Alto Douro in Its Own Classic

Five nights along the Douro and into the Coa Valley, self-guided, in the guest’s own classic car, starting and finishing at a baroque palace in Porto.

The Palacio do Freixo sets the tone. Nicolau Nasoni, the Italian architect who gave Porto much of its baroque character, built it in the eighteenth century; it has been a national monument since 1910 and is now a five-star hotel on the riverbank.

From there the route follows the Douro upstream through the terraced vineyards and the wine villages, going considerably further east than the operator’s shorter Douro trip: the Coa Valley at the far end holds some of the oldest open-air rock art in Europe among the vineyards and the olive groves, and the rock formations through that country are unlike anything downstream. The overnight stays are in wine hotels with views over the river, and the route returns to the Palacio at the end.

The accommodation in the wine hotels and the group dinners are included; the car and getting it to the start are not. The price shown is per person. Spring and autumn are the seasons, with the harvest in late September the best of it and the valley very hot in midsummer. Six days is enough to reach the upper Douro properly rather than turning round at Pinhao, and at this price it is the least expensive of the operator’s longer tours, which reflects the guest supplying the car. The roads up there are narrow and steep and the drops are unfenced in places, so an older car and an unhurried pace suit the valley better than anything quick would.