The heart of port wine country — terraced Douro vineyards and the most scenic train ride in Europe
Peso da Régua — simply 'Régua' to locals — is the capital of the Douro Demarcated Wine Region, the world's oldest officially protected wine appellation (1756). The town sits where the Corgo meets the Douro, surrounded by UNESCO-listed terraced vineyards carved into schist hillsides. The train journey from Porto is one of Europe's most spectacular, hugging the river for 170km. Every quinta (wine estate) in the valley has its roots here, and Ramos Pinto's Douro Museum tells the full story of port wine without omitting any of the rabelo-boat romance.
The Douro Valley has produced wine since at least Roman times, but it was the 1703 Methuen Treaty (allowing Portuguese wine into Britain duty-free in exchange for woollens) that created the British taste for port and drove the valley's transformation into terraced vineyards. The Marquis of Pombal established the world's first appellation system here in 1756 — the Demarcated Douro Region — to regulate quality and prevent fraud. Régua became the administrative centre of the region and the terminus of the 19th-century Douro railway line from Porto.