What is the Porto outdoor escape game?
The Porto outdoor escape game is an escape room with no walls: the puzzles are placed at 10 landmarks in the old town, you open them on your phone, and each answer comes from observing what is in front of you and thinking it through. Reckon with about 2 hours, of which only 34 minutes are walking over 2.5 km, so most of the time goes on the puzzles.
Puzzles are set at the azulejo hall of São Bento Station, the Clérigos Tower, Livraria Lello, the Bolsa Palace, the Church of São Francisco, Ribeira Square and the Luís I Bridge. They do not share a storyline, so each is a clean start, and up to three levels of hints are ready when one resists. The stops sit close together, which is why the route is short and the stairs do the rest.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 34 min · 2.5 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese
What you do on the escape game
Solve on the spot
Every stop has one puzzle, answered with logic and a good look around. No prior knowledge of Porto is assumed.
Read the tiles and granite
Azulejo panels, carved granite, dates and inscriptions are where the clues sit, so examine the surface closely.
Walk downhill
Google Maps leads you to the next puzzle: 34 minutes of walking in total over 2.5 km, with steps along the way.
Take the time you need
No countdown is running. Call in hints, break for a coffee on Rua das Flores and carry on when you feel like it.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends
A short route with plenty to argue about: each player follows the same puzzle on their own phone.
Couples
Two hours of puzzles and river views, with nothing booked for a set hour and no pressure to keep up.
Team building
Teams of up to 5 are the right size, and a larger group works the same route as several teams.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The puzzle route: São Bento Station to the Luís I Bridge
10 stops · about 34 min walking · start: São Bento Station · finish: Luís I Bridge
Puzzle one is in the tiled hall of São Bento Station, then the route climbs to the Clérigos Church and Tower, Livraria Lello and the Cordoaria Garden. It comes back down Rua das Flores past the Misericórdia Church to the Bolsa Palace and the Church of São Francisco, reaches the Douro at Ribeira Square and the Alminhas da Ponte relief, and ends at the Luís I Bridge. Start in daylight, since all the puzzles are outside; the app lets you pick another starting stop, and no entry tickets are needed.
Open the route map ↗
1São Bento StationStart
São Bento railway station was built on the site of a former Benedictine convent and opened in 1916 to designs by the architect José Marques da Silva. Its entrance hall is lined with about 20,000 azulejo tiles painted by Jorge Colaço, showing scenes from Portuguese history and everyday life in the north of Portugal.
2Clérigos Church and Tower
The Baroque Clérigos Church was designed by the Italian-born architect Nicolau Nasoni and built from 1732 for a brotherhood of clergy. Its granite tower, about 75 metres high and finished in 1763, became the landmark of Porto's skyline, and Nasoni himself is buried in the church.
3Livraria Lello
Livraria Lello opened in 1906 in a building with a white neo-Gothic façade, and inside a curving red staircase rises under a stained-glass skylight. It is often linked with Harry Potter because the author lived in Porto in the early 1990s, but she has said she never visited the shop.
4Cordoaria Garden
The Cordoaria Garden, officially Jardim de João Chagas, takes its name from the rope makers who once worked here. Look for Juan Muñoz's group of thirteen laughing bronze figures, set up in 2001 when Porto was European Capital of Culture, and the massive former Relação prison beside the garden, now the Portuguese Centre of Photography.
Read the full story →
5Misericórdia Church
The Igreja da Misericórdia on Rua das Flores belongs to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto, a charitable brotherhood founded in 1499. Its Baroque granite façade was designed by Nicolau Nasoni in the 18th century, and the brotherhood's museum keeps the Fons Vitae, an early 16th-century painting showing King Manuel I and his family.
6Bolsa Palace
Porto's Commercial Association began building this stock exchange palace in 1842 on the site of the cloister of the São Francisco convent, which had burned down in 1832 during the Liberal Wars. Behind the neoclassical façade, its most famous room is the richly decorated Arab Room, inspired by the Alhambra.
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7Church of São Francisco
The Church of São Francisco is one of Porto's main Gothic monuments, built by the Franciscans in the 14th century. Its plain stone exterior hides an interior almost entirely covered in Baroque gilded woodwork, including a carved Tree of Jesse.
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8Ribeira Square
Praça da Ribeira is Porto's old riverside square, lined with tall, narrow, colourful houses on the bank of the Douro. It lies in the historic centre that UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 1996, and from here you look across the river to the port wine lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia.
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9Alminhas da Ponte
The Alminhas da Ponte, the little souls of the bridge, is a bronze relief on a wall of the Ribeira by the Douro. It remembers the disaster of 29 March 1809, when the Ponte das Barcas, a bridge of boats, collapsed under crowds fleeing Napoleon's invading troops and many people drowned, and locals still leave candles here.
10Luís I BridgeFinish
The double-deck iron Luís I Bridge was designed by Théophile Seyrig, a former partner of Gustave Eiffel, and opened in 1886; its 172-metre arch was then the longest of its kind in the world. Today metro trains and pedestrians use the upper deck, while the lower deck links the Ribeira with the wine lodges of Gaia.
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Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
It was helpful to help us explore the city, but I feel that the challenges got easier/a bit lazy as the tour went on. Would have loved to see more creativity. But for the price – it was decent.
jon– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Julien– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Idéal quand on arrive dans une ville que l’on ne connait pas.
Spain –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Nos ha encantado!
Carla– Portugal –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Conhecemos o Porto de uma forma divertida