Explore Porto

The Igreja da Trindade is a large 19th-century church at the top of Avenida dos Aliados, behind Porto City Hall. Designed by Carlos Amarante, it was begun in 1803, opened for worship in 1841 and given its façade and bell tower in 1846. The Order of the Trinity shows its collections in the adjoining rooms, and visitors can climb the bell tower to the church terraces.

The Capela das Almas is a chapel on Rua de Santa Catarina, Porto's main shopping street, rebuilt in the late 18th century and enlarged in 1801. In 1929 its outer walls were covered with 15,947 blue and white azulejo tiles by Eduardo Leite, made by the Viúva Lamego factory in Lisbon, showing the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine.

The Church of Saint Ildefonso stands above Praça da Batalha in Porto; built from 1709 on the site of a medieval chapel, it was blessed in 1739. Its twin-towered granite façade carries about 11,000 azulejo tiles by Jorge Colaço from 1932, and inside are a retable by Nicolau Nasoni and a small museum of sacred art.

Porto Cathedral, the Sé, stands on a hilltop in the historic centre and is one of the city's oldest buildings. Begun in the 12th century as a fortress-like Romanesque church with a rose window, it was remodelled in the Baroque period, when Nicolau Nasoni added the side loggia. The visit includes the Gothic cloister lined with 18th-century azulejo panels.

The Igreja de Santa Clara is the church of a former convent of Poor Clares in Porto, begun in 1416 next to the Fernandine Walls and completed in 1457. Behind its Renaissance portal, the interior is covered in gilded and polychrome Baroque woodwork; the church has been a national monument since 1910.

The Church of São Francisco is a Gothic church in Porto's historic centre, built by the Franciscans from 1383 to about 1425 beside today's Palácio da Bolsa. Its plain stone nave contrasts with the gilded Baroque woodwork covering walls, pillars and chapels, including a Tree of Jesse altarpiece; the visit continues to the Third Order church, a museum and catacombs.

The Monastery of Serra do Pilar is a former Augustinian monastery on a hill in Vila Nova de Gaia, facing Porto across the Douro beside the Dom Luís I Bridge. Begun in 1538, it has a circular church inaugurated in 1672 and a round cloister of the same diameter; part of the site has been a military barracks since 1947.