adminDouro river is one of the biggest and most important rivers in Portugal, crossing all the north, from Spain till Porto and the Atlantic Ocean, with 325 km in Portuguese territory, of which 112 km are shared by Portugal and Spain. Being the third-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula, it constitutes a natural border since the roman and Islamic occupations, dividing the territory between north, harder to conquer, and central, with a longer “foreign” occupation and influence. Nowadays, Douro river is one of the most popular Portugal travel destinations, as it crosses the Douro Wine Region, and is navigable throughout its entire length in Portuguese territory, bringing the opportunity to travel along the Douro River in a fabulous way. Besides that, Douro river can be traveled by train, following the beautiful Douro train line.
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Douro river, natural and manmade landscape
The landscape of the Douro river and wine region is determined by the natural course of the river and the superhuman effort of past generations, and is now part of UNESCO World Heritage. The beauty of the Douro river is the result in equal portions of divine generosity and human sweat, resulting from the hard and continuous work on a natural landscape, beautiful by nature but made unique in the world by the hand of Man. The slopes that flank the Douro river were worked over for centuries, breaking up the shale, building terraces and walls, and cultivating the vines on terraces. The result is astonishing, the Douro river, a unique landscape in the world. In the words of the Portuguese poet Miguel Torga: “it is an excess of nature. A geological poem. Absolute beauty.”
DOURO WINE REGION
1. The beginnings of the Douro Wine Region
The connection between wine and the Douro river dates back to almost two millennia in the Douro Wine Region. In a hard and difficult land to cross, the Douro River has always been a means of communication for peoples and cultures, despite the difficulties of navigation. It was the Romans who introduced techniques for planting vines and producing wine in the Douro river, but it was mainly from the 17th century onwards that wine production really began to grow, with the ultimate aim of exporting. In 1678, the Porto Customs registered, for the first time, under the name of Port Wine, the wines exported from the Douro river bar.
2. Creation of the Demarcated Region of Douro
The Treaty of Methuen (1703) opened the doors to exports to England, and led to a wild rush to new plantations in the Douro river. Shortly afterwards, the need to combat fraud and to regulate prices and production in the Douro river was evident. With a vision of the future, the Marquis of Pombal established the General Company of Agriculture of Douro Vines, in 1756, and the Douro river becomes the first wine region worldwide to be demarcated and regulated. The demarcated area of the Douro Wine Region has undergone some changes over the years, namely the incorporation of the Douro Superior, but the philosophy has remained the same. In 1926, the Douro Warehouse was created in Vila Nova de Gaia, intended for the storage and export of wines from the Douro Demarcated Region, and in 1932 the Federation of Wine Growers of the Douro Region was created, today Douro House.
3. The Douro river landscape as a UNESCO Heritage Site
Currently, the Douro Demarcated Region covers around 250,000 hectares, and vineyards occupy around 48,000 hectares, which corresponds to an effective area of around 19% of the total. It is divided into three distinct areas: to the west, the Baixo Corgo (up to Régua), in the center the Cima Corgo (up to Cachão da Valeira) and to the east, the Douro Superior (up to the Spanish border). In this region, not only the famous Port Wine is produced, but also the Douro table wines. The Douro Wine Region was inscribed on the Heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site List in the category of Living and Evolving Cultural Landscape, on December 14, 2001. The classified area covers approximately 24,000 hectares and the thirteen municipalities that are part of the area distinguished by UNESCO are Alijó, Armamar, Carrazeda de Ansiães, Lamego, Mesão Frio, Peso da Régua, Sabrosa, Santa Marta de Penaguião, São João da Pesqueira, Tabuaço, Torre de Moncorvo, Vila Nova de Foz Côa and Vila Real.
DOURO RIVER BY BOAT
The Douro river was always, like all rivers at birth, a wild river and averse to navigation, with strong torrents, waterfalls and imposing rocks. It was only in 1791, with the demolition of a large rock (called Cachão da Valeira), that the Douro river began to become more navigable, but it was really only in the 20th century, with the construction of five dams, that navigability in its full extension has been reached. Currently, the Douro river is a tamed river, with a regularized flow, and the landscape has been completely transformed.
Droughts, combined with the retention of water in dams, sometimes reduce the flow of the Douro River to levels never seen before, but rainwater usually restores the much-desired balance. When winter and spring are rainy in the Douro river, the flow will remain above normal. Under these conditions, the authorities do not allow navigation near the water discharge from the dams, and it is not possible to navigate the Douro River in large extensions, only in short journeys. However, in summer, boat trips on the Douro river are possible along its entire length, allowing a unique perspective of the landscape.
There are different ways to travel along the Douro river by boat, the most popular being the following.
