Aveiro and Costa Nova

Lagoon City Of Moliceiro Boats, Art Nouveau Houses And Salt Pans On The Ria De Aveiro, With The Painted Beach Village Of Costa Nova · Aveiro, Aveiro

Aveiro is a small, flat, cheerful city on the Ria de Aveiro, a wide coastal lagoon of channels, salt pans and marshes about an hour south of Porto. A handful of canals run through the centre, and on them glide the moliceiros, long, high-prowed boats once used to gather seaweed for fertiliser and now painted with bright, often cheeky scenes and used for rides. Around the canals stand Art Nouveau houses from the early twentieth century, the old monastery where the princess Santa Joana lived and is buried, and bakeries selling ovos moles, the city's egg-yolk sweets in wafer shells. About 10 km west on the sand spit, Costa Nova lines up its famous striped wooden houses between the lagoon and a long Atlantic beach, with the tall Barra lighthouse nearby. People come for a relaxed day of boats, sweets, pictures and sea air. The honest caveat: the 'Venice of Portugal' label oversells it - the canals are few and short, the boat ride is brief and touristy, and the Atlantic here is cold and rough.

Aveiro's central canal and the Ria de Aveiro lagoon, with the striped beach houses of Costa Nova about 10 km west on the sand spit, Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

The city, canals and beach are open all year. Moliceiro rides run daily from mid-morning to early evening, more often in summer, and pause in bad weather. Museums keep roughly 10:00 to 17:30-18:00 and usually close on Mondays - confirm. CP trains from Porto take about 40 minutes on Alfa Pendular or Intercidades and about 1 hour-1 hour 15 on urban trains; local buses reach Costa Nova in about 30 minutes - confirm times. Nothing needs booking except summer weekend rooms.

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