The Douro river crosses the northern part of Portugal in an East-West direction lazily flowing into the Atlantic Ocean some 40 km from the city of Porto, the second largest city in Portugal and the center of the Porto wine production and a Unesco World Heritage site. The once wild and difficult to navigate river has been tamed by a series of lucks that cruise ships use to climb up to higher and higher elevations in an eastward direction towards the Spanish border passing by lush forested shoreline, small villages and wine estates on both sides.

As part of the Travelportugal.net  Douro river cruise you will sail through Portugal and one of  Europe’s most extensive wine growing areas producing almost a  hundreds of thousands of liters of table wines that are transported to Porto where they are fortified and fermented in the caves of the left bank for years resulting in one of the world’s most celebrated quality wine. 

As part of the Portugal river cruise shore excursions visitors will stop at small villages and towns like the lovely Lamego, a pilgrimage town with a spectacular landscaped stairway resembling Northern Italian gardens, that lead to the hilltop shrine among palm trees and flowering bushes abd pine trees. The town has many interesting churches, a pleasant local museum and is famous for its local sparkling wine, the Raposeira.    

Arriving the port of Régua you can visit Mateus Palace famous for it beautiful garden and quality wines just outside of the city of Vila Real in the most remote region of Portugal, called Trás-os-Montes (Beyond the Mountains.) Pinhão is also the departure point to the most attractive shore excursion in the area to hills and hills of terraced vineyards overlooking the town hidden below rolling hills in a fjord-like setting.  

The biggest asset of the Portugal river cruises on the Douro, in addition to the lovely scenery and the famous, wines is the crew on board. Portuguese people are famed for their hospitability, friendliness and good sense of humor. Cruise directors and staff speak very good English, they are attentive, knowledgeable and in general they are there to please you in every way possible 

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