A place to visit for the art lovers passing by Porto. Great DA in a very impressive building…read more Unfortunately I didn't visited the garden as it asked to pay for an extra ticket. Don't expect much from the library. Classic art books but nothing more On sunday morning the museum is free for everyone

Not a must-do, this free museum is still worth trying to squeeze in to your visit should you find…read moretime in your schedule. It is filled with several floors walking down the history of photography from the dawn of the camera to the digital age. You can pace yourself to whatever run time you have available. I spent about 45 minutes to an hour and was happily entertained. There are also a few good window views from this old converted prison. If you have extra time, consider their rotating special exhibition. However, entry to that side of the museum will come with a small charge.

A free museum that is inside what used to be a large prison. It is free and that is really it's…read moremain redeeming feature. I say that as the permanent exhibit of photography is quite limited. Lots of very large rooms that have very few photographs in them. I wanted to see more, more, more, but it was not to be. The did have a few displays of photography equipment, some of it quite old. This was nice to see but still limited. There is currently a temporary exhibit of photographs by Frida Kahlo but it seems to only be open for groups and pre-booked tours. [Review 9901 overall, 1479 of 2018.]

Good luck finding this place. Your GPS may misdirect you as you try to find it. It's actually the…read moreNadir Alfonso Museum of Contemporary Art and we just so happen to go in there was an exhibit of Alfonso's work--art and architecture. The galleries are large and bright as you might expect in a museum. The staff is very friendly and helpful. I the exterior is made with architectural precast concrete and granite. Marble accents up here in doorways and and a small meeting room and the verandas. Nice skylights. The entrance is best from the city street, where we parked in front of some stores.

As I continue to catch up on the large number of things I did in Portugal from, now, *several*…read moremonths ago... this is the one review I have left that is probably the least likely to have changed in a few months, of a building whose main attraction is the beauty of the building itself, beauty that was all constructed... not recently. Though I did also appreciate the tour, mainly in the history of the building, a building honoring not a king or a royal line like the other glamorous historical building we stopped at earlier in the trip, the royal palace in Madrid, but the history of commerce itself in the country, and the continued independence of a small nation surrounded by Spain on several sides, mostly on the power of their *money*. Money, which of course, they also used to construct this impressive building, that *reminds* you of a building a historical king would construct to honor his own family with stolen riches, but in this case, the riches seem to have been earned more... legally, at least. It is still also used at least sometimes for its original purpose (impressing foreign businessmen, i.e. business meetings), but obviously now mostly for our purposes it's a spot on all the tourists' list of half-hour tours. Definitely worth a stop if you're never been - though it is too bad tickets sell out somewhat in advance, in that I bought 2 tickets to this weeks earlier, not counting on my wife to be feeling rather sick that day and unable to join a tour. I don't think tours are unreasonably priced, given it's a unique, historical, and quite impressive building, but it was definitely not worth it at the effective twice the cost it ended up being when my wife couldn't make the tour. That said, you don't have to reserve the *time* in advance, though as other reviews have pointed out, if you only speak English, they have tours in 3 languages, so you want to get there relatively early the day of your tour, and redeem your tickets, valid for any tour the day, for passes, valid for a specific tour, before all the spots on the *English* tours are taken. They do have tours all day, though. At the end of the tour, they also have a small, presumably subsidized, shop selling pastel de nata, glasses of one specific bottle of Port, and espresso. I say presumably subsidized because, even by the standards of food and drink in Porto, already somewhat better than in the US, all three of those items were... inexpensive, and solid. Obviously that isn't why we went on the tour, but I did have a goal of trying as many of all of those as I could in the time I was in Portugal, so it was a fun bonus.

