Aliados & Bolhão

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Overview

With a regal beaux arts boulevard blazing through its centre, this vibrant neighbourhood hides boutiques, old-school grocery stores, pavement cafes, and baroque churches dazzling with azulejos (hand-painted tiles) down its backstreets. This is where Porto comes to market-shop, eat and play, with the Galerias enticing party-goers to its speakeasy-style bars, slinky cocktail-sipping lounges and live-music venues after dark.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Detail of Sao Bento Train station in Oporto. The first train arrived here in 1896, but the building (designed with a French Renaissance touch) opened in 1903.; Shutterstock ID 7016608; Your name (First / Last): Josh Vogel; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: Digital Content/Sights

São Bento Train Station

Aliados & Bolhão

One of the world's most beautiful train stations, beaux arts São Bento wings you back to a more graceful age of rail travel. Completed in 1903, it seems…

APRIL 19, 2017: Customers browse books inside the famous bookshop, Lello e Irmao (1906).
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Livraria Lello

Aliados & Bolhão

Ostensibly a bookshop, but even if you’re not after books, don’t miss this exquisite 1906 neo-Gothic confection, with its lavishly carved plaster…

Capela das Almas

Aliados & Bolhão

On Rua de Santa Catarina stands the strikingly ornate, azulejo-clad Capela das Almas. Magnificent blue-and-white panels here depict scenes from the lives…

Praça da Batalha

Aliados & Bolhão

At the southern end of Rua de Santa Catarina is the lovely, eclectic Praça da Batalha, framed by Nasoni’s gracefully baroque Igreja de Santo Ildefonso…

Avenida dos Aliados

Aliados & Bolhão

Lined with bulging, beaux arts facades and capped by the stately câmara municipal (municipal council), this avenida recalls grand Parisian imitators such…

Rua de Santa Catarina

Aliados & Bolhão

This street is absurdly stylish and romantic, with trim boutiques, striped stone footpaths and animated crowds. It's home to Porto's most ornate tearoom,…

Trader at meat goods stall at Bolhao Market.

Mercado do Bolhão

Aliados & Bolhão

The 19th-century, wrought-iron Mercado do Bolhão closed its doors in spring 2018 for a major restoration project. No fixed date had been given for its…

Torre dos Clérigos

Aliados & Bolhão

Sticking out on Porto's skyline like a sore thumb – albeit a beautiful baroque one – this 76m-high tower was designed by Italian-born baroque master…

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