If you are in the city of Porto, and you have little time, still be sure to do the Six Bridges Cruise on the Douro river which, as its name implies, passes through the six bridges that connect the two banks of the Douro river, between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.
For those who have more time, you must go to the Douro river wine region, with the most characteristic places being the city of Régua and the village of Pinhão.
Book your Douro river tour here with wine tasting, boat ride on Pinhão and lunch.
But the best way to explore the Douro River by boat is to do it the long way.
Book here your Douro river cruise between Porto and Régua, with lunch.
DOURO TRAIN LINE
To put it simply, the Douro train line is one of the most beautiful train rides in the world, with stations anchored on the banks of the Douro, with tiled buildings, remote stops, mysterious tunnels and century-old bridges.
1. The Douro train line
The Douro train line starts in the urban environment of the city of Porto and its metropolitan area, crosses the municipalities of Ermesinde, Penafiel, and Marco de Canaveses, moving to a more rural environment and approaching the Douro, with which connects between the stations of Pala and Mosteirô. From there, the Douro Line and the river are one, almost to the border with Spain.
2. The charms of the Douro train line
An engineering admirer sees the Douro train line as a titanic work resulting from human effort, built between 1875 and 1887, at a time when almost everything was made with hands and dynamite. In an extension that reached about two hundred kilometers, up to Barca d’Alva and connected to the Spanish network, in La Fuente de San Esteban, the Douro train line was built in a challenging and unforgiving landscape. The rocky ground and inclined slopes had to be tamed, at least to some extent, for the Douro train line to be born.
A scholar of History sees the Douro train line and the landscape of the Douro Wine Region as a witness to Portugal’s intimate connections with its oldest ally, England, as the Methuen Treaty, a commercial agreement signed between England and Portugal in the year of 1703, led most agricultural producers to use their arable land for the production of wine and its export to England. Later, English families began to take over the business, buying the land and building the wine-producing estates that still dominate the Douro river and the Douro Wine Region today.
A Geography enthusiast sees in the Douro train line the sinuous way in which the Douro cuts the valley through which it flows, and how Man has transformed the landscape dominated by schist and granite into something that combines the useful with the pleasant, a prodigious setting for the eyes and which, at the same time, gives us one of the products most appreciated by the palate, both by Portuguese and foreigners all over the world, Port Wine and Douro table wines.
3. The Douro train line under threat
Portugal’s entry into the European Economic Community (EEC, later European Union) and the priority given to road connections would have consequences for the almost century-old Douro train line. The international connection of the Douro train line would end in 1985, and the section of the Douro train line between Pocinho and Barca d’Alva would see its last train in 1988, with the Douro train line taking its current route shape.
The Douro train line had also beautiful branches. The Sabor line, a narrow lane inaugurated in 1911, connected the Pocinho Station to the Duas Igrejas station, on the outskirts of Miranda do Douro, but was also closed in 1988, while the spectacular Tua Line connected the Tua to Bragança station was once reduced to a metro service between Carvalhais (Mirandela) and Cachão, then discontinued, and even the wonderful landscape of the Tua river valley, especially near its mouth, was drowned by the construction of the Tua Dam, an incomprehensible construction in an UNESCO World Heritage landscape.
4. Hope for the Douro train line
Today, the Douro train line continues to be (as it was since its birth) a fundamental link between the two different areas of Portugal, the developed and populated coast, and an unpopulated interior, so often forgotten. In addition to its usefulness, the Douro river, train line and wine region have been recognized as a treasure of touristic potential difficult to match. Douro is now one of the most visited places in Portugal and there are even some talks about the possible reopening of the Douro train line up to Barca d’Alva.
What nature and human effort have created together in the Douro has been complemented, in recent years, by the tourist development of the region, in particular with regard to wine tourism. In addition to the beauty of the terraces, there are now many quality options in terms of tourism, such as quality accommodation, in rustic or sophisticated tourism units, and fabulous cuisine, served in regional or gourmet restaurants. As for the charms of the Douro Line, one of the most beautiful in the world, they are now well known, both by the general public and by train travel lovers.
DOURO RIVER BY TRAIN
To travel on the Douro line, you can use the regular CP (Portuguese Trains) services between Porto and Pocinho. The most popular section is between Porto and Régua.
You can check here the timetable of regular services in the Douro train line.
A suggested route for a wonderful 1 day excursion in Douro river is as follows: take a boat cruise from Porto to Régua and then go down from Régua to Porto on the Douro train line.
Another option is to travel on the Douro River on the Historic Steam Train, which runs on the Douro line between Régua and Tua between June and October.
Check here our article about the historic train of the Douro on the CP – Portuguese trains website.
