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Serralves (Se-RAL-vesh) hosts the Portuguese national museum of contemporary art. But its delights go well beyond your regular museum. Serralves started in 1925 as a villa for a wealthy industrialist, surrounded by a beautiful park. After having ben bought by the state, the villa and park opened to the public with art exhibitions in 1987. Ten years later, a brand-new museum designed by Pritzker-prize winning Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza started being built at the opposite end of the park. Work was concluded in 1999, and since then Serralves offers visitors art, architecture, and landscaped gardens without match in Porto.

The villa was for a long time the main attraction at Serralves. Originally conceived as a private residence in the 1920s, it is a prime example of art deco architecture. It was build over a period of almost twenty years, between 1925 and 1944. Its exquisite wrought-iron gates, modernist marble stairways, and magnificent views of the garden make it one of the finest villas built in Portugal during the first half of the twentieth century. Serralves is considered the most notable example of an art deco building in Portugal, even though it was completed well after the end of this style’s golden years. Ironically, the owner was plagued by financial problems and had to move out only three years after completion of his lifetime project. The house was kept private until the 1980s, when the heirs of its last owner sold it to the state in 1986. Currently, the villa serves as an extension of the Museum, featuring temporary exhibitions. Among the many delightful rooms, one of the highlights is the 100%-pink-marble bathroom of the main suite, which is often closed to the public. Try to talk one of the staff-members to open it for you.

The Serralves park has always been a must in Porto. It is rather unique in Portuguese landscape gardening history. There are wooded areas, artificial lakes, rose gardens, perfectly-manicured lawns, and a main garden with a sequence of water tanks surrounded by flower beds. Serralves is perfect for a stroll or to read a book on one of the benches. You feel completely isolated from the city around you.

With the opening of the Museum in 1999, Serralves now has a third major attraction to offer. The National Museum of Contemporary Art is the permanent home of one of the best collections of Portuguese twentieth-century art (the others are, you guessed, in Lisbon). The works on show span from the end of the 1960s to the present, covering all genres from pop art to conceptual projects, and including great pieces representing the experimentalism that dominated Portuguese art of the (literally) revolutionary 1970s.

The museum’s building, by architect Alvaro Siza, is worth a visit even if you don’t like contemporary art. It is an exponent of the Porto school of architecture, with its clear lines, exterior walls in white stucco and stone, and a playful interaction with natural light. It also makes the most of the lovely park views. So it should be no surprise that it is a magnet for architecture buffs from all around the world, who roam there to learn from the great Portuguese master. As in most of Siza’s buildings, the furniture and fittings were also designed by him, without neglecting the smallest detail — including lighting fixtures, handrails, and doorknobs.

Besides the villa, park, and museum, Serralves has an excellent cafeteria, a fine-dining restaurant, and an auditorium offering dance, music, and performances on a regular schedule. The lunch buffet at the cafeteria is particularly good, so arrive early before the place gets packed. Our favorite spot, however, is the tennis-court teahouse, which offers an assortment of teas, scones, and tarts in a hard-to-beat environment. It is located halfway between the museum building and the villa, making for a mandatory stop during your visit to the park.

Price point: entrance to the museum and park costs 5 euros; 2.5 for the park only. On Friday and Saturday, entrance for the museum costs 3 euros after the park closes. For details on discounts for seniors, students, etc., check the Serralves website.

Address: Rua D. Joao de Castro 210, Porto.

Phone: (+351) 22.615.6500.

Website: http://www.serralves.pt/

Opening hours: from October to March, Serralves is open from Tuesday through Sunday 10:00am till 7:00pm. The cafeteria opens seven days a week — from 12:00pm to 7:00pm on weekdays, and 10:00am till 7:00pm on weekends. The restaurant opens from 8:00pm till midnight from Tuesday through Saturday. The teahouse opens from 10:00am till 7:00pm on weekends only. During the Summer months, the park closes at 10:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 8:00pm on Sundays; and the teahouse is open every day.

Getting there: Serralves is easy to reach by car. If you’re driving from downtown, follow the directions to Boavista. Once you get to the Boavista roundabout (known informally as Rotunda da Boavista and formally as Praca Mouzinho de Albuquerque — you can’t miss it; there is a tall column on the center, with a lion crushing an eagle at the top), take Av. da Boavista heading down to the sea (Casa da Musica, an unmistakable building shaped like a quartz crystal, is on the corner). After about one-and-a-half mile, take a 45-degree left towards Av. Marechal Gomes da Costa. There is a large glass-and-metal fountain (actually, a sculpture) at the intersection. Once on Av. Marechal, Serralves is on the inside of the long wall you will find on your left after the Shell gas-station. As soon as the wall ends, turn left and park. The entry is at the intersection of Av. Marechal Gomes da Costa and Rua D. Joao de Castro. If you’re not driving, a taxi should take 20-30 minutes from downtown.

