This is one of Europe's oldest tourist destinations. Its wealth of artistic heritage, Port Wine, open-air leisure spaces and cultural life are just some of the reasons to visit this city. The city unfolds along the river bank and the sea shore, to reveal charming vistas, inviting esplanades and all the pleasures of the outdoors, framed by its green spaces. But setting out to discover Porto means bumping into surprise after surprise. Whilst maintaining its welcoming and conservative nature, the city is, at the same time, contemporary and creative. This can be seen in its streets, its architectures, its museums, its leisure spaces, its esplanades and its shopping areas which run from the traditional to the modern and exclusive. Porto’s Historical Centre was designated World Cultural Heritage in 1996 and its natural setting and its meandering streets give it a unique charm. Port wine is present in the city in a multitude of forms and sensations: you can get to know it and try it, but never ignore it or forget it.

The traces of medieval architecture still remain in the historical centre of Porto, but it was mostly during the period of Baroque when the city affirmed itself as one of the most important centers of the creation of art, both at a national and regional level. This progress was conditioned by extensive urban reforms that took place in the second half of the eighteenth century and were mostly based on modernization of the old medieval zone. The nineteenth and twentieth century were to emerge and give rise to new expressions and esthetic movements that the city incorporates, interprets and creates, the elements that are nowadays a testimony of the modernity of Porto.