Hills. River. Ocean. Beach. History. Good weather. For those visiting Portugal’s second largest city and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the estuary of the Douro River, running in Porto has it all. Note that the old city is very vertical and features a lot of narrow, cobblestoned streets — not that easy for running. If you’d like to have an in-person guided running experience in Porto, we highly recommend our friends at Go! Running Tours.
The signature runs in Porto are along each side of the Douro River, and three distinct oceanside promenades, including the nearly 20 km Gaia seafront, where you can run one way and take the train back! We also have a ‘runseeing tour’ of the the historical core, with its maze of narrow streets, walls, and fortifications. defined in the “Protected area”, and within it the “Classified area”, which comprises the medieval borough located inside the 14th-century Romanesque wall. Fun but a bit confusing for running.
Getting around this compact city is fairly easy. Six metro lines serve central Porto. Foz and the area north of Matosinhos are not that well served by transport. Praia=beach. Praca=Square