Triplex (TREE-plex) is a bar / restaurant combo. The bar is one of the best in town. The restaurant, if not one of the best, is pretty good too, and has a hip ambiance for dinner. Owner Jose Carlos Tinoco (also of Labirintho, a close-by bar catering to an older crowd) did an excellent job of converting this townhouse into one of the best bars in town, with rooms for different moods and a great garden.

Triplex is located in the heart of the Boavista neighborhood, just one block from Casa da Musica. It occupies an early twentieth century townhouse, with the restaurant on the second floor, and the bar (with a stand-up section and a lounge with sofas) on the first floor. There is also a porch on each level and a relatively large garden that fills up in the summer. The bar is popular after 10:00pm and stays open at least until 2:00am. On the weekends, you can count on a crowded house till at least 4:00am. The stand-up section sometimes bursts spontaneously into a dance floor. They have guest DJs almost every day, playing consistenly good lounge and club music. The crowd consists in sophisticated college students, young professionals, and a lively mix of out-of-towners and insiders. Plenty of opportunities to meet new people.

The restaurant is decorated in simple, clear tones and serves good food in a lively ambiance — many patrons go downstairs to the bar once they finish dinner around midnight or so. Dinner entrees are between 12 and 20 euros. There are also less pricey options for lunch. We wouldn’t say Triplex is one of the ten best restaurants in Porto. But it is certainly good enough to deserve a visit if you’re going to an early concert at Casa da Musica or if you feel like sliding to the bar afterwards. The food is enjoyable and so is the environment.

Appetizers include skewered prawns with mushrooms and herb butter, clams with garlic and herbs, several quiches, and salads. There also a good curry fish soup and a traditional Southern Portuguese soup (sopa alentejana), which features bread slices, olive oil, garlic, coriander, and a poached egg. Fish plates include a good bread soup (acorda) with shrimp, several grilled fishes, monkfish and smoked salmon in puffed pastry with mango, and two staples of Portuguese cuisine — baked codfish with bread and olive oil; and cod fritters with a runny rice with tomato. The meat section features several steaks (au poivre, with cheese, etc.); grilled wild boar loin with mustard ice cream, asparagus, spinach, and gratin potato; and partridge in puff pastry. The chef prepares all of these competently. There are also a few good vegetarian options, such as omelets and pastas. Dessert selection changes daily and is consistently good. The wine list includes many solid values among Portuguese wines. Service is OK.

Price point: drinks at the bar 3 euros and up; lunch around 10 euros; dinner around 25 euros plus drinks.

Address: Avenida da Boavista 911, Porto.

Website: http://www.triplex.com.pt/

Opening hours: restaurant open Monday through Saturday for lunch (12:00-3:00pm) and dinner (8:00-11:30pm); bar open Monday through Thursday 9:00pm-2:00am; Friday and Saturday 9:00pm-4:00am.

Reservations: recommended for dinner; call (+351) 91.494.3039.

Getting there: if you’re driving from downtown, follow the directions to Boavista. Once you get to the Boavista roundabout (known informally as Rotunda da Boavista and formally as Praca Mouzinho de Albuquerque — you can’t miss it; there is a tall column on the center, with a lion crushing an eagle at the top), take Av. da Boavista heading down to the sea (Casa da Musica, an unmistakable building shaped like a quartz crystal, is on the corner). Triplex is right after the first traffic lights, on your left. It is a townhouse next to the Goethe Institute. Street-side parking relatively easy at night, impossible during the day. Several paid parking lots in the vicinity. If you’re not driving, a taxi should take 20-30 minutes from downtown.

Foz Velha (Fosh VEH-lla) is named after the neighborhood in which it is located. Foz is Portuguese for the place where the river meets the sea. Velha means old. The restaurant is in the heart of the old Foz neighborhood, where the wealthier classes in Porto would summer till the mid-XX century. Before then, Porto (or what is now downtown Porto) was disconnected from Foz, with a few miles of countryside landscape in between. The upper classes would have a second house here and the working classes would take a tram or walk there for a daytrip. It’a a lovely neighborhood.

The restaurant occupies a turn of the (XIX-XX) century house meticulously refurbished and updated. Foz Velha’s atmosphere is elegant, with a decor in tones of blue, lilac, and red. Great light, and an excellent view of the ocean nearby — in the summer, with the windows open, the sound of the waves adds to the overall experience. (Unfortunately, a building is growing between the restaurant and the sea, so the view is likely to be soon gone…) There’s a cozy bar for a cocktail or dry Port before dinner.

