Pedro’s apartment is one of the nicest AirBnB’s I have stayed in on my travels.
The pictures of the apartment actually don’t do it justice. It’s incredibly modern and stylish with a huge floor plan and breathtaking views of the river.
Pedro kindly met us on the first day to give us a tour of the building and made his recommendations of what to visit based on our interests.
It is located in Vila Nova de Gaia, which is the hub of Porto’s famous port industry. With a short walk down the hill, you reach the famous Dom Luis Bridge into Porto city (10 mins max walk) OR a winding path down to the riverside in ‘Gaia’ which is lined with our favourite spots for great drinks and some nice restaurants/cafes. We loved the contrast of being in Gaia and exploring a crucial part of the regions fabric - this is not something we would have done as much if we’d stayed in the city the other side of the bridge.
From a functional perspective, the apartment has all of the appliances you could need to live there forever. There is a supermarket and plenty of cafes a few min walk away. The lounge/kitchen/dining space is huge and more Brooklyn apartment feeling than European given how much space there was inside.
Our only challenge with the apartment was that it is in a residential building which has very thin walls - this meant that a) we had to keep our conversation to a minimum after dark and b) we could hear music/chatter/kids from other flats between 7-11pm every day. This isn’t a problem if travelling with a small group, but as a group of 3 we felt like if we had used the max capacity of bed space, it may have been difficult to use the space as a place to convene with a larger party without being a disturbance. Though I must add, Pedro is very open and honest about this and his focus on treating the space like a residential area actually makes it a pleasure to stay in.
After a magical 5 days in Porto, we couldn’t imagine to have stayed anywhere else and would certainly return to Pedro’s flat in the future.