you're a lover of wine, and longer river cruises, you can opt for a lengthier trip, and head up the river into wine country. Cruises can last from one to several days. One of the most spectacular times to float up the Dour River Valley is in the autumn, just before grape harvest. Stop off at a few vineyards and see how the grapes are tended and harvested. If you’re lucky, the growers might even have some bottles of wine for you to sample, or purchase in order to take back home.