The Port Lodges of Gaia

Port is grown in the Douro valley but it was matured here, on the south bank opposite Porto, because Gaia's damp river air was steadier than the heat upriver. The result is a hillside of low warehouses, the caves, with company names painted across their roofs in letters readable from the other bank: the English, Scottish, Dutch and Portuguese houses that have held these plots for two or three centuries. Almost all of them run tours through the barrel halls that end in a tasting flight, and the flat-bottomed rabelo boats moored along the quay are kept as advertising rather than as working transport.

What you actually see

• The barrel halls - dim aisles of pipes and vats under the lodge roofs.
• The tasting flights - ruby, tawny and white poured side by side.
• The rabelo boats - flat-bottomed river boats moored along the quay.
• The roofline signs - lodge names painted large across the hillside.

When to go

Year-round, since it happens indoors and the cellars stay cool in August when Porto does not. Book the bigger houses ahead in summer and at weekends. Late afternoon suits it, with the walk back over the upper deck of the iron bridge into the sunset. Most lodges close in the early evening rather than late.

Honest expectations

The tours repeat each other closely, so two in one day is one too many, and the cheapest ticket usually pours the least interesting wines. The riverside strip is now heavily geared to visitors, with prices to match. The bridge walk back is exposed and busy. Port is sweet and strong, and a flight before dinner ends the evening for some people.

Nearby

The Ribeira waterfront is across the bridge; a cable car runs down the Gaia bank.