Back in 2018 I visited Porto for the first time, but I only spent one day there. So I always wanted to go back and explore more of this lovely city. This August I got the opportunity to spend some more time here and it was such a great getaway. Not the least because I stayed at the lovely Pestana Vintage Porto.

The Pestana Vintage Porto hotel is located on the Ribeira, the riverbank of the Douro, a very lively area of Porto where you can find numerous restaurants and where most boat trips on the river depart. The five-star hotel was constructed as a group of 18 sixteenth-centtury buildings that have been named a UNESCO world heritage site. I was lucky enough to have a spacious room with a view on the Douro river and the famous Dom Luis I bridge. My room had a modern, open bathroom with a toilet, sink, shower and bathtub, a television, desk, seating area and kingsize bed. The hotel offers free wifi throughout all its areas and rooms. Even though it gets quite busy at the Ribeira, especially since I was there in August, the clamor of the street doesn’t reach the room and it felt like my room was a little haven of peace. Watch this reel on my Instagram to get a bit of an idea of what my room looked like.

From the hotel you can walk to all the major and interesting sights that Porto has to offer, such as the D. Luis I bridge -on which you can walk on the lower and upper level, the World Of Wine (WOW) in Gaia (and stroll around in Gaia), the Clérigos church and tower, the church de St. Ildefonso, the Bolsa Palace, the Livraria Lello etc. Or you can just take it easy and take one of the many boat trips on the Douro that leave almost in front of the hotel.

Breakfast is served downstairs in buffet form, but you can also order some dishes a la carte, such as Eggs Benedict. The buffet has a variety of foods, such as breads, sweet pastries, fruit, eggs, hot veggies, oats, and there are drinks available like coffee, tea, (sparkling) water and milks (dairy and non-dairy). The hotel itself doesn´t have parking but you can stay at the public SABA Ribeira parking and the hotel offers you a special 24 hour rate (24 EUR).

All staff was very friendly and helpful during my stay and I have truly had a wonderful few days staying here. Since I spend time in hotels quite regularly I can honestly say that the Pestana Vintage Porto is one of my favorite hotels to stay at. You get the chance to stay in a wonderful area in an historic building without having to give up on comfort. When I go back to Porto (yes, because there is still so much more to explore!) I will definitely stay here again.

Pestana Vintage Porto, being part of the Pestana Hotel Group, has a variety of sustainable efforts in place, such as “Planet Guest”, Pestana´s Sustainability Program. The program conveys the position of Pestana Group as an organization and a group of people who respect and value the environment, society and corporate ethics. The signature “We are only guests of the Planet” reflects the hotel group´s deep respect for the planet and the awareness that the appreciation of natural resources is decisive for the future of our business. In addition to the environmental dimension, Planet Guest also includes the social pillar which includes activities to support local communities and promote education and culture. The group´s sustainability efforts can be summarized as follows:

1.Plastics: The Say No To Plastic initiative was launched in 2019 with the aim of achieving a 50% reduction in non-reusable plastic by 2020. First most noteworthy activities:

• Elimination of plastic straws ;

• Replacement of disposable plastic cups with reusable or paper cups;

• Liquid soap, shower gel and shampoo dispensers in the bathrooms;

• Substitution of ballpoint pens with pencils;

• Digital opening of doors to replace cards.

The objectives were fully achieved, with targets surpassing expectations in the first year of implementation: a 60% reduction in non-reusable plastic items worldwide, i.e. less 50 tons of plastic used, 4 million fewer plastic cups and 1.5 million fewer straws.

2. Waste and Recycling:

In 2019, the first Pestana Volunteer Day was established on June 5th. Hundreds of Pestana volunteers celebrated World Environment Day all over the world. Various environmental and social activities in collaboration with local entities were carried out in Portugal, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé, South Africa, Berlin, Brazil, Brazil, Buenos Aires and Miami.
Participation in the “Paper for Food” Food Banks campaign with environmental and solidarity goals, in which the paper collected (newspapers, magazines, leaflets, etc.) is converted into food products.

3. Local communities:

The Pestana Group launched “Thanks For Helping Campaign” in Portugal. By donating 1EUR upon check out, Pestana Hotels will donate an extra 1EUR to local Social Solidarity Institutions: Acreditar Lisboa, Crescer Ser Porto, Lar Bom Samaritano Algarve, Criamar Madeira, Afacidase in Manteigas and Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Vila Franca do Campo, Azores. Other donations abroad support Siya Buddy in South Africa, Nilus in Argentina, Teto in Brazil, Maracanã in the Cape Verde islands, Oeuvre de la Goutte de Lait in Morocco and Casa do Gaiato in Mozambique.
In 2019, Pestana Hotel Group employees, in partnership with the Pedro Arrupe School, started collaborative volunteer work at the João 13 Association. Every Monday, 60 dinners and 60 breakfasts are provided and served, in collaboration with the Lisbon municipality. In 2019, 2,200 meals were provided.
The Pestana Group supports the Arte Institute. The mission of this New York-based organisation is to promote Portuguese art and culture, providing an inter-cultural space for inspiration, thereby acting as a catalyst for innovative artistic dialogue between New York’s various communities and Portuguese artists. In 2019, the partnership focused in supporting the RHI (Revolution, Hope, Imagination) project.
Pestana promotes youth education, with three social grants awarded to young people mentored by EPIS (Empresários pela Inclusão Social - Entrepreneurs for Social Inclusion) - an association created in 2017 by a group of more than 100 entrepreneurs and managers from Portugal. Their mission is to support and educate underprivileged young people, fulfilling their potential throughout their lives through education, training and professional placement.
Pestana continues the restoration of historic buildings as part of our hotel projects, thus contributing to maintaining the heritage and history of the locations where we have our hotel operations.

4. Green Accreditations:

The Pestana Hotel Group was awarded the Social and Environmental Responsibility seals from the AHP (Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal - Portuguese Hotelier Association).
All the Pestana Hotel Group’s hotels in Portugal were awarded the Chave Verde (green key) - a certificate that distinguishes hotels that promote sustainable tourism by practising correct environmental management. One of the projects that stand out is the Efficiency Project (an ESCO [energy savings company] model) at the Pestana Vila Sol, which aims to promote energy efficiency in existing technical systems (replacement of coolers and boilers, installation of LED lighting; construction of a photovoltaic plant, etc.).

The Pestana group is a member of GRACE, a pioneering, non-profit association exclusively dedicated to the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility. You can find Pestana´s sustainability report for 2019 here.

Location: Praça Ribeira nº1, 4050-513 Porto, Portugal

Phone: +351 223402300

Email: fo.portovintage@pestana.com

Website: Pestana Vintage Porto

Instagram: @pestanavintageporto