23 Experiences in 2023 in Porto Staying at M.Ou.Co Hotel

Stay at Porto’s first music hotel features a restaurant, bar, garden, music library and concert hall. 

Portugal’s second largest city Porto has continued to innovate in 2022. Two major historic city destinations reopened at the end of 2022. Both could have been sold to become luxury housing but thankfully both have been restored. 

• Bolhão Market – Opened in 1839 in the heart of Porto, Mercado do Bolhão stands out in the heart of Porto as a leading market. The original building was designed in 1914 influenced by the École des Beaux Arts. The market closed in 2018 for extensive renovation works and finally reopened at the end of 2022. 
• Batalha Centro de Cinema – First opened in 1947 the Batalha Centro de Cinema had fallen into bad shape and found it difficult to compete with new viewing behaviours and locations. It has now been fully restored, reopening late 2022, showcasing Art-Deco design throughout. The cinema includes an art deco bar, exhibitions, library and shop. 
• Sunsets over Porto can be spectacular with the historic city’s location combined with the river setting. There are of course many spots to enjoy a sunset but one which may surprise visitors is the Guindalense Football Club Bar This very simple spot offers a vast terrace over several levels with fantastic uninterrupted views of Porto’s UNESCO Luis I Bridge which crosses the Douro River.  
• Porto’s most beautiful gardens Jardins do Palácio de Cristal are centrally located and offer uninterrupted river views. The gardens are home to a venue with cafés and the gardens also host the annual book fair.
• Located in Matosinhos (on the beach, easy to reach either by metro or uber / taxi), this area is filled with historic seafood restaurants and have wonderful interiors. But you come for the wide variety of fresh, local seafood served in an old school manner. Try Marisqueira A Antiga which is one of the best. 
• Shop at new concept store Good Things Will Happen Soon. The shop is filled with small homeware, fashion and stationary items both from Portugal and abroad and also features a hidden garden serving snacks and natural wines throughout the day. Regular pop-up events and guest chefs on Fridays in the summer. 
• Eat at Tia Tia and enjoy local, seasonal cuisine paired with natural wines. The concept is slow dining with a choice of hundreds of vinyls which guests can select to hear and a later enjoy a secret garden where you can also dine. Look out for art installations. The wife and husband team behind Tia Tia offer attentive service and a new interpretation of Portuguese dishes. 
• Take a different city walk and embark on a vintage tour of Porto. Porto is a vintage treasure trove and the city is filled with vintage shops. M.Ou.Co. has unveiled a new walking vintage tour designed to show a wide portfolio of vintage styles across the city. The walking tour starts at M.Ou.Co. and crosses several neighbourhoods including Bonfim, Cedofeita and Ribeira and has been created to include interiors, fashion, lighting and much more. The 5.7km vintage tour ends by the Douro riverfront at the vast Armazém where you can enjoy a drink.
• Porto from above with Porto 360 – Inside Porto’s stunning Jardins do Palácio de Cristal gardens which date back to the 19th century, visitors will find a pavilion dating back to 1865. The Pavilhão Rosa Mota can be climbed for a unique view of the city. The 150 steps over this green dome shaped building offer the best views of all of Porto including for sunset. Priced around 12,50€ per person and with a guide.
• Take Europe’s most beautiful train journey along the Douro Valley and spend the day or a night in Pinhão. 
• Drink in a historic chapel Capela Incomum in the heart of Porto, dating back to the 19th century. This bar serves Portuguese wines and tapas with both indoor and terrace dining. From 4pm. If going for dinner (tapas) make a reservation.
• Buy ceramics at Tuwaterra – a shop dedicated to all things Portuguese homeware. Plates, serving dishes, bowls, cups, linen napkins, tableware items and other items all sourced from across northern Portugal. Joana the owner has sourced unique items directly from designers and these are sold at very affordable prices. 
• Foz (a neighbourhood by the ocean) is either a 60 minute walk or short car ride away and worth a walk, beach day and meal by the sea and on the beach. Head to Praia da Luz bar for sunset drinks on the beach.
• Located by the beaches of Leça da Palmeira is Seiva. From the outside this vegetarian restaurant looks discreet but inside the restaurant serves Portugal’s best vegetarian dishes. The passionate head chef is an ambassador for all things green, he often appears on television to encourage the meat loving Portuguese to consider the vast greens they grow in Portugal. Every dish is a surprise and super innovative, delicious and affordable. You can combine a walk and drink on the beach at one of the many bars before dining here.
• Dance it all off at Maus Hábitos a relaxed yet somewhat cool cultural space with restaurant, bar and club space on top of a car park. 
• Shop like its 1917 at Pérola do Bolhão which not only maintains its beautiful facade but also maintains its specialist products as sold in the past. Cheeses, bacalhau, nuts, tinned fish, wines, teas etc, all sourced from mainland Portugal and the islands. 
• Buy soaps at Claus Porto and visit their museum upstairs in the heart of Porto at their beautiful shop which sells soaps, fragrances and candles dating back to 1887. 
• Dress in Portuguese designs with a variety of Porto based designers including Katty Xiomara, Luís Buchinho, Ricardo Andrez, Nuno Baltazar and Estelita Mendonça. Visit their stores / studios and pick up a unique fashion item. 
• Pick up a vinyl around the city of Porto. There is a surprising number of independent stores. Centrally, head to Tubitek which has a strong following dating to the 80s. Bands met and formed here back then. 
• Take home a bottle of wine from Gota A Gota a wine store located in the heart of Porto with a wide variety of wines from across Portugal including from the Azores. The store sells natural wines too and sparkling and fortified wines.   
• Explore Alvaro Siza Vieira’s work around Porto. In Leça explore Piscina das Marés, in Porto the famous Serralves gallery and São Bento metro station.  
• Cross the river and explore Gaia’s beaches. Take the train from Campanhã for the long sandy uninterrupted coast. Eat fresh seafood, sip Vinho Verde (sparkling white wine with a lower %).
• Visit a unique exhibition hosted in an equally unique space. Warhol, People and Things: a collection of 68 photographs, from the 1970s and 1980s, donated to the Mishkin Gallery by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and exhibited, for the first time in Portugal and Europe. Casa São Roque Art Centre stands out for its collection, contemporary art programming, architecture of the villa and its garden.   

