Porto to Aveiro and Coimbra: Private day trip

Explore Aveiro for its rich salt-mining history and exciting art nouveau influences.

Start with a Moliceiro boat ride where you’ll glide through the canals and appreciate tiled houses and historic salt warehouses. Then, stroll the Art Nouveau trail and wander into the form Casa do Major Pessoa, now an art museum. Head to the sea flats and learn more about the area’s salt harvesting tradition, and visit the ecomuseum. In the summer, you can float in concentrated salt water for a weightless experience. Be sure to visit the Aveiro Cathedral and Museum of Santa Joana to learn more about royal history, or stroll the long wooden walkways of Passadicos de Aveiro.

Ancient academia and soulful alleys meet riverside calm in Portugal’s city of poets and kings.

Perched above the Mondego River, Coimbra whispers of scholars, saints, and centuries. Begin at the hilltop University of Coimbra, a UNESCO site where the Joanina Library stuns with baroque grandeur and echoes of ink-stained history. Step into the nearby Capela de Sao Miguel, bursting with azulejos and gold leaf, before wandering down to the Old Town — a maze of stone arches, laundry-draped alleys, and tiled facades. Pause at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, its ruined beauty standing quietly by the river. For calm and shade, stroll the Botanical Garden, where aqueducts and exotic flora shape a scholar’s retreat.