The quaint city of Vila Nova de Gaia is located directly across Douro River from the city of Porto. Its history is intricately linked to the port industry and that background can be seen on its streets and even in the boats floating on the river. From port tasting in its historic lodges to wandering along the old cobbled streets, Vila Nova de Gaia is great city to explore.
Port History
Wine has been produced in Portugal since ancient times, but it was the Romans who began growing grapes in the Douro Valley. Located 100 kilometers up the river from Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto, Douro continues to be a top producer of Portuguese wine today. Although they had been producing wine for centuries, the port industry only began in the 1600s when the British wanted an alternative to French wine. In order to withstand the long boat journey from Portugal to the UK, sweetening elements such as fruits, herbs, flowers, and brandy were added to the wine before aging it in wooden casks. This new drink was called port because of its proximity to the city of Porto.
Vila Nova de Gaia, commonly called Gaia, was found to be the perfect location to produce wine and port. In addition to offering cheaper properties and smaller hills than Porto, its climate and riverside location sealed Gaia’s future in the wine industry. Several wineries, called lodges, were built and the city’s prosperity grew. These historic wineries can still be found throughout the city’s old town; many of which are still producing wine and port. Even today, in order for a wine to be called port, it must be aged and bottled in Gaia.
Since the Douro vineyards are 100 kilometers (60 miles) away, grapes were brought down the Douro River to Gaia on wooden boats called rabelos. On the edge of Cais de Gaia (Gaia Pier), you can see many of these historic boats in the water. Instead of being used to transport grapes though, today the boats are used in another important industry, tourism. There are a variety of boat tours offered; from a one-hour hour port tasting to a full day boat trip up the Douro River.
You can read about the Douro Valley in our post A Driving Tour Through Portugal’s Douro Valley.
The other nice part of walking on Cais de Gaia is the view of picturesque Porto across the calm river. You can read about Porto in our post See The Sites In Picturesque Porto.
After enjoying our stroll along the water, we wandered around the old neighbourhoods above the river, seeking out the historic lodges. We found some on the side of narrow cobblestone lanes and others along the river’s edge. Famous brands such as Grahams, Sandeman, Taylors were known to us, but there are many other lodges that we had never heard of. The sheer number of lodges made us realize how big this industry is in Portugal.
As we walked though Old Town we had amazing views of Porto over the red rooftops of Vila Nova de Gaia.
Port Tasting
Almost all of the lodges in Gaia offer port tasting. We selected the oldest of these lodges, Real Companhia Velha (Royal Old Company). After the 1755 earthquake in Lisbon, the king invested heavily in the Douro region to help restore the country’s financial future. He did this by establishing Real Companhia Velha in 1756 which he owned and operated together with the prime minister. Up until that time Portugal’s wine and port industry was like the wild west with no consistency in the products, especially port. The king realized that this was not ideal for the exportation of this product. As a result, Real Companhia Velha established standards for port production and enforced these new rules.
Their lodge is located in a lovely old building near the top of the hill in Gaia. First we had a tour of the lodge where the process is similar to making wine until brandy and fruits are added. Huge casks and barrels lined the large lodge. One of the vats can hole up to a million litres of wine. It was by far the largest we have ever seen.
The most interesting part of the tour though was visiting their private cellar. Cave-like rooms were lined in wine bottle from as far back as the 1700s. A sponge like cover was placed over the cork to protect it from decay. Spiders are allowed to build their webs over these sponges and between the bottles. The result is a very spooky looking room and one of the strangest things we’ve seen. The company still adds to this collection every year, but never intends to sell or even open the bottles.
An unexpected and funny site at the winery was the office of the Polish Consulate. With this location, Polish born Richard thought he should apply for a job in the consulate. But unfortunately, they weren’t interested.
Finally it was time for our port tasting. We sampled four types of port: a dry white; a 2 year old Rosé; a 5 year old Ruby and a 10-year-old Tawny. The Tawny was our favourite with its slightly sweet, fruity flavour with oak undertones.
Tips for port tasting – Many of the lesser-known lodges don’t require pre-booking, but the better known companies usually require advanced booking. In the autumn, we only booked the night before and were able to get a spot in our lodge of choice.
If you don’t want to visit a lodge, there are also a lot of port tastings offered in the bars and patios in Gaia and Porto. Since we were now experts, we thought we should sample a few more over the next few days, to see how they compare. In the end we still preferred 10-year-old tawny port to the others. Although the lodges are not very expensive, tastings are cheaper on the boardwalk in Gaia and they give healthy samples.
In addition to the lodges, there are a few other interesting sites in Gaia. The most eye-catching building is Monastery of Serra do Pilaron (1538). We had seen this building several times during our stay since it is located at the end of Ponte de Dom Luís I (Bridge). It took 70 years to build the monastery and additions were still being added right up until the 18th century. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations in September 2024, so we weren’t able to visit, but it is a fascinating building, even from afar.
In addition to the monastery, there are of course, many other historic churches in Old Town Gaia.
Where to stay in Gaia
To visit Gaia you can either stay in Porto or Gaia. If you stay in Gaia, chose an accommodation in or near the historic centre. If you have a car, check first to see if you can access it by car because you can’t drive on some of the historic streets in Gaia. If you stay in Porto, the nicest neighbourhoods are the districts of Ribeira, Baixa or Bolhão. The city also has an efficient metro system if you want to stay a little further out.
Where to eat in Gaia
There are many patios along Cais de Gaia that always seemed to be busy with diners and port tasting. It has a fun, vibrant atmosphere.
Getting to Gaia
Most people access Gaia on a day or afternoon trip from Porto. You can either walk across Ponte de Dom Luís I (Bridge), take a ferry, or hire a taxi. Porto is very easy to reach with an international airport, and is connected to other major centres in the country by train and bus. You can also get to Vila Nova de Gaia by train as it is a stop on the Lisbon to Porto train.
To read more of our adventures in Portugal, click here.
Coming Next – A Driving Tour Through Portugal’s Douro Valley
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To read about more of our adventures go to Destinations.
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