Porto recently welcomed a new independent hotel and cultural space where music is the headliner. This all happened via an entire regeneration of an area of 5,000 square metres. M.Ou.Co. celebrated its one year anniversary in late 2022. This unique space in the city’s Bonfim neighbourhood combines a 62-bedroom hotel, a 50-seater restaurant, a bar, a garden with alfresco dining, an outdoor swimming pool, a music library, musical instruments for hire and a concert hall with a capacity of 180 seated and 300 standing guests. Music is at the heart of everything at M.Ou.Co. The interior design is focused entirely on vintage making the most of the city’s vast vintage shops and warehouses. All furniture is either vintage or was commissioned locally to reflect a vintage look. All hotel guests are given a GuestU phone for use whilst in Porto offering complimentary wifi and city guides with walking distances included. 

Porto has an entrepreneurial vibe. Porto and Northern Portugal have remained at the industrial and technological core of the Portuguese economy, producing highly competitive products and services for global clients. The region accounts for 39% of Portuguese goods exports. Porto’s leading sectors include ICT, Nearshore Services, Advanced Engineering, Creative Industries, Health and Life Sciences, and Mobility Industries. Other industries such as real estate, wine and agro-food are also attracting a growing amount of investments. All this to say, Porto has lots to offer and is home to residents from all over the world. 

2023 will be the year that Porto’s award winning airport is connected to over 100 destinations. Direct flights exist from across the UK and across Europe and also from Canada (Toronto), USA (New York), Brazil (Rio and São Paulo), Angola (Luanda) and Morocco. 

Stay. Listen. Play. at Porto’s newest hotel and discover a different rhythm in 2023 in Portugal’s northern city. 

moucohotel.pt  / instagram.com/m.ou.co M.Ou.Co. : M=música; Ou=outras; Co=coisas (Music and Other things…)

B&B is priced from 85€ per room per night

M. Ou. Co – Rua de Frei Heitor Pinto, 67, 4300-081, Porto, Portugal. 

Less than five minutes walk to Heroísmo metro station or Campanhã train station 

Porto is served by airlines including TAP Air Portugal, BA, easyJet, Ryanair and WIZZ from various airports across the UK including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Luton and London Stansted. Also from Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester.