Peso da Régua

The historic capital of Portuguese port wine, where the river opens out.

Peso da Régua, usually just called Régua, sits on the north bank of the Douro where the river broadens and the steep schist terraces of the upper valley begin to spread out. It is the natural base for first-time visitors: the train from Porto terminates here, river cruises start and finish here, and the N222 — the route everyone tells you to drive — runs east from the town.

Walk the riverfront, climb up to the Museu do Douro for context, and watch the rabelos (the flat-bottomed wine boats) come and go. Régua itself is not a beautiful town in the way that some of the higher villages are, but it is the right place to get your bearings before going deeper into the valley.

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A story
Régua was the administrative heart of the world's first demarcated wine region. In 1756 the Marquis of Pombal set up the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro to regulate port quality, drawing the original boundary stones still visible on hillsides throughout the valley — making the Douro the oldest officially demarcated wine region anywhere.

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