I’ve scoured dozens of websites promising the 10 best things to do in Porto and the Ultimate Porto guide. What seems strange is that very few of them even mention WOW, given its size and importance this is a major omission.
Strictly speaking, WOW isn’t actually in Porto, it is across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia, alongside most of the Port houses and Port tastings.
WOW stands for World of Wine, or at least it did originally. However, whilst wine is at the heart of what is presented, it is a long way from being the only subject.
This is a whole complex, with 5 different museums as well as other temporary exhibits. There are also some very good restaurants, wine bars and cafés.
Built in some of the old wine and port warehouses, the place is a bit of a maze – in a nice way. Wandering around you come across courtyards and alleyways that look as though they have been there for centuries.
The view from the main plaza is a stunning, uninterrupted view of the Douro River and the Dom Luis bridge. It is worth making your way here just for the view. And at sunset it is quiet, unlike the other crowded spots on this side of the river.
When I entered the first thing I spotted was the quality. The buildings have been beautifully renovated to a really high standard. It is light, spacious, and on the day we visited very quiet. We started our visit at 10:30 am and spent all day on the complex and still didn’t see everything.
The Wine experience was our first stop, and probably my favourite of the day. We spent a couple of hours here and I would happily have spent longer. It is considered by some to be the best wine museum in the world, and certainly from my past experiences with other museums, I would have to agree. The museum takes you through the process of growing wine, from the importance of geographic location to the soil types and grape varieties. It is both educational and entertaining. There are plenty of interactive elements, and the whole place is visually appealing. The large lit up globe is a particular stand out.
There is a gallery of paintings done by a British artist (who’s name I unfortunately didn’t catch), where each grape variety is represented by a painting of a different character. There is an interactive quiz so you can find out which grape variety matches your personality best (I got Grenache). It is really very well done, and I wish I had had more time to look closely at each painting as there is so much detail in them. Each painting is accompanied by details of where the grapes grow, what the grapes looks like and what type of wine you can find them in.
Another part of the museum has frontage of houses from the different regions in Portugal and inside each house you find examples of the culture, clothing and food that might be found there.
The visit ends with a section on aromas, where you can smell each of the different smells that make up the bouquet of wine, from vanilla and caramel to rubber and burnt match. This is followed by a wine tasting of 3 different Portuguese wines, with a knowledgeable guide.
As a standalone museum this is world class, but there is much more to discover.
We went on to the Chocolate museum, which tells the story of chocolate, its origins and how it is transformed into the product we love today. Again there are interactive exhibits, and stunning visuals.
That is another thing that stand out at WOW, the photographs and videos are beautiful. They wouldn’t be out of place in a national geographic magazine.
The best thing about this chocolate museum is that they have their own chocolate factory inside making chocolates that you can buy. It is all done behind a glass screen for hygiene reasons, but you can watch the workers and the machines and follow the process.
The art of drinking is a more historical museum and not something I have a direct comparison for. This is a private collection, the Bridge collection, of drinking vessels spanning 9000 years of history. The museum is open for guided tours only, and I think this is what makes this museum special.
There are some truly remarkable things in there including a vessel that is 9000 years old and still intact, and glass that dates to the time of Christ. However, without the guide it would have been dry and uninteresting to all but the most dedicated of historians. With the guide it comes to life, with stories of Fred the duck, who moves on his own from time to time, and explanations of glass making techniques and the cultural significance of some items. It is the sort of museum that I wouldn’t have gone out of my way for but found myself strangely mesmerised by.
Each museum has its own shop, and the one from the art of drinking had some particularly nice things in it. There are even a few museum pieces that there aren’t space for in the collection so you can buy them.
We finished the day at the Pink Palace. This is mostly a bit a fun, with various photo opportunities and fun experiences, like a pink ball pool! It still has an educational element as it teaches you all about pink wine. And you get to taste the wine as you go around. Overall the Pink Palace seems a little out of place compared to the other, more serious, museums; but it was fun and, after a few wines, verging on the hilarious.
We also added a visit to Taylor’s port lodge to our day. This is owner by the same company as WOW but sits just outside the complex. It is really interesting to see how port has been made for 300 years and the history behind it. You can however tell that this wasn’t renovated when WOW was built. The photos and exhibits are not of the same superb quality, and it merits a bit of an upgrade. The visit includes tasting in a delightful garden setting. We went here before the Pink Palace which may explain some of the hilarity.
The WOW complex boasts a number of restaurants, and we dined at two of them.
The T&C restaurant serves traditional Portuguese food, including the famous francesinha. This is the restaurant where I ate the Peixinhos da horta (deep fried green beans) that I talked about in my podcast. There is a lovely terrace as well as a large, well decorated interior. Some of the tables are inside old port wine barrels. I found the food and service to be excellent, and the prices reasonable given the tourist context.
For dinner we ate at the 1828 steakhouse. This is a premium restaurant, with fantastic meat options. It would be a lovely option for a special meal and is certainly nothing like the standard museum restaurant offering. The service was exemplary and the wine pairings top-notch.
There are 3 other restaurants as well as a wine bar and a couple of cafés. If the quality of the food and service is the same as we experienced elsewhere on the complex then I seriously wouldn’t hesitate to go. I saw some of the pastries on offer at the Suspiro café and they would happily grace any Parisian patisserie, yet the price tag was more similar to a museum café muffin.
We didn’t have time to visit the Porto Region museum, nor the temporary Lego exhibition that is currently on. I believe the Lego exhibition is due to finish this month and will be replaced by something new, I look forward to finding out what.
Is WOW Porto worth visiting?
I would have to say a resounding yes. It is very difficult to see any downsides, it is interesting, high quality, diverse and entertaining. I think the one this WOW suffers from is a confusion in their marketing. The website has recently been updated and reflects the new pricing structure of paying once and having access to all the other museums. However, the flyers I saw around Porto didn’t excite me or make me want to go.
WOW can easily be a half day or whole day trip. It is easy to get to, about 15 minute’s walk once you are over the Dom Luis bridge. Or you could do like I did and take a Bolt taxi from the train station for just 6€. If you are a wine lover and want to know more about wine, then the Wine experience may turn out to be the highlight of your trip.
Important disclosure: I was a guest for the day at WOW. All opinions, words and photos are my own.
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