João and Susana are very warm and helpful hosts, I felt very comfortable asking for any help or extra sheets or anything like that and the response time was almost immediate. The flat was perfect for a quiet stay, cosy and quirkily decorated, quite close to the river but, as with anywhere in or near the river around there, characterized by somewhat steep and uneven cobble-stoned paths. It's a family building so there's that added warmth to the environment as well. Importantly for me as a lone female traveler, I felt very safe here.

It's also the perfect location to try out the wine caves and check out Fado music, if that's among your big plans for your stay.

The views from the windows are lovely but note that there are no curtains, and bright sunlight does take over the apartment on a sunny afternoon. If you have difficulty with elevated spaces, as well, it's important to remember that the apartment is up three flights of stairs (not especially steep, though) and the shower involves a bit of a step up and down. There is no washer/dryer in the apartment, but I would just drop off my laundry outside João and Susana's door and a few days later it would be outside my door all clean and fresh.

If you're looking for a young, hip spot, with lots of bars and restaurants a stone's throw away, this isn't it - but it is a good place for a relatively quiet stay with lots of little freebies thrown in like basic staples and tea and coffee and cooking materials and such. As a (very) rough approximation of location, the most efficient route - albeit in inappropriately uncomfortable shoes - would take about 15 minutes to walk over to the riverside cafes and bars on the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river. It was impeccably clean when I first walked in, which was also very pleasant, not to mention the welcoming smell of freshly baking bread and the lovely touch of a little soap hand-made by Susana in the bathroom.

Be sure to flip through the big book of photos of Porto by Susana's mum (in Portuguese and English) lying on the shelf, chock full of beautiful images of sites to see across the river!