How many Vinho Verde sub-regions are there?

There are nine: Monção and Melgaço, Lima, Basto, Cávado, Ave, Amarante, Sousa, Paiva and Baião. They run from the Spanish border in the north to the Douro river in the south, and each one has its own landscape, grapes, food and stories.

Wine and gastronomy are the thread that ties our tours together. Around that thread, every sub-region offers something different: terraced mountain villages, Romanesque castles, potters’ workshops, river towns. So whatever draws you to northern Portugal, there is a sub-region for it, and our tours cover several of them, with options for different tastes.

The Map

Where are the Vinho Verde sub-regions, and how far are they from Porto?

Times below are approximate drive times from Porto by car.

Available Now

Private Vinho Verde tour from Porto: the three sub-regions you can book today

Our tours are private day tours, each one built around a single sub-region and its own theme.

Alvarinho wine tour from Porto: Monção and Melgaço

Monção and Melgaço sit at the northern edge of Vinho Verde, along the Minho river. It is the only sub-region sheltered from the direct influence of the Atlantic, and that shelter explains the wine. Alvarinho ripens here and reaches its full potential.

How far is Monção from Porto? About 1h45 by car.

What do you taste and eat? Alvarinho takes the lead, from vineyard to table. One of the purposes behind the design of our tours is to let you taste a wide range of local gastronomy. Lunch usually brings a variety of starters and at least two main courses, combining a fish dish and a meat dish. Cod and octopus are common on the fish side, while the meat side may bring cuts of locally raised beef or slow roasted dishes. With starters, mains and desserts, the goal is always the same: to let you taste a little of everything.

What makes this sub-region different? Monção and Melgaço are the cradle of Alvarinho, often regarded as the noblest white grape in Portugal and arguably in neighbouring Spain too. The tour brings together two towns in a single day, and in each one the vineyards are distinct and so are the wines in the glass. This is also a land that tells stories of centuries of battles that shaped one of the most emblematic borders in the country, and of a culture shared with Galicia on the other bank of the river.

That shared culture is a teaser for what comes next. We are preparing a way to connect travellers with the other side, linking wine and gastronomy tours between two countries. Nothing like it exists today in the Iberian Peninsula, while in France and Germany it is a familiar way to travel.

Our Kingdom of Alvarinho tour includes pickup and return, winery visits with tastings and a lunch paired with the wines, with a private guide.

Sistelo day trip from Porto: the Lima valley

How far is Sistelo from Porto? About 1h30 by car.

Sistelo is a village of terraces carved into a mountain valley, often called the Little Tibet of Portugal. It won the title of Portugal’s Seven Wonders rural village in 2017 and its landscape is a National Monument. Its traditional stone granaries, the canastros or espigueiros, stand scattered among the fields and give the landscape its character.

What is there to do in Sistelo? There is an easy route between some of the points of interest and the centre of Sistelo, comfortable to cover on foot.

Which villages does the tour cover? Like the Alvarinho tour, this one visits several villages in a single day: Sistelo in Arcos de Valdevez, then Ponte da Barca where we have lunch, and Ponte de Lima where we visit a winery in the afternoon.

What do you taste and eat? The star product of the regional kitchen is Cachena beef, from an autochthonous breed. The fish dishes vary between cod and octopus. In the afternoon the visit goes to a winery focused on Loureiro, the white grape of the Lima valley, with the chance to hear the techniques and secrets directly from the winemaker.

Basto: the Vinho Verde most visitors never find

How far is Basto from Porto? About 1h by car.

Basto gathers the municipalities of Cabeceiras de Basto, Celorico de Basto, Mondim de Basto and Ribeira de Pena. Its hills follow the Tâmega river over granite soils in a landscape that feels rural and unhurried. The sub-region produces whites from Loureiro, Alvarinho, Trajadura and Avesso, and reds from Vinhão, Azal Tinto and Espadeiro.

