Pinhão is the village everyone pictures when they imagine the Douro: a tight knot of red-roofed houses on the south bank where the Pinhão river joins the Douro, set inside an amphitheatre of vine-covered terraces rising on every side. It is small — a few hundred residents — but it sits in the middle of the most concentrated cluster of legendary port quintas in the world: Fonseca, Quinta do Bomfim, Quinta do Seixo, Quinta do Noval and many more lie within a few minutes' drive.
The town itself is best appreciated by walking the riverside esplanade, having a glass of port at one of the cafés, and watching the train cross the river. The waterfront also handles most of the small river cruises and traditional rabelo trips that thread up and down the upper valley.