The short break that re-planned itself.

By Hamish Baisley (17), with Euan (14) and Fergus (11)

Halfway through the best meal of our holiday, Paula, who runs the front of the restaurant, asked whether we’d been to Portugal before. Dad told her about a family trip to Lisbon, and an earlier trip he’d made with friends when he’d gone to see a Benfica match. That’s when she told us Vitória de Guimarães were playing at home that night, ten minutes’ walk away. She could give us two tickets for free, and sort out any others we wanted.

We hadn’t even known the match existed. We finished dinner at normal pace — rushing or leaving early would have been rude — and four of us walked to the ground to find it quiet outside, because everyone was already in.

It finished 5–0, we watched from right behind the ultras, and it was the coolest part of the trip.

None of that was in the plan. A lot of the best bits weren’t.

Why Porto, and why this shape

We wanted a short break with a bit of warmth, and Dad had three rules: a maximum of about three to three-and-a-half hours’ flying time, good-value flights available, and affordable (which meant a good value country and nowhere we’d need two hotel rooms every night for five of us). Porto fitted the bill. Apartments solved the room problem — three nights at Oporto Yellow Villas near Casa da Música, then one night in Guimarães, so only one change of base. Putting Guimarães at the end meant we could travel straight to the airport from there on Saturday night instead of doubling back.

The plan (and what happened to it)

Before we went, Dad had built an itinerary using AI. It had everything: a football stadium tour timed to the minute, a port lodge, a table to book at one of Gaia’s cellar restaurants, train times, bus platform numbers. It was impressive. It lasted until 10:52 on Wednesday morning, which is when we actually left the apartment.

I’m not criticising it. The plan was a good base — it gave us a shape, a few bookings worth keeping, and prices to benchmark everything against. But the reality was a lot of the plan was worked out on the ground: a sold-out tour we had to rebook around, a restaurant table secured by direct message, and a football match we hadn’t even considered the possibility of being on. This is the story of both trips — the one on the spreadsheet and the one we actually had.

Tuesday — arrival, and dinner at 22:10

We landed at Porto just after 8pm, took the metro straight to Casa da Música, and walked to the apartment. It became our reference station for the whole stay. The flat itself had more beds than we needed — six proper bed places for five of us — a little kitchenette, and a supermarket nearby, where Mum bought fruit and breakfasts for us. Having the option to eat in matters on a city break even if you barely cook.

By the time we went out it was 22:00, and the only place nearby still open was Ola Vietnam, fifty yards down the street. They took five of us without blinking. Three beef pho, a couple of other choices, a decent bottle of wine, €95 including the tip. “Very, very nice,” said Dad. It was a pattern for the week: food that cost less than it would at home, and people happy to see us.

Wednesday — the old town, and the Palácio da Bolsa

We were out at 10:52, two hours later than intended. First stop, straight outside the metro exit at São Bento: the station’s tiled entrance hall, which is free and worth the ten minutes.

Palácio da Bolsa — Porto’s old stock exchange — was next, and it taught us our first lesson: the noon tour was sold out. We booked the 13:30 English tour and filled the gap with lunch at Brunchit on the Ribeira (€85.05), where Fergus had what he’d later name as his favourite dish of the entire holiday: a smash burger, “lots of juice coming from the meat”.

Bolsa itself is a guided tour, partly because some of the building is still offices. Euan, 14, called it the most impressive sightseeing of the trip: “a room full of plaster, but painted, so it was like wood and bronze… a gold leaf room, in like an Arabic style.” I went in half-hoping it would connect with my interest in finance. It connected but “not a ton” — it’s more historical and political than financial — which is a useful thing to know before you pay, and it was still a good visit.

Then across the lower deck of Dom Luís I Bridge to Gaia, and uphill to Taylor’s. Our booking was 15:20; the visit takes about an hour. It’s self-guided — you follow a link through the storage rooms and exhibits at your own pace, and end at the tasting. The sun was out, so we took our drinks outside into the garden. Children’s tickets come with grape juice, and five €2 chocolate tasting packs brought it to €103 for the five of us. Dad worked out that the three ports alone would cost about €23, against a €25 ticket.

Fergus, 11, picked Taylor’s as his favourite visit of the whole trip: “different things you can smell and games you can try” — though the chocolate was “a little underwhelming, since it was just three tiny bars”. Honest as ever.

Afterwards, Jardim do Morro for the view from the Gaia side, then back over the upper deck of the bridge — the full Porto panorama from above — and up Clérigos Tower in the evening. The stairs get narrower and steeper as you climb, and it feels longer than it is. The view from the top is the payoff.

Thursday — three boys versus the Atlantic

This was the day the plan bent furthest. The itinerary had the FC Porto museum and stadium in the morning and surfing in the afternoon. But Mum and the boys had seen plenty of stadiums, so we dropped the tour, started late, had noodles at Kungfu Niuniu (€92, under €20 each), and kept the surf.

The three of us had a 15:00 lesson with Surfing Life Club at Matosinhos: £82.71 for all three, boards and wetsuits included, roughly ninety minutes in the water after a land warm-up. Five in the group including a couple, but it never felt crowded — you surfed on your own with the instructor there when you needed him. The grey sky didn’t matter once we were in wetsuits; nobody complained about the water.

Dinner was Mimo’s Smoke House back in central Porto (€146): burgers, brisket, mac and cheese. “Very typical, like Texas, American food… and I would really recommend it,” said Euan, who’s clearly going to be the family food critic. My mac and cheese with pork was very nice; Fergus’s Oreo milkshake reportedly did its job.

Friday — a concert hall, a fancy McDonald’s, and the move

Before leaving Porto we did Casa da Música — the Koolhaas concert hall ten minutes from the flat — on a self-guided visit, €40 for five. I thought it was quite cool. Dad liked the little rooms more than the big auditorium: they seem designed for everyone from school groups to independent artists.

Lunch was pizza at Il Basilico in the PortoBay Teatro hotel (€85.73): “really good and fresh”, made in an oven at the back of the restaurant. Then we insisted on seeing McDonald’s Imperial near São Bento. We’d spotted it on Google Maps while looking for lunch: an Art Deco former café that the reviews call the best-looking McDonald’s around. €7.50 bought three McFlurries and some accidental architecture appreciation. Mum also picked up six pastéis de nata at Nata Sweet Nata for €10 (six for the price of five). She and Dad loved them. The boys, traitorously, preferred the supermarket versions we tried later. Families.

The 14:20 train to Guimarães took about an hour and twenty-five minutes — €16.20 for five, bought online on the way to the station; urban trains don’t have reserved seats, so good to arrive with a bit of time to spare. Our apartment, Casa do Visconde (€121.67), was clean, modern, ten minutes from the centre, and handy for both railway and bus stations. And when we asked about Saturday, the hosts stored our bags in another property they run, right in the middle of town. That favour really made Saturday easier than if we’d had to find somewhere else.