Avenida dos Aliados

The Aliados was driven through the medieval fabric of Porto from 1916 on a plan influenced by the English architect Barry Parker, replacing a dense quarter with a broad rising avenue lined in granite and stucco beaux-arts buildings - banks, newspaper offices, hotels - and climbing to the câmara municipal, the city hall, with its seventy-metre clock tower at the top. It was renamed for the Allies after the First World War. The paving was remodelled in 2006 by Álvaro Siza and Souto de Moura, replacing gardens with an open granite surface, a change that is still argued about locally. It is where Porto assembles: for São João on the night of 23 June, for football celebrations, for New Year, for demonstrations. At the lower end it opens into Praça da Liberdade with the equestrian statue of Pedro IV, and São Bento station is just off it.

What you actually see

• The boulevard - a rising granite avenue of beaux-arts buildings from 1916.
• The city hall - the câmara municipal with a seventy-metre clock tower at the top.
• The Siza paving - the contested 2006 remodelling that removed the gardens.
• The gathering place - where Porto assembles for São João, football and New Year.

When to go

Year-round. Thirty to sixty minutes to walk. The night of 23 June, São João, is when it is most itself and most crowded.

Honest expectations

The 2006 remodelling left it hard and open with little shade or seating, which many locals dislike. Traffic runs on both sides. Very crowded during festivals. It is a street, not a monument - half an hour covers it.

Nearby

São Bento station is a minute away; Clérigos and Livraria Lello are west.