🎬 Introduction
Porto with Kids? It’s a Great Idea!
The city enchants from every angle with its charm. It’s full of colors thanks to the azulejos tiles that adorn houses, buildings, and churches, often forming geometric patterns or impressive murals. The winding, narrow streets of the historic center create labyrinths reminiscent of fairy tales or adventure games.
Additionally, there are trams, elevators, funiculars, and sightseeing boats that appeal to both young and old. If that’s not enough, be sure to check out the places listed below that Porto has to offer.
You can visit them with your whole family 👨👩👧👦 or individually🚶whenever you feel like it.
🌍 World of Discoveries
This attraction is dedicated to Portugal’s golden age, the Age of Great Geographical Discoveries. We know that kids don’t always enjoy reading about history, but here they can see, touch, and feel it.
The place is designed from the perspective of 15th and 16th-century sailors. We learn not only where the expeditions went but also what the ships looked like, how they prepared for voyages, and life on board. There are models of caravels, galleons, and flagship ships. We’ll see navigation instruments used to avoid getting lost on the vast seas. We’ll look under the deck where valuable cargo like gold and spices was transported, rest on the horribly uncomfortable sailors’ bunks, and load cannons on board to set off on an adventure.
The biggest attraction of this place is taking your own voyage. An authentic, small boat will take us on a water journey to nearby 🔗 Lisbon and further into the past, searching for sea routes to India, China, or Brazil.
🎫 Tickets online & ⏰ Open Hours
🎥 Porto Legends
This is a completely interactive experience in an intriguing location. It neighbors World of Discoveries, hidden in the underground of the Alfândega Congress Center right by the Douro River, in a former tram depot. This attraction is an audiovisual presentation available in many languages.
Everyone enters with headphones 🎧and sets off into a world of fairy tales. Porto’s city legends are captivating stories, often tragic, but likely containing a grain of truth. Among them are the sad story of the beautiful Mira Gaia, the fate of the last Benedictine nuns of São Bento Monastery (today’s 🔗 São Bento Station), and the significance of the nickname Invicta (“unconquered”) for the city of Porto.
The experience is called 360°, meaning the image surrounds us from all sides, so during the presentation, we can walk, sit, and see the same scene from different perspectives simultaneously.
🎫 Tickets online & ⏰ Open Hours
🦈Sea Life Porto
This is the second largest aquarium in Portugal (the largest is in 🔗 Lisbon). It houses over 3,000 marine animals, many of which have been rescued through a special program run by the facility. Numerous aquariums create a mysterious, calm atmosphere, and an interactive game for children will occupy them for a while, providing them with a good dose of knowledge about the marine world.
The largest aquarium, filled with nearly 500,000 liters (132,086 gallons) of water, forms a tunnel on one side and picturesque windows on others, giving us better access to observe the underwater life of its inhabitants.
Several times a day, there are feedings of animals and fish, combined with interesting lectures introducing us to the names and habits of individual creatures, as well as the characteristics and nature of some species. The exhibit is complemented by penguins living outside, next to which is a place to rest and a large playground.
Paying for entry to Sea Life gives us an open ticket valid all day, so it’s worth combining this visit with a rest on the beach located just across the street.
🎫 Tickets online & ⏰ Open Hours
🌊 Beaches and Pier
The coastline is beautiful, although rocky in many places, but we can easily find smaller or larger gentle sandy beaches forming between the rocks. A great idea is to take a walk from Sea Life towards the center, as there is a wooden promenade along the entire route by the ocean. It’s a gentle walk, the views are picturesque, and there are benches for rest, cafes, and restaurants along the way. Additional attractions include small forts with menacingly aimed cannons.
🚡Teleférico de Gaia
On the other side of the Dom Luís I Bridge, walking its upper level towards Vila Nova de Gaia, we reach the Teleférico de Gaia cable car station. A ride on the cable car will surely be a pleasure not only for children. It offers a wonderful view of Ribeira and the hills of Porto, but we can also get a closer look at the numerous cellars where port wine ages. We recommend a ride there and back, of course with a break for a walk.
🚣 Boat Cruise
The most popular way to see Porto from the river is by boat. The most frequently chosen tour is the 50-minute Six Bridges route. Additionally, these tours are enhanced by a mobile app that can be downloaded to your phone. Thanks to geolocation, the app follows us, serving as a guide. The app is multilingual, so it’s worth having headphones 🎧to fully enjoy the views.
