Póvoa is best taken slowly: a walk along the seafront promenade, a coffee in Praça do Almada, a visit to the old fishing quarter of Bairro Sul, and a swim. The town has a small but well-curated ethnography museum, a Baroque parish church, and the small Fortaleza da Nossa Senhora da Conceição on the south side of the harbour.
For something further afield, head inland a few kilometres to the Iron Age hillfort of Cividade de Terroso, or up the coast to the windmills and dunes of Aguçadoura.