Matosinhos
One side of Porto is built along the Douro River and another side borders the Atlantic Ocean. Needless to say, there is no shortage of shoreline and beaches to explore. Matosinhos came up very often when we researched beaches close to Porto, so it was the first one we hit. We even visited it twice, once by train and once by bike.
The first time we visited Matosinhos, a 30 minute train ride took us from winding alley streets to wide open sea.
One end of the sandy beach is marked by a 17th century castle fort called Castelo do Queijo . The views from the fort walls are stunning and there’s a small museum inside. One of the entrances to the Porto City Park is around here as well, but that is another post.
We didn’t stop at the fort and kept going along the shoreline, which becomes less sandy and more wild and rocky with wooden walkways extending over the water. This area is near Praia do Homem do Leme.
Of course, because this side borders the Atlantic, we were treated to some spectacular waves, but we were running out of time that day, and still felt there was more shoreline to explore.
The second time we went to Matosinhos, we decided to go from Porto by e-bike to cover more distance and see more things. The Fox do Douro bike path is mostly flat and goes right along the water with very little road crossings. It supposedly takes two hours there and back, but we took way longer because we kept stopping along the way.
The Farolim de Felgueiras is a 19th century lighthouse which has, in my opinion, a very unusual location sitting at the mouth where the Douro River meets the sea. Also, the pebble beach here has some beautiful small stones.
We passed little observation points and restaurants for endless ocean views. There is even a Pizza Hut which (although we didn’t eat there) we thought was a very spectacular setting for a Pizza Hut to be.
As we got nearer to Matosinhos, we began to see the familiar wooden walkways again.
And finally the clouds started rolling in again, so we turned our bikes around around and headed back to Porto.