Vila Nova de Gaia faces Porto across the Douro, connected to the city by the great iron arches of the Ponte de Dom Luís I. In practical terms it forms a single urban area with Porto — you can walk between them in twenty minutes — but administratively it is a separate municipality, and it has one defining purpose that Porto lacks: this is where port wine is made and stored. The entire riverfront of Gaia is lined with the lodges of the great port houses, their names painted in white on black rooftops: Taylor's, Graham's, Sandeman, Croft, Ramos Pinto. Whatever the weather, this is one of the most distinctive skylines in Portugal.
The port wine lodges of Gaia hold millions of litres of wine in oak casks in various stages of ageing. Almost all of them offer guided tours and tastings. The caves are cool in summer and warm in winter, and the tour format — a walk through the barrels, a lesson in the difference between a tawny and a ruby, a generous pour at the end — is one of the great pleasures of a visit to the Porto area. Taylor's, Graham's, and Ramos Pinto all have excellent operations, but even the more commercial lodges are interesting.
Beyond the wine, Gaia has a pleasant old quarter and a waterfront promenade that is now one of the most popular evening walks in the area. The Jardim do Morro gardens, accessible by the upper cable car from the bridge level or by stairs from the lower quay, give the best views of Porto's famous waterfront. The Monastery of Corpus Christi, a seventeenth-century convent on the hillside above the lodges, is worth the uphill walk for those interested in Baroque religious architecture.
The waterfront area (Cais de Gaia) has been heavily renovated in recent years, and the quayside is now lined with restaurants and wine bars — touristy but pleasant enough for a lazy lunch. The Beira-Rio Market provides a more local alternative for food shopping.