If you've yet to acquire a bottle of quality port from the supermarkets for sipping into oblivion on Christmas Day, you might consider holding off and putting the cash toward a cheap flight direct to the Duoro valley instead. Just in time for early bird bookers, Ryanair has announced that it will be launching a new route next summer, flying non-stop from Bristol to Porto.
Ryanair will be running three weekly flights to Portugal’s second-largest city from April 2 2023. The route will operate on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday, taking just two hours to jet holidaymakers 755 miles to the coastal city.
Departure times are scheduled at 9.21pm on Sunday evenings, 9.15am on Tuesday mornings and 9.55pm on Friday nights. Depending on the time of year, prices run up to £75.99 and journeys are currently bookable until October 27.
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Currently, a one-way ticket can start from just £23.99. That's cheaper than two bottles of Late Bottled Vintage Port 2016 from Averys, one of the UK's oldest wine merchants, first established on Bristol's Park street in 1793.
Both being major port cities situated on rivers with easy access to the Atlantic, Bristol and Porto have quite a bit in common and were even twinned in 1984. The valley around the Duoro river on which Porto sits is the second-oldest protected wine region in the world and has had trade links to Bristol since the 17th Century.
The city itself is a World Heritage Site and home to famous port houses, including Graham's, Taylor's and Sandeman, many of which offer tastings or have restaurants with stunning views across the valley taking in Porto's own iconic 19th Century Bridge.
First proposed by Gustavo Eiffel in 1879, and designed by one of his disciples, Théophile Seyrig, the Dom Luís Bridge is a double-deck metal arch bridge that spans the Duoro River and was completed just 23 years after Bristol's own iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge. Unlike its twin, however, the Dom Luís is toll-free for cars and is also used by the city's metro.
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