Impressive palace harkening back to Porto's mercantile past…read more Palácio da Bolsa is a neoclassical stock exchange palace built in the mid 19th century to impress visiting delegations when Porto was the commercial gateway into Portugal. We booked an English group tour (€14) that gathered at the Hall of Nations, a central courtyard with a glass iron dome up top encircled by 25 gold gilded crests symbolizing the countries of that age with friendly trade relations to Portugal. We toured various ornate rooms belonging to Porto's mercantile association. At the Commercial Court Room, a renaissance painting on its ceiling above portrayed the angel of justice with eyes open based on the city's belief. From there we passed by a small studio where Gustave Eiffel once worked on city projects. Next were the Golden Room and General Assembly Room where large wood paneling was made instead with plaster, an innovative approach at the time and the first application in Porto. From the Kings' Portraits Room we finally stepped into the stunning Arabian Room, a massive hall of staggering opulence that was meant to awe visiting trade delegations while resembling the Alhambra Palace. Intricate Moorish revival style details, elaborate geometric patterns from wall-to-wall, and beautifully colored stain glass left us speechless. We finished the tour heading down a grand marble staircase. Skip it or hit it? We found the tour visit incredibly informative and well worth the admission to see Porto's trading roots & past wealth on display.

The permanent collection is currently closed due to covid with no reopening date, so it's just…read moretemporary exhibitions for now The Dom Pedro exhibition was small and only of interest to aficionados of Portuguese history Italian/Portuguese Masters was really just drawings. Most weren't very interesting and of the Real Masters there was only one I spotted - a Leonardo da Vinci If you're in the area maybe it's worth dropping by but I don't think it was worth going out of your way to visit (it's a bit out of the way compared to other sights) and paying 3€. At least while the permanent collection is out of commission

Love this museum. For me visiting a city in a foreign land starts always with museum. The museum…read morein Porto in kinda unknown but lovely. Definitely a must visit place in Porto. Yeah, there are so many place to visit, but museum is my thing in any cities in the world.

The church is beautiful. The flow of the exhibition is excellent. You can feel the care that the…read morecity took in making the art not only stand out but be historically accurate and respectful. The explanations are in English and Portuguese. A wonderful and must see place.

This little museum is so unsuspecting... it packs a really big religious and art history punch!…read more Most of the museum is based on the life of Santa Joana, who was a princess-turned-saint and inspired many artists to capture moments throughout her glorified life. The old convent has such a great feel to it, and the baroque-style church housed within is a serious showstopper. You can even walk up onto the altar! Almost nothing in this museum is roped off or barricaded, which is something I've never seen before with things that hold this much historic value. It really heightens the experience. It was one of the highlights of my time in Portugal, and I could not be happier I visited, also for the low low cost of 5 Euro! Whaaaaaaat? The only thing I'd mention that I was not a fan of is the custom merch in the little gift shop. It's very "cutesy" and child-like; seriously odd. Don't miss this if you are in Aveiro - a must see!!!

This place is extremely beautiful and has a lot of history and arts within the walls. I took a very…read moreshort and brief tour here. Our tour guide was fantastic. My favorite part was the indoor rooms with the large rug like murals on the wall. It was a beautiful work of art.

This is a medieval estate and former residence of the first duke of Braganza! It was originated…read morebetween 1420 and 1422! The property has some Romanesque architectural features! The residence was occupied by Alfonso (Count Of Barcelona) future Duke of Braganza! Titles and properties eventually passed to Fernando II! The property is easy to navigate and you have the option to listen to an audio guided tour as well! The are many rooms to visit! It is best to make time so you can really get a comprehensive understanding of this property!

We enjoyed it. If…read moreyou're looking for an overview of the history of the Trams and Trolley cars of Porto, this is the place to get it. We paid the senior (65) rate of €4 each to get in. We spent about 30 minutes but you could easily spend an hour or more here. We saw 20 or so, restored cars as well as components of older power plant systems that power the system. When we're done, we hopped aboard the tram to Infante to walk around the river area. You buy tram tickets on the train and can pay using cash or credit.

World of disappointment! Very overpriced. Long line for "boat ride". It's very lackluster. Waste…read moreof money and time. Someone mentioned that there were actors dressed up and performing as poets or navigators. We did not get this at all. Skip completely in my opinion. Not worth it at all.

If you like history or like museums in general this is a fun place to go! It's focus is on…read morePortuguese navigators and their discoveries across the globe. All there exhibits are interactive including a really interesting half globe that lets you select dates and see what maps of the earth they had in that year. All the information was on computers which had many languages to choose from. The info was detailed and talked about navigators and other influential people with some being a little less known outside of Portugal. The boat ride was fun and informational. The sets were well made and depicted Portuguese history across the world. Overall it was a fun experience for someone who likes history and learning new things.