Munsterfan

really? shoot I LOVE trains as much as I hate bus rides...shoot!

EMR

Take the alpha pendular from Faro to Porto stops in lisbon, coimbra and Averio, first class in every sense.
Ok a lot longer than flying but you see so much more.
We board in Ferrerais, the station for Albufeira.

vertigobike

Hi, tootlewagon & Guys.

Going for a cruise in the Douro is superb! Shop around amongst the various companies (don´t just go for the main company Douro Azul), like https://www.google.ie/webhp?sourceid...%20rio%20douro

From the Algarve to Oporto you can either take your car, train, express bus or plane there.

So far I did 2 boat trips in the Douro:

the 45 min "6 Bridges Cruise" in the typical Rabelo boat, going West > East > West

the 1 day "Oporto > Régua > Oporto" cruise
I went with my wife to the São Bento train station in downtown Oporto, joined the group and went for the picturesque train ride to the fabulous Régua wine city; then we simply walked a few meters from the Régua train station to the Douro pier where the boat was waiting for us. Then we sailed down the river just absorving the air and gorgeous landscapes as well as chatting to tourists (a lot of old folks from Brazil) and taking pictures like there was no tomorrow! :-) ... all of this while hearing live the very nice tour guide lady, in Portuguese, French and English languages. After a while it was time to go downstairs to the restaurant (lunch included in the package) where we enjoyed a fantastic meal with some nice wine and very jolly people! The process of lowering the boat in the Carrapatelo (35 m) and Crestuma-Lever (14 m) dams is astonishing and after some time we arrived at Cais de Gaia in Vila Nova de Gaia to end our trip, in the late afternoon... still in time to get extremely beautiful pictures of Gaia and Oporto lit with the sunset light. Overall we rated this 1 day cruise amazing and I think at the time it was around € 50 per person (train ride and lunch included). (There´s also the "inverse" route available - you start with the cruise from Oporto and stop at Régua, and then take the train back down to Oporto).

I think these 2 cruises are advisable to do (especially the 6 bridges one, also the cheapest) - then the next "step" is of course those really expensive "Hotel Cruises"... but that can take some time :-)

Thanks & Regards,
c a r l i t o s

rod70

We did the Douro Cruise a couple of years ago. It was the most beautiful journey I have ever made and the food and company on the ship were superb. Cannot recommend it enough. Do it, you will never regret it.