GOLDCAR Car Rental at Porto Airport

Goldcar car rental is open for business at Porto Airport from 7.00 am to 11.00 pm every day, and the team can be contacted by calling +351 21 145 1595 to arrange for drop off or pick-up. It is also possible to email the team at opo@goldcar.com. After baggage retrieval, travelers with a Goldcar car rental reservation should follow the signs to the Car Rental Area. This will take them to a car rental bus stop for the car rental desks that are located within Porto airport. A convenient shuttle bus runs every 15 minutes and takes customers directly to the Goldcar office. Returns must also be made to this office. The shuttle will take customers back to the terminal after drop off.

Porto makes for a great base from which to explore the northwest of Portugal. Within less than 80 km distance there are many historic cities and towns worth seeing. But Porto itself is full of cultural attractions, great restaurants and bars, fantastic shops and fun leisure activities suitable for all.

It is unusual to find train stations among a city's tourist attractions, but São Bento Train Station is just that, a tourist destination just like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Cologne's huge cathedral. Named one of the world's most beautiful railway stations, Porto's São Bento train station is a wonderful example of Belle Époche architecture, both inside and out. The interior is decorated with some 20,000 tiles, all hand-painted by Jorge Colaço, an artist who worked 11 years on the project. His beautiful tiles portray scenes of Portugal's history, but not just the big political events. The tiles show daily life of ordinary people, as well as past railway and other forms of transport. If you don't fancy driving your rental car for a day, take a train to Braga, Miramar or Guimarães from this railway station.

Café Majestic at Rua Santa Catarina number 112 is another fine example of Belle Époche architecture. Open from 9.30 am to midnight, the charming cafe is one of the city's oldest coffee shops. It was reputedly the haunt of author J K Rowling, before she reached Harry Potter fame.

For a day trip, try Lamego, an hour and half's drive from Porto (about 130 km) via the A4 motorway. The city is located some 12 km inland from the Douro River. Lamego rose to importance in the 18th century, as can be seen from the grandeur of the city's ornately decorated buildings. Lamego's prosperity was due to Port wine production and export. The city is, however, much older than that. Lamego was already a bishopric in the 7th century. Protected by a hilltop castle, religious power base Lamego boasts a large number of churches, some imposing like the cathedral of Lamego, others small and lovely like the Church of Santa Maria de Almacave.

At one end of the city stands the beautiful palace that once housed the bishops of Lamego. The Baroque palace bears the coat of arms of the Bishop D Manuel Vasconcelor Pereira above the front door to honour the fact that he ordered the enlargement and renovation of the existing palace in the 18th century. He was bishop of Lamego from 1773 to 1786, the year he died.

Today the palace houses the Lamego Museum (http://www.museudelamego.gov.pt/ ). Located at Largo Camões, the museum and palace are within a short walk of Lamego Cathedral. The museum houses ceramics and 238 Portuguese and European paintings from the 16th to 18th century, and a collection of textiles, including tapestries from the 2nd half of the 16th century. Also a must-see during a visit to Lamego is the Our Lady of Remedies Shrine at Monte de Santo Estevão, at the opposite end of the city. And if you don't like the idea of visiting monuments, the Balsemão River banks, along which the city were built, offer wonderful walks.