Porto is a small center with a steep relationship to the river. Five days is enough to walk it properly and still take one trip out — the Douro if you have booked it, or a coastal hour — without turning the holiday into a commute. The mistake is to sleep far from the river because the room was cheaper, then pay the difference back in taxis and tired knees.
A room in Cedofeita, Vitória, or the upper Ribeira edge keeps you near food and within a walk of the Dom Luís I bridge. True riverfront rooms are loud in the way pretty places are loud. If you want the view, stay there and bring earplugs, or stay one street up and walk to the view on purpose. Check the hill on the map between the taxi drop-off and the door.
A pace that fits the hills
Cross to Gaia once for the port lodges and stay for the return light on the bridge. You do not need a lodge appointment every afternoon. One tasting, booked, is a pleasure. Three is a curriculum. Use another day for the bookshops and the streets around Clérigos, and another for a long lunch you do not follow with a museum. Francesinha is a heavy sandwich and a full meal. Eat it when you have nowhere to be.
Trams are charming and limited. The metro is the tool when you are going to the coast or the airport. Walking is the tool for almost everything you actually came to see. Build the day downhill when you can: start high, end near the river, taxi home if the climb has lost its charm. That is not laziness. That is how you get five days instead of three.
Reservations worth making
A dinner with a view on one night, a lodge tasting if you care about port, and any Douro boat or train that has a specific departure. Everything else can be a walk-in if you eat slightly early or slightly late. Saturday night is the exception. If Saturday is your only special meal, book it before you fly.