Pocinho Portugal
929
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Avalon Waterways (54 Cruises)
Avalon AlegriaSM
54 Cruises
| 5 May | 7 nights | Round-trip from Porto-Leixoes, Portugal |
450-628-6241
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| 19 May | 7 nights | Round-trip from Porto-Leixoes, Portugal |
450-628-6241
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Emerald Waterways (175 Cruises)
Emerald Radiance
175 Cruises
Scenic Cruises (376 Cruises)
Scenic Azure
343 Cruises
Scenic Diamond
13 Cruises
Scenic Gem
6 Cruises
| 13 April | 20 nights | One-way from Paris City to Porto-Leixoes |
450-628-6241
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|
| 13 April | 20 days | One-way from Paris City to Porto-Leixoes |
450-628-6241
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|
Scenic Sapphire
14 Cruises
| 27 March | 18 days | One-way from Lyon to Porto-Leixoes |
450-628-6241
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|
| 27 March | 17 days | One-way from Lyon to Porto-Leixoes |
450-628-6241
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|
Tauck Cruises (91 Cruises)
ms Andorinha
56 Cruises
MS Saudade
35 Cruises
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise (233 Cruises)
S.S. Bon Voyage
24 Cruises
| 28 March | 18 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 28 March | 17 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 25 April | 18 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 25 April | 17 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 30 May | 18 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 30 May | 17 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 27 June | 18 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 27 June | 17 days | One-way from Bordeaux to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
S.S. São Gabriel
209 Cruises
| 26 March | 10 nights | One-way from Porto-Leixoes to Lisbon |
450-628-6241
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|
| 26 March | 7 nights | Round-trip from Porto-Leixoes, Portugal |
450-628-6241
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Pocinho Portugal | Douro Valley River Cruise Experience
Frequently Asked Questions
At the hamlet's quay, clustered around its dam and railway station. Pocinho marks the end of navigation on the Douro: upstream, the valley narrows toward Spain, too tight and too wild for ships.
Not much, and it's worth saying plainly: a few houses, a café, the quay, the station. You can walk it in a quarter hour, and its appeal is mostly the end-of-the-line atmosphere. The real substance of the call lies a few kilometres away, by coach.
Head for the Côa valley. A short drive leads to Vila Nova de Foz Côa and one of the major prehistoric sites in Europe, with its open-air rock engravings and its museum. That is the reason the call exists.
Thousands of figures cut into schist by Palaeolithic hunters more than twenty thousand years ago: horses, aurochs, deer, ibex. Uncovered in the 1990s during dam construction, they triggered a national campaign; the dam was abandoned and the valley joined the UNESCO World Heritage list.
On guided tours by off-road vehicle that reach the engraved panels. Seeing those animal outlines in low raking light, exactly where a hand traced them, delivers a jolt few museums match. Places are limited, so booking ahead is wise.
Context for the engravings, the techniques of Palaeolithic artists, and the story of the citizens' fight that saved these gorges. The long, schist-coloured building overlooks the meeting of the Côa and the Douro; its terraces take in both valleys at once.
Harsher than around Pinhão or Peso da Régua: dark rock slopes, olive groves, almond trees. No crowds, no large cellars geared to coaches. The silence here has a particular density.
Late winter and early spring, when the almond trees cover the slopes in a snow of white and pink blossom. The rest of the warm season works too, but summer is fierce in this schist country: bring water and a hat.
Locally pressed olive oil, roasted almonds and the full-bodied wines of the upper valley, often poured by the owner at small family quintas. In season, fresh almonds are sold at the roadside, along with wildflower honey.
The euro and Portuguese. The Côa sites and excursions take cards; at small family quintas, cash stays handy. The welcome is less polished than downstream, but it gains in warmth what it loses in choreography.
