Porto

Where to stay

Bonfim, just east of the center, has the densest cluster of hostels and is walkable to Praça da Batalha and Rua de Santa Catarina. Cedofeita, northwest of the Aliados area, runs quieter and has a good stretch of independent coffee shops and a weekend street market along its main street.

Getting around

• Get an Andante card at any metro station. It covers the metro, buses, and suburban trains, and a zone-2 trip costs very little. The historic tram line 22 charges tourists much more for shorter distances on the same routes.
• Lunch menus in Bonfim and Cedofeita routinely include soup, a main, and a drink for just a few euros. The same meal in Ribeira, steps from the waterfront, can run nearly twice that.
• Mercado do Bolhão on Rua Formosa still has fresh produce and local goods on its ground floor after its renovation. Picking up fruit, cheese, and bread there is noticeably cheaper than buying snacks from shops near Livraria Lello, where prices reflect the foot traffic.

When to go

Hostels are cheapest from November through February, excluding the Christmas and New Year week. They fill up fast from June through August, with the Festa de São João weekend on June 23 and 24 being the hardest stretch of the year to find an affordable bed.