The landmark of the sub-region is the Castle of Arnoia, in Celorico de Basto. This Romanesque castle stands on a hill, is a National Monument and belongs to the Romanesque Route of the Tâmega valley.

Our Roots of Basto tour focuses on wine producers who show the authenticity of the grape varieties of this sub-region. The wines offer excellent value for money, and the estates are modern, well equipped and fully prepared to welcome tourists and visitors.

Coming Soon

Day trip from Porto: three more sub-regions, coming soon

The first three tours give you wine in the far north, nature in the Lima valley and rural roots in Basto. The next three add culture, history and tradition.

Together they make a completely different day in each sub-region, and that is what turns a set of tours into an odyssey. Every day teaches something the previous one did not. You can choose a single tour or follow a few, and each one stands on its own.

Cávado: the cultural day (coming soon)

Cávado is the sub-region of craft and tradition. Barcelos is its heart. The Pottery Museum and the Medieval Tower are its reference places, with the figurado tradition of clay figures at the centre of the story.

This will be a very rural and authentic tour. The morning has a strong cultural focus, lunch takes place at a family farm with biodynamic production, and the afternoon visits an estate that blends a modern approach to wine with a space of more than seven decades of history. The itinerary is already designed.

Ave: the historical day (coming soon)

Ave is the sub-region for history. The idea for this tour is a strong historical component in the morning, passing through Guimarães, the cradle city of Portugal with almost a thousand years of history. Lunch brings the traditional food that so characterises our tours, and the afternoon visits a winery in Famalicão, so the day also crosses different towns and cities. This tour is still an idea we are shaping.

Amarante: history, culture and tradition (coming soon)

For Amarante we are thinking of a tour that crosses history, culture and tradition, as if it were a blend of the Cávado and Ave days. Amarante is a city close to Porto with points of interest near each other, perfect for relaxed visits on foot.

Early 2027

Baião, Paiva and Sousa: arriving in early 2027

Baião, Paiva and Sousa are planned for early 2027 and follow the same logic as the first six sub-regions.

We are also about to begin pilot tests in the sub-regions of Rías Baixas, in Galicia. These tours will connect regions in two different countries, both equally close for travellers coming from Porto. They will also open the door to travellers departing from Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Vigo and other major urban centres in Galicia, creating a Porto to A Coruña corridor with many sub-regions of interest along the way. We will share more as soon as they are ready.

Planning Your Day

Which Vinho Verde sub-region should you visit first?

Start with what you want to feel at the end of the day. Wine in the glass and a long lunch point to Monção and Melgaço. Walking and wide landscapes point to the Lima valley and Sistelo. Authentic wines and a rural setting point to Basto. Craft and tradition lead to Cávado while history leads to Ave.

A few simple ideas apply whichever sub-region you choose, with us or on your own:

• Take your time. Our tours are designed so you can enjoy each sub-region to the fullest, without restricted schedules or running from one point to the next. Linking sub-regions in an itinerary of several days is the ideal choice for exploring the north of Portugal in detail, at a slow pace, connecting with the most authentic side of it.
• See the day before you book it. The itineraries on our website show every moment of the day, with images that give a visual sense of what to expect. Our tours are designed to enjoy each moment at the right rhythm, and whenever you wish to propose a change or an addition, you can do it in good time so we can personalise the tour in the best way.
• Choose the season that suits you. Our tours are designed for every time of year, with activities that can move between outdoors and indoors depending on the weather. March to June and September to November are the most temperate months, without extremely hot or extremely cold days. August and September are the harvest season in every sub-region. July and August tend to be the hottest months, and the tours include different activities to help guests cool down and ease the heat. From December to February, the winter months, there are activities created specifically for sessions with a more cultural focus, all in properly heated spaces. Whatever the time of year, the Vinho Verde region is a tourism controlled destination. It does not suffer from mass tourism or from large crowds, so it can always be visited in a relaxed and private way.

If you travel with us, every tour can be adjusted from its base itinerary to your interests. We specialise in this region and work with a network of local partners, so adapting a day often leaves the price unchanged.