Chef Marco Gomes runs a tight ship, providing you one of the best fine-dining experiences in town. His style is contemporary Portuguese cuisine. The menu includes two degustation options: Invicta (six courses) and Foz Velha (nine courses). A la carte you can find six appetizers, five fish courses, five meat courses, one vegetarian course, and seven desserts. As an example (the menu is seasonal, so don’t count on getting this), here’s the Foz Velha menu Spring 2007: scallops with potato and chestnut foam and tomato sauce; goat cheese au gratin on olive-oil toast, leek “straw,” and blueberry sauce with dry basil leaves; fresh cod fillet with sauteed potatoes, peppers, shallots, and balsamic vinegar and black olive reduction; tangerine sorbet; Iberian pork loin stuffed with fresh duck foie gras, wild-vegetables sauce and mango puree; sauteed strawberries with coconut foam; hot chocolate muffin with mixed berries ice cream; and peppermint sorbet with aguardente (Portuguese grape brandy).

Their bread rolls are terrific, so you’ll have to refrain yourself from eating too many of these before the food arrives. Our favorite amuse gueule at Foz Velha is the partridge-egg mousse with pineapple jelly, and there’s plenty more to enjoy in the a la carte menu, like the wild boar in Port-wine reduction or a lamb in puff pastry with thyme, wild mushrooms, and foie gras sauce. Among the desserts, we rarely pass on the cheese ice cream with raspberry puree. For those who want to try Portuguese docaria conventual (literally “conventual sweets,” exceptionally good, egg-yolk intensive pastries created by nuns, often members of silent orders like the Carmelitas Descalcas, these delicacies have names like papos de anjo — angels’ chests — or barrigas de freira — nuns’ bellies), there’s an assortment accompanied by a useful lemon sorbet.

The wine list is focused on top choices among Portuguese wines, with around 60 wines, plus twelve brands of Portuguese aguardente (Portuguese for firewater, a distilled drink made from grapes, somewhat similar to grappa).

Service is professional and attentive.

Price point: around 35 euros plus drinks.

Address: Esplanada do Castelo 141, Porto.

Website: http://www.fozvelha.com/

Opening hours: open for lunch Tuesday to Saturday (12:30-3:00pm), and dinner Monday to Saturday (7:30-11:00pm; till 12:00am on Saturday).

Reservations: highly recommended; call (+351) 22.615.4178 or (+351) 91.881.8147.

Getting there: difficult access by car; taxi recommended. If you are driving from downtown Oporto, the easiest way of getting there is to take Rua Mouzinho da Silveira down to Praca do Infante, turn right and follow the river to the sea — Foz. Right where the river meets the sea, you’ll find a long wide cobblestone street with a palm-tree garden on your leftand the sea beyond it further to your left. Keep going and follow the tram tracks. They will take you through a small XV century fortress (on your left) and then you’ll enter a narrow street — Rua N. Sra. da Luz. The restaurant is right there, on the corner of that street and the first steep uphill street on your right. It is easier to park before you enter the narrow street, so just leave your car next to the fortress and walk a couple of minutes to the restaurant. If you’re not driving, take a taxi (30 minutes).

Praia da Luz (PRAH-ya da LUSH) is a place to imbibe the ocean. It is a restaurant, coffeeshop, and bar with both indoor and outdoor seating built on the beach — literally, the structure is built on stilts dug deep in the sand. The outdoor section is heated in the winter (and so is the indoors, by a lovely fireplace) and there are plenty of blankets to go with a hot chocolate and a book. Since it’s facing West, it is perfect for viewing the sunset. But it is an excellent place around the clock. Go there for breakfast croissants, have a light (or not so light) lunch, a full dinner, or drinks in the afternoon or in the evening. It stays open till 3:00am, with a DJ and, sometimes, a dance floor. The clientele changes with the time, but is always hip and mostly quiet during the day. Music is quiet during the day and groovy in the evenings.

The building is a light metal and glass slab that fits well with the scenery. Contemporary decor in light pastel colors, enabling you to focus on what matters — the view. The open ocean during the day and the well-lit rocks and sand with the dark ocean as a background in the evening. Here’s what Porto nightlife Guide has to say about it:

“It’s more than Shakespeare. It’s a midsummer night’s dream and a winter one too. The surprises start on the avenue with white flags fluttering in the sea beeze. The benches on the sidewalk announce the happy event: a magnificent open air restaurant was born in Foz in 1989, but it seems like yesterday. By night the rocks in the beach shine under the spotlights. The white sands are striped by beams of light. My god, how beautiful this is, the most beautiful open air restaurant in the country!”

