Biggest Mistake You Could Make In Porto

why would you go to Porto Portugal and make this big mistake Josh and I travel a lot and it's always tricky in a new city if we don't know anyone to make sure we avoid the tourist traps and mistakes the same goes for when we move somewhere new we want to experience the city not be shuffled around like a herd of [Music] cows now of course there are a myriad of oopsies to be made when you go to a new city some not so bad but others we've been living here 3 years now and we need to warn you let's see the number one mistake people make when moving to Porto so you don't get caught up in it before we get to the big one and how to avoid it let me tell you a huge common mistake that happens all the time around Porto tipping remember that this isn't a tipping culture and you don't want to disturb the ethos so just leaving a little change behind is plenty you technically you don't have to leave anything but whatever you do don't leave more than 10% oh yeah that is a bad one because cuz places around major landmarks start to expect it and it's really not a part of their culture it's just fine to show appreciation just don't go overboard plus a side benefit is holding on to those extra coins for Street [Music] buskers paying to go to the top of clig go or grabbing another glass of wine and speaking about restaurants and landmarks don't make the mistake only eating there they tend to be pricier and not as good of food for example hia is beautiful and it's a nice place to catch a meal or a drink with a view of the river but it really is a tourist trap right that's actually an area of the city where you can get caught up in both mistakes of tipping and paying too much for food that isn't as good of quality there are so many good mama pop Portuguese places to try and if we tell you them here then I think we're making the mistake no but seriously we have a map on a platform called Atley that will put in the description below of places that we like to go and last mistake swirling around food is be sure when you eat the frania that you don't just choose any place not all francas are equal as a staple food of the north and if you don't know this already I love my francas you want to be sure you're eating a good one what's a good one you might ask it does not contain lunch meat that's so true here's a quick list of restaurants I person recommend for a good frania okay so those were a few quick tips around the food culture and we want to give you a few more quick tips around public transportation before our biggie have you ever arrived in a new city exhilarated and ready to go then you find yourself standing in front of a Metro machine wanting to cry because you don't know what you're doing the metro and bus systems in Porto are amazing so don't be afraid to navigate them we know it can be daunting we've been there and every city seems to do it differently but there's a crucial thing you need to know the Metro is set up into zones and it's really important that you have your card coded for the correct Zone every Metro stop falls within a Zone and this creates borders when you cross a border you enter a different Zone your starting zone is your Z1 and your bordering zone is your Z2 one more border beyond that and that's your Z3 so for example if you want to travel from downtown Porto to matzos you'll need a Z3 because you're Crossing in to a third Zone the Metro Police are constantly checking so don't make the mistake of being in the wrong zone or thinking you can catch a free ride by not tapping you have to tap to validate if you're unsure about zones check the map on the Metro ticket machine where you're purchasing your ticket as there's a guide there and honestly if you're still unsure just step off to the side and look at the Metro map of the various zones you want to travel to this way you can take your time and not feel the eyeballs on the back of your neck from people behind you another tip is to not get your ticket at Trend de station during peak hours as there are long lines and never ever ever go to the drag out on game day without a return ticket now that's a long line Kaylee these are all great little tips but let's get to the big mistake okay okay okay the biggest mistake you can make in Porto is to stay down by the sa Bento train station why you might ask good question there are several reasons why this is the number one mistake so let's unpack it this is tourist central have you ever been to the most touristy part of a city and it just feels like you're not seeing the city for what it's really like it's great to experience but it's not really the city think about living in Time Square yeah it's super busy prices are higher even if you're working on your Portuguese like us you'll always be viewed as a tourist and always feel like a tourist the food options cater more towards the transient crowd so you might not get the best food that the city has to offer there are loads of short-term rentals in this area so the housing isn't conducive to Long stays units will be smaller and most likely have a small kitchen like a dorm siiz fridge and one eye for the stove College was fun and all but that's in the past there aren't good grocery stores and everyday life things around so if you'd like to cook then you're going to have to be carrying those bags pretty far this goes for whether you're living here or just on vacation imagine you want to pick something up for meals because you don't want or need to eat out every every day this area is difficult for that when you mix the small kitchen with the grocery store options it sits low in the city so you'll always be walking uphill to things we all love a little exercise right but maybe not like this the other part of this is that it's not well connected since streets are smaller and more narrow you have less options for buses and really there's just the one Metro station and if you're not directly by it then it can kind of be a pain to get to just like in high tourist places all around the world people are always is going to try to sell you things it kills me when a guy sees me with my sunglasses on my face and then he tries to sell me a pair of sunglasses I'm like I've got a pair homie you get scammers around here as well for example we were with a friend one time and we had a lady who was nicely dressed and say she needed a few extra coins for the Metro it seemed innocent so A friend gave her some we were standing and talking for long enough that we saw her go down into the metro and then a few minutes later back up from the Metro asking others the same thing busers playing music are cool but scamming not so much of course something like this can happen in other parts of the city but with the high amounts of people in and out of this area it seems to be the hot spot for it while it's a beautiful area to visit you don't want to make the mistake of living there or even staying there as a tourist go to that area but don't have your accommodations here now that's a massive mistake to make but another mistake is also you don't want to stay near the other train station C it's still a bit rund down there and a little further outout from places that you probably want to go that's so true it's not that near the train stations here are shady like in other European cities but there's just not an ideal place to stay of course that seems crazy because generally people think it's best to be by the train station for easy travel but for some reason around train stations in general end up not being great areas and that goes for Porto too plus Uber and bolt are quite easy to get and affordable so you don't have to feel compelled to stay near the train station for ease oh yeah the train station in Porto are a bit meh areas but for different reasons but definitely you don't want to have your accommodations by either of them these are a couple big mistakes that you can avoid in Porto whether you're moving here or coming for tourism we've all been in this situation as it just comes with the territory when moving and traveling but hopefully you can feel more confident about Porto now subscribe here to catch more on this series and let us know in the comments if you made this mistake or what big mistakes you have made now let's get moving oh

Channel: ExpatsEverywhere

Views: 43,099

Keywords: living abroad, expat life, expatseverywhere, porto, portugal, living in portugal, living in porto, moving to portugal, moving to porto, visiting porto, tourism in porto, tourist in porto, what to avoid in porto, scams in porto, where not to stay in porto, things to know about porto, tips about porto, tipping in porto, franceshinha in porto, metro in porto, most important things to know about porto, expat in porto, new to porto, top things to know about porto, life in porto

Id: H0v2Mbi38EM

Length: 8min 4sec (484 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 02 2023