Though you’ll most likely return for the view, not the food, the menu does not disappoint. There are excellent small grilled padron peppers (a hot delicacy from Galicia, in Northern Spain), a good carpaccio, and carefully prepared shrimp crepes. The fish section includes a great cherne (similar to sea bass, only better) with almonds; salmon with roquefort sauce; bacalhau (salted cod) baked with bread; baked octopus (polvo); a terrific white sea bream (sargo) baked in a salt crust; and a anglerfish (tamboril — one of our editors’ favorite fishes) with a green pepper sauce. You won’t regret trying the beef with dates or the duck magret with honey and spices. Finish your meal with a slice of tatin pie or some ricotta with honey and walnuts.

Service is laid-back, sometimes a bit slow.

Price point: coffee drinks are around 2 euros; lunch around 15 euros; and dinner around 25 euros.

Address: Av. do Brasil, Porto.

Website: http://www.praiadaluz.pt/

Opening hours: open 365 days a year from 9:00am to 3:00am (well, it actually closes a little earlier on Christmas Eve and opens a little later on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day…).

Reservations: suggested for dinner; call (+351) 22.617.3234.

Getting there: easy access by car; otherwise, take a taxi. If your driving from downtown Oporto, the easiest way of getting there is to take Rua Mouzinho da Silveira down to Praca do Infante, turn right and follow the river to the sea — Foz. Continue along the seafront. Praia da Luz is on your left in the beginning of Av. do Brasil, which is the first long straight avenue you’ll find. Parking is usually hard, especially during the weekend and in the summer. All you see from the street level is a small arch that is lit at night and a few white flags fluttering in the breeze. If you park and cross the street to the seaside, you’ll easily spot the coffeeshop. If you’re not driving, take a taxi (30 minutes).

Artemisia (r-teh-MEE-zee-ah) focuses on spices — “artemisia” is both the name of a herb and that of a Greek goddess, so we guess the point is that the chef strives to become the god of spicy food (by which we mean aromatic, not hot).

The menu is eclectic, drawing on different continents. Cold appetizers include a nordic gravad lox with wasabi and apple puree; a Portuguese contemporary crab salad with beans, sichuan pepper, and ginger; and excellent shots — one of gaspacho, the other of red pepper pesto with avocado and parmigiano cheese. Among the hot appetizers, we recommend the goat cheese souffle with tomato sauce. Several good fish entrees include a top-notch fish massele (a herb and spice mix) from the seychelles archipelago as well as a snapper with chermoula (a herb-based marinade used in the Maghreb to flavor fish and seafood) and celery puree. Highlights in the meat section include a turkey loaf with chestnuts, apricots, and prunes; and a duck breast with three different fruit chutneys. There is also a good pasta and risotto section, where a Malabar risotto with spices from that coastal region of Southern India (where the Portuguese traded heavily since the XVI century) stands out. The green tea ice cream with caramel sauce and peanut praline is not to be missed.

The wine list is not long, but features several great selections of Portuguese wines, especially from the nearby Douro region.

The lunch menu has several good daily specials, like the white sea bass with spring onions and coconut sauce on Wednesdays. We’re told specials vary with the seasons, so check in advance.

If you’re visiting the gallery district, go there for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and indulge in the fig scones.

Comfortable setting and an lively clientele of art dealers — the restaurant is close to Rua Miguel Bombarda, where most art galleries are located. Which also explains why it’s open till so late — 1:30am.

Service is professional and attentive. Though we didn’t try anything that was too hot, don’t hesitate to ask about spice levels.

Price point: expect to spend 30 euros plus drinks; half that at lunch-time.

Address: Rua Adolfo Casais Monteiro 135, Porto.

Website: http://www.restauranteartemisia.com/

Opening hours: open daily for lunch (12:30 to 3:00pm) and dinner (8:00pm to 1:30am); the coffeeshop section is open from 12:30pm to 1:30am.

Reservations: recommended; call (+351) 22.606.2286.

Getting there: difficult access by car; taxi recommended. If you’re driving from downtown Porto, go up Rua de Ceuta. Do not enter the tunnel. Continue going up. At the top, turn left on Rua Jose Falcao. Take a right on Praca dos Leoes, stay straight, pass a church (Igreja do Carmo) on your right and go to the large granite building at the end of the square — the Sto. Antonio hospital. Turn right and go slightly down. Go around the park on your left — Jardim do Carregal. As you start going up, take a right on the first narrow street. This will lead you to Rua do Rosario (one block away). Take a right, and stay straight on Rua do Rosario until you reach Rua do Breyner. Turn left. Park when you reach a small square — Largo da Maternidade. The restaurant is in the beginning of Rua Adolfo Casais Monteiro, to your left as you enter the park.. If you’re not driving, a taxi from downtown will take ten